car boot booty

[smojo]

My view is that unless you are prepared to give things away, boot sales are not the venue.

As a seller that's true. I always say if you offered to give something free, some folks would barter to get two! But as a buyer, there are some great bargains to be had. One man's junk is another man's treasure.

[Dexter's Shed]

One man's junk is another man's treasure.

that's what I yell when I see an interesting skip and dive in it

[oldclaypaws]

None of my framed prints sold even though they were priced below the price of the frame on its own.

I can beat that. At the craft fairs I used to do, one guy did all his own framing and sold originals at knocked down prices, he was virtually a watercolour factory. He had a small frame with a chip on the corner, so he stuck it out marked '£1'. An old biddy picked it up and brought it over to him- "Will you do it for less without the glass?" People, don't you just love them. (not).

[smojo]

I have been going to and doing car boot sales regularly since they started back in the 1980s. I see more and more traders around here. They wouldn't keep doing them if they didn't make money. There are many different buyers and it's all about your product. Most buyers are looking for bargains and have a limited budget. The majority are - people with young families looking for toys and clothing, old folks and browsers filling a sunday morning and looking for the odd item that takes their fancy, antique/junk dealers looking for a gem and of course, around here (Leeds/Bradford area), Asians and Eastern Europeans who will barter the pants off you. They are all mostly looking for cheap household goods, clothing etc. and sorry to say - probably 90% of them have little cultural taste or appreciation for quality bespoke goods. But amongst them will be the odd folks who are attracted to certain higher value and quality goods simply because they know what it would normally cost in a retail outlet. Again there will be very few interested in framed prints if they cost more than a couple of quid and match their furniture - wrong venue for that. But....lots of people there love gardening and know how much garden centres charge for plants and garden furniture, ornaments etc. So if your stuff is good and reasonably priced, you will get some interest. Even if they don't buy there and then, they might take a card and follow up later. Out of all the types for traders I see regularly, there are many selling diy and garden products. There was one stall I used to see regularly who just had a load of garden benches, seats, swings etc that he had obviously made himself. Generally niche market products need to be at niche market fairs etc, not boot sales but I do think garden furniture is in with a good chance.

[Dexter's Shed]

going off par a little, but many years ago working in a builders merchants, we had a room where all the broken bits went, one day my boss told me to take it all to the local tip, I took the 200 plus broken coloured toilet seats straight home, then that evening, sat putting good ones back together, some had broken lids, some seats, so all the broken bits removed and bits swapped over, I had around 200 two tone toilet seats, straight to the local east end boot sale, they sold like hot cakes to the Asian community

[smojo]

I was working away kitting out the street cabinets for a cable company. The guys who pulled the cables through the ducts used to dump the drawropes. Hundreds of metres of it. I used to take some back to my caravan where I was staying over and spend the evening untangling it and cutting into lengths while watching tv. I sold about £200 worth over a couple of years at boot sales. Literally "money for old rope"

[smojo]

Todays booty - 4 vintage scotch-eyed augers (no it's not a Glaswegian insult). Looked like a trader and when I asked the price I was expecting at least £3 each as they are a bit like rocking horse poo or expensive if you find them. "How many do you want" he said. "just one or two" I answered. If you take them all you can have them for £2 - the lot. Wehea.

[The Barrowers]

Hello What are they? B and T

[SimonFisher]

Hello What are they? B and T

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=scotch-eyed+augers&tbm=isch

[Terry]

that was a bargain smojo.
Are they in decent nick or have they been abused?