Car boots

[ateallthepies]

I didn't want to hijack the boot sale knife thread further so the question of Car Boot Sales what are your views?

Boot sales are strange places nowadays. I thought they were places for people to offload unwanted items at lower prices and make a bit of pin money?

The only car boot I can get to in Denham, Bucks is 75% traders offering new tat or old rubbish at near market prices with the rest what I call 'proper' car booters selling tat and sometimes hidden gems at bargain prices who then have to contend with the knock downers wanting everything for 50p or less!

I don't know if it's like that all over the land at your local boot but I think this British institution has been spoiled by three things....

1. Traders
2. Greedy sellers wanting top dollar
3. Hagglers

Now all three of these things have always gone on in boot sales but lately more so, is this your view too?

I dont one bother with the traders so not a problem for me. Greedy sellers loose me the bargain I'm after but also go home with a car full of junk so no ones a winner. Hagglers are just menaces. Nothing wrong with asking for a reasonable price but I hear no end of boot sellers moaning about people wanting stuff for nothing and I had it myself on several occasions and it can put people off from booting again so again everyone looses out again.

Am I the only one where the sparkle of car boots has fizzled out?

 

[woof]

I don't got to them very often, as I have a very low idiot threshold, but I think you analysis of them is spot on.

Rob

 

[Stevie777]

I have been both seller and buyer at car boot sales... i'm up for a haggle either way, it makes what can really be a cold, miserable, boring day more interesting interesting.

What i dont have time for is dealers who try and cash in on your stuff before the general public get a chance...sometimes you dont even have time to set up your table at 6 in the morning and they are nosing in and around your boot.
I used to make Garden ornaments and what i would do was, as the day went along, i would reduce my prices because there was no point in dragging anything back home with me...
i was selling Ornaments for £25 at the end of the day..(started at £35/£40) that the Garden centre along the road wanted £80 for...they cost me less than £5 to make...still made £20 profit. I could go home with that £20, buy more sand and cement and make more during the week. everyone was happy, and i had people place orders for more at the top end prices.

 

[ateallthepies]

I had people rummaging through my car before I could unload.....then the will you take 50p brigade came in a stampede and I lost the will to live.

I knew exactly what I was selling and what it was worth and was asking for half to a third of the new price for great condition gear.

Another time I me I gave some gear to my mum to boot. I forgot to label up one item with a price....a CP88 pistol with 5 mags and a laser sight with pellets and gas caplets. She sold it for £15 bless her ......bet the guy was salivating at my foolishness ?

 

[neoaliphant]

Weve got quite a good one every sunday in Cheddar, £1 entry and takes about 4 hours to walk round if your walking briskly, got to get the about 7 to avoid the mombies. Got a billy set for £2 last year and also for £2 a set of flares and launcher complete exactly like the ones in SAS survival handbook.

Al

 

[Tengu]

Oh, your being really harsh.

Hagglings part of the fun; I get grumpy when the seller refuses to haggle.

I see a lot of junk (some of it mind numbingly junk) but I find worthy bargains `most` days, last time I bought a nifty Blue Harbour (a M+S label) down waistcoat. This cost me £2 and I dread to think of what it would cost new. (I cannot afford new clothes and that is that. But at the car boot I can have all the fancy duds I want...maybe for 50p.)

Lets see, at the top of my head, over the years I have found...

4 vango force ten tents (1 one man, 2 two man and 1 three man)
Vango banashee tent
genuine british army khukri
that down waistcoat
swedish snow boots
canadian parka (Qanuk brand)
big box archaeology mags
2 griddles
cast iron cooking pot
several boxes mixed games workshop figures
brand new converse baseball boots
black bin liner of horn and antler walking stick bits
the complete kit of a deceased model maker (Widow took £40 for six boxes of tools, fittings and kits, and went away rejoicing with an empty car)
a 1911 encyclopedia brittanica
several canvas frame tents (canvas and its mine!)
bulldog billy can set
woodburner made from a gas bottle
Alladin brand heater
several tilley lamps
cant recall how many cans of gas for my campng stoves (Which is why I have several stoves in my kitchen box, -I can use any gas)
several genuine Primus stoves
an Optimus 8b
a pair of reindeer antlers
huge set of cows horns
good quality laptop bag (80p)
leather fjallraven rucksack

Im sure there are lots more but I cant recollect them.

The local car boot here are run by Car Boots Cornwall, and now its past easter theres pretty much one every day...but they do charge 50p to get in. However they are well managed and the sellers are allowed to set up before the buyers are let in.

So, all praise to Car boots and those who frequent them!

 

[ateallthepies]

I'm not really against haggling (I'm useless at it!), just people who want stuff for nothing. Would rather give the items away on forums than be taken for a mug by people who don't even have the courtesy to thank you afterwards.

I guess I'm just grouchy 'cos I never have any luck at car boots

Edit: 50p to get in lol.... £3 before 9, £2 after or a quid after 11 when everything has gone here!

 

[Coldfeet]

There is a good one near where I used to live, but too far to go now. I'm still to find a good one locally. I do like mooching around and hunting out a bargain.

 

[plastic-ninja]

I agree with the OP on the whole.
Having said that I know I'm going to have to do a boot sale to get shot of loads of "junk" from my parents' house.
If its stuff I don't want I guess I shouldn't be precious about it, but the guys who try and rut round in the back of your car before you even get chance to set a table up really irritate me.
I've had my share of bargains at car boots over the years but I'm never rude or insulting.I don't mind paying a fair price and if I think it's fair I won't haggle.I only go and look at stalls if we are there with one of our own.
My patience is usually exhausted after a couple of boot sales so whatever's left ends up in the charity shop.Seems to work ok.
Cheers and happy booting,
Simon

 

[Tengu]

Oh, I wont be buying off you, not if you dont want to see me grumpy.

Have a word with the organisers about being harrased, or come to Cornwall.

 

[Zingmo]

A neighbour of mine is an old hand at the car boot game. When selling, he will arrive with his stuff but get out and lock the car without setting up shop. He will have a gander at the other stalls and just wait until the vultures have moved on. Then he can set up in peace.
He taught me to categorise each stall: traders selling new tat, resellers of old tat who want to make a profit on what they paid for it, and those whose primary aim is to get rid of what they have brought. Bargains are mostly found in this last category.

Z

 

[moocher]

I do exactly the same park up,and go for a walkabout,then when they have moved on,I walk back and setup .and woe betide anyone try's to poke around in back of my vehicle.