car boot sales - worth it?

[Willow33]

Hi
I am having a clear out. I have lots of bath sets eg Body Shop, Baylis and Harding and other lesser known brands but it's stuff I don't really use. I looked on Ebay and those items aren't really shifting.
So is it worth selling them at a car boot sale? Its not going to be worth it if I only get 50p or £1. In which case I may as well give it away. However, could do with the dosh.

What else have you got to sell?
Really it's about volume. If you sell 100 items for a pound, then yes, it's worth it. If you haven't got much to sell, I would wait for a bit.

You won't get much more than a quid for gift sets.

You need loads of stuff to make any money really.

Mmm...thanks. I will c if I can get more stuff together then.

Agree you need a car load. We normally fill my car right up and make about £100. We have an annual clear out. Where we get rid of all our tat. The one thing I would say is to put everything in. Sometimes we take stuff that I think will never sell, and it gets snapped up whereas some of my really expensive stuff generates little interest.

If you've got stuff of value, it worth ebaying them first. I always find that things you could make £5 - £10 on eBay will only go for a pound or two at a car boot. People really want to get things as cheap as possible at da boots.

I have found clothes (ESP Children's) sell well at car boots. So this is worth doing.

Da boots = car boots!

No - if you sell something for 2p people will say I'll give you 1p for it, in my experience.

You could always give them to other people as gifts?

Alternatively, as a regular car boot goer, I like to buy clothes for me & kids, toys & furnishings mainly.

The hours standing around is worth less than minimum wage. You have to get up early on a weekend and put up with people pouncing on you as soon as you park up wanting to buy your stuff at a knock down price then sell it themselves for a bit more. It's freezing cold, the toilets are never near and if you are on your own you have a bit of a problem. The smell from the burger vans make you feel sick too.

Agree! It's just not worth it. Advise re gifting too.

I think it's worth it as a one-off - I've done it twice in the past 4-5 years to get rid of stuff that I couldn't be bothered to sell on eBay and made about £100 each time - I didn't stand there all day though, only for about 3 hours each time. The rest went to the charity shops on the way home. But stuff sells best at the 50p/£1 mark so definitely better to go for quantity over quality. Shoes sell obscenely well, clothes less so in my experience.

Last time I vowed never to do one again (south east) pounced on straight away, people fighting over duplo (with rubbish stories of grandsons wanting it - clearly professional carbooters) . Sold nothing at the price I set - hair curling tongs, boxed, never used for something like a quid. Etc.

I have sold these types of gifts sets on Ebay normally around Christmas time. October onwards if you can wait that long. I've done it the last 3 years and paid for almost all the kids Christmas.

Is it ever worth pricing it? Or, say, sorting some things into boxes worth 20p, 50p etc? Then have the rest plonked on the table?

I can never think on my feet quick enough when people ask me the price.

Meglet I tend to avoid stalls that have priced things up. Makes me think they would be unwilling to negotiate & I like to feel I'm getting a bargain You could always have a list of prices so you know what you want for each thing, but always ask for more than you'll take eg £3 if you'll actually take £2.

I'm thinking of doing one next weekend, I've got a boot load, if I get £100 for it I'll be happy, I really can't be arsed with ebaying!

How did you do soooper?
I have given stuff away now and am trying to work out if ebay is worth it now after insertion fees etc...