How to make a profit at a car boot sale

Car-boot sales can be quite a profitable way of turning your unwanted items into a bit of extra cash. Obviously they have the added advantage that you might get a bit of living space back as well. Personally I’ve found that this second aspect isn’t as useful as it could be as I just seem to fill it again with more things
So, how to do a car-boot sale and be successful. My first tip would be do not spend any money while you’re there! After all, you’re trying to make money, so take along a sandwich or bit of fruit to eat, a flask of tea or cold drinks to sustain you through the day, and resist the temptation to wander round and ‘just see what other people have on offer’. (Don’t forget to take some loo roll too! Lots of bootsales have porta-loos these days, but they’re not always very clean, and often have no paper left by the end of the day, so make sure you take your own, - I personally also take a little can of hand sanitizer too in case there’s nowhere to wash my hands!)

Planning your stall is pretty important too I think. It’s all very well to just take all your junk along and throw it on a table and hope for the best, but are people going to come and take a closer look if you do that? Are they going to notice that wonderful item if it’s tucked away behind 3 half broken radios and a large vase? So, The day before you do the boot sale, think about what you will need to take – Do you have a table big enough to put everything on? If not, then could you borrow another one, or make do with a piece of tarpaulin to put some of the more durable items on. Do you want a cloth to cover your table? Do you have larger items that you can’t bring? – if so it’s often worth typing the details up and printing them on a nice bright piece of paper to stick to the table or car while you’re there. You never know what might appeal to someone, and I’ve sold a few items this way myself.

Is everything boxed so you can get to it – People who visit car boot sales tend to be a bit intense in trying to see what you’ve got the moment you open your boot, so the more organised you are the better things will be likely to go. Some of my biggest sales are often at the very beginning like this, so don’t be to hasty to send them away while you get things out onto the table, but at the same time, do stay firm and ask them to step back a little to let you get things out of the car at least.

One thing I find is best when you’re doing a boot sale, is to keep the money in a pot in the car on the seat. Wind the window by that point down, and then lock the car. Now the only access point to the money is by you behind the stall, and the rest of the car is locked so no-one can get in and steal anything. This might sound a little over the top, but you’d be amazed how many times I’ve heard of people having things like their handbag or wallet nicked from the car while they were doing a stall. Simple answer… Don’t take them with you!! Instead just take a pot or money belt with your float in it – incidentally with regards to the float, LOTS of change is a good thing. I normally go for a float of around £2. in 20ps, £3 in 50ps, £15 in £1 coins, 2x £5 notes and 1x £10 note so a total of £40 float. You don’t want to be losing sales because you have run out of change.

The final thing I can suggest to make your day more fun and hopefully more profitable is SMILE! If you’re friendly and chatty with people, and engage them in conversation, then you are far more likely to have people who come and look at your stall stay, chat and probably buy something, than you will if you are dour and stern of face and sit or stand there saying nothing. People are out for a bargain, but they’re also out for a bit of a fun morning or afternoon usually too remember.

By Suki Bryson