Car Boot

[bonehead]

Well just wasted 1hr of my day at the local car boot. It's a big one with over 100 stalls every Sunday.

What a load of junk!!!! Only a few Xbox 360 games and PS3. Everything else I would have thrown away and not tried to sell. I understand it's a good place for some people to pick up cheap stuff but this stuff today was utter rubbish.

Sellers had the odd table to show off their stuff others had just put clothes on a wet muddy floor.

One guy was selling a petrol lawnmower for £80 rusty and dented. Same one was in Argos for £100.

Some people are idiots.

Don't think I will bother again.

 

[itruk]

Never had much luck with carboots myself. Always thought that the stuff they're trying to sell is the last chance before the tip!

Mucky, smelly and broken stuff.

 

[Chopper79]

The problem is everyone knows what everything is worth! Every single person, will be on ebay the night before, pricing up there stuff. I go to one of the largest bootfairs in surrey, and sometimes over 250 stalls, and I have come out empty handed, for the last year! It's all used kids toys, crockery, and dealers selling, filthy second hand goods...I haven't even seen a sega megadrive or games, for nearly 4 years!!! About 2 years ago, a guy was selling some, nintendo game watches, but wanted £80 each! Even charity shops, are cashing in on the retro market, with there locked cabinets, and £100 teapots! My partner, only last week, saw a pair of used kickers in a charity shop, for £140!!!! They were in one of there locked cabinets. Some charity shops, even get in professional valuers, to price up there stuff, so they can stick it on their ebay store..

 

[Bensonrad]

I used to come back with bag loads of stuff, last 2 years though, I'd rarely fill a carrier bag and that normally is 50p CDs or DVDs I fancy watching or listening too. Game wise, there is the odd flukey find, but that's very rare these days. Thing is the day I don't go will be the day, someone probably turns up with a boat load of retro, haha.

 

[DanP]

Gotta remember as well that the regular boot sale dealer types Hoover up anything good before the boot sale opens. Seriously, I did one a few years ago and a load of them just descend on your car/van like vultures as soon as you open it up. Also as mentioned, the retro cat is out of the bag now.

 

[RolyRetro]

Gotta remember as well that the regular boot sale dealer types Hoover up anything good before the boot sale opens. Seriously, I did one a few years ago and a load of them just descend on your car/van like vultures as soon as you open it up. Also as mentioned, the retro cat is out of the bag now.

Agree - I feel like I need a shower whenever I go! I'd rather stick needles in my eyes than go to a car boot these days.

 

[bonehead]

Well I won't be bothering again.

The egg roll was nice for breakfast!!!!

 

[big10p]

Yep, ebay has killed off much chance of finding a retro bargain these days. Same goes for charity shops.

 

[Milky]

The problem is everyone thinks they know what everything is worth!

Fixed it. The biggest problem is that people go to ebay, find their item, sort by highest price and boom; that is what it will go for in their minds.

Just look at all the expensive/the rarez BIN items that just get relisted over and over. They never sell, but they inadvertently set the expectation of "well that must be what it is worth" rather than "opportunistic idiot will never get that for it"

 

[stevebm1]

I know of someone who sold their whole stall for 50 quid a few years back,because they got fed up with standing in the rain,some of the crap they were trying to sell,was still on the stall of the person who bought the lot(a regular booter) six months later unsold

 

[Nes4life]

I did a car boot when I got married ten years ago and we sold every item for £1 or 50p and at the end 10p. Didn't matter what it was, we just wanted to get rid of the old tat. Best move was getting there early to get a pitch under the covered section. It poured with rain at about 11am and everyone came running inside; we sold basically everything in a mad rush.

Car boots are rubbish these days. If you're selling and you want eBay prices then you should just sell on eBay, otherwise make it cheap and get rid of it.

 

[bonehead]

As a rule we give most of our stuff to charity shops. Much easier and for a good cause. I remember when I did a boot sale with my kids and their baby stuff. They had all the money it made but went off and spent almost all of it buying more rubbish!!!

Charity shop or bin for me these days.

 

[dj_yt]

Boot sales were amazing in the 1990s pre eBay. Most of my record collection came from boot sales - records for 20p that now go for £100+ online. I wish I'd bought more.

I used to come home with boxes of retro games and computers every week. That being said this stuff was considered junk at the time and the retro thing was yet to be cool or desirable.

I agree with all the comments above - I haven't been to a boot sale in years now. May as well just buy it on eBay - at least you get PayPal protection and a seller rating!

 

[Chopper79]

Boot sales were amazing in the 1990s pre eBay. Most of my record collection came from boot sales - records for 20p that now go for £100+ online. I wish I'd bought more.

I used to come home with boxes of retro games and computers every week. That being said this stuff was considered junk at the time and the retro thing was yet to be cool or desirable.

I agree with all the comments above - I haven't been to a boot sale in years now. May as well just buy it on eBay - at least you get PayPal protection and a seller rating!

I bought a brand new in the box sinclair spectrum, about 10 years ago for £3! (Still have it). Used to come home with megadrive games, and records etc. I personally think all this stupid money stuff, started with the record collector book. It used to be only given to record stores, and then they started selling it in WHS. Suddenly everyone's records were worth thousands! I gave up buying records after that. I've been to over 20 bootfairs in the last 2 years, and not found a single mega drive game.

 

[Shinydaz]

I brought a beautiful bbc model B computer in its box, at a car boot for £10 around 5 years ago, wish I still have it. Don't waste my time now days.

 

[tin]

Same here used to love a boot sale, but the early hawks and eBay have ruined them. Went for a whole year of grabbed early morning Sundays with nothing much to show, and thought what the hell am I doing? Big shame.

 

[t-m]

I think most of my retro consoles and computers I picked up 10-15 years ago at auctions and car boots. Usually come away empty handed though these days, burger vans seems to be doing the most trade.

I did see a guy wanting £25 for a single Amstrad cpc game

But then I did pick up a Atari 7800 for £10 a couple of months ago so occasionally you can get lucky - but it's very rare!

 

[the_greeze]

...a pair of used kickers in a charity shop, for £140!!!!...

'Kickers' or knickers?!? I hope the former...

 

[Jase]

...a pair of used kickers in a charity shop, for £140!!!!...

'Kickers' or knickers?!? I hope the former... 

Hahahahaha! I misread it the first time too! I was going to empty her indoors drawer out and make a fortune!

 

[Steveylou]

I used to go to a few car boots every weekend about 10 years ago because they were amazing! The gaming stuff I'd come back with for next to nothing was insane thinking back about it. I'd find a boxed Mega Drive with a pile of games for £3, or a boxed Amiga 500 for £5. I once found a 3DO on a stall of junk with 2 games and a controller for £2! That wasn't me haggling either; it was just the price the stall holder wanted when I asked.

When I go these days they're generally rubbish. You can sometimes hit upon someone that just wants to get rid of stuff but it's becoming increasingly rare. Generally they've either searched eBay and decided that the PS3 version of Sonic Generations they have is worth £20 because, "it's the rare Essentials version" (this actually happened to me a few weeks ago) or, just as annoying, there are resellers that run to every car as it pulls up (before they've unloaded a single thing) and ask for gaming stuff. This happens a lot at the car boots near me and ultimately means that any cool stuff will be gone before anyone else gets a chance.