BELL GREEN CARBOOT - DO NOT GO

[Four eyes]

Apologies if this has been raised before but I was so incensed by my experience last week, I had to post.

The carboot sale is advertised as busy and with a large indoor and outdoor space. It was anything but.

1)I drove my car in to set up... and then had to park outside and at a significant distance from the sale as there were no immediate spaces outside the sale itself. This defeated the object of a carboot sale for which I paid ?10 for the privilege of bringing my car. The above was then repeated when I had to leave. There was also limited space for a car to safely enter/exit.

2)My stall was swarmed by 8 people grabbing everything from my bags (unfortunately I was alone). They refused to pay decent money for anything and I ended up literally selling things for a quarter of the price just to get rid of them and my stuff. Subsequently I made ?29 in just over 3 hours (including the ?10 entrance fee). After the rush there was no one for over 2 hours...

3)The other stall holders made nothing as they (rightly) refused to budge from their prices. Of the other 4 stall holders around me, none were ever going to return citing Flamingos and Battersea as much better experiences. The other sellers were very friendly/supportive and none of us were selling hugely overpriced items.

On a positive note, the staff were friendly but save yourself the time, effort and money by going elsewhere.

[the_gamechanger]

You would do really badly on The Apprentice if you ever entered it

[????]

CAR BOOT - DO NOT GO, would have sufficed for me

[pommie]

I had a similar experience when I did it a few weeks back. When we arrived we were directed into the warehouse to set up which was fine but what annoyed me was that there was already buyers there going through our stuff. I had a run in with a guy who was trying to haggle my 50p price on brand new girls clarks shoes. I also had another one trying to put a pair of shoes in her bag without paying. Another one haggled over ?1 when I had already given her ?5 discount for bulk buy.

also because our car was parked outside situated behind another seller we had to sit in the car and wait whilst they took their time chatting and slowly packing up even though they could have actually movef

I haven't sold there again but I have been a buyer there and I very rarely haggle the prices as I understand people have to make a profit

[Cedges]

Overall this obviously doesn't sound like a great experience, especially as the OP clearly felt unsafe at one point but haggling is part and parcel of the car boot sales. My thoughts on some of the general car boot points made...

The simple rule is, if you want ?3 for an item, you price it at ?5, the buyer offers you ?2, you say no, they offer you ?3, you accept. You got the price you wanted, the buyer feels they have a bargain. Everyone's happy.

Additionally, there are 2 reasons for doing a car boot - 1) you want to get rid of stuff, some cash for it is a nice bonus or 2) you are looking to make some cash/profit.

Option 1 stalls are likely to be bargains but poorer quality stuff with the odd gem, if you are a bargain hunting shopper, these stalls are for you. Prices will get reduced during the course of the sale so you have to decide as a buyer if you want to get there early and get the better quality goods but pay more or wait until a bit later when everything gets reduced as the seller realises they are in danger of taking too much stuff home.

Option 2 stalls also do well to embrace the haggling friendly pricing strategy but are less likely to make silly bargains or reduce prices as the sale wears on as they are probably willing to bring a load of goods next time in the hope of making cash.

There is obviously an Option 3 which falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, either in terms of just how desperate you are to make space/cash or for the fact that you have a mix of goods, some quality worth holding out for a decent price and some junk you just want rid off. I am normally this kind of seller.

In honesty it does annoy me when as a buyer, the seller refuses to budge on a price at all. Equally as a seller, it bugs me when folk get antsy with you for not giving them a ?3 good (marked at ?5) for 24p. As with most things in life, a happy medium with a dash of sensible and common sense would seem to be the thing to aim for!

Also - ?10 for a pitch! Ouch! But then I do boot sales its in a massive field in the North East where the whole town (seems it anyway) goes to any/all of the 3 massive sales on a Sunday morning so I guess that's why I only ever pay a fiver. I'd never come across a sale that you had to pay to go in as a buyer until I lived here...Dulwich Hamlets one charged 50p and that always put me off having a mooch around. As a seller I'd look to only take a pitch where entry is free.

[Ruffler]

The Hayes Street Farm car boot sales in Bromley seem well organised and well attended. I've only been once as a buyer, so I don't know how much it costs to sell there, but I was impressed! http://www.hayesstfarm.co.uk/hayes-street-farm-boot-fairs.html