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When Britain went into recession in the 1980's, the Sunday Car Boot Sale turned
from being a simple fund raising event into a full-blown commercial activity as
people tried to turn their junk into hard cash.
As the economy recovered the culture of the Boot Sale remained and has become a
familiar weekend event in many places across the country attracting thousands
of sellers and potential buyers each week.
If nothing else, the legacy of the 1980's is that people realised that their
junk, cluttering up attics, garages and sheds, was actually worth money to
other people. And its not just furniture and antiques, as was the case years ago, which are
commodities which can be sold; I'm continually stunned by some of the rubbish
which is so eagerly snapped up by purchasers.
But amidst the rubbish there are still gems to be found. Admittedly this is all
subjective, one man's rubbish is another's item of treasure, but there is so
much on sale now that it's hard to find nothing that's wanted or useful.
The best bargains to be found are those on the stalls of people who come to Boot
Sales once or twice a year, after all, not everyone accumulates massive amounts
of unwanted items each week and the cost of entry for sellers is quite
expensive these days. Those who attend events only infrequently, or possibly just the once, do so to
get rid of their rubbish; they don't want to take it home, there's a good chance
they're taking what ever is left at the end straight down the dump, so they are
often selling at low prices just to get rid of the stuff, cover the cost of
admission and, hopefully, making a bit of a profit.
This means that many sellers under-sell the items they have and quite a few seem
to have little knowledge about the value of items they are selling, especially
if it's an unwanted gift from someone else. Which is good news for the punters who are out looking for bargains.
If you attend enough Boot Sales, it's almost certain that you will find
something which catches your eye at a price which you are willing to pay.
Although it's not in the British nature to haggle or barter over goods, it's
amazing how quickly most people can pick up the art when they're looking for a
bargain. Over the years I have been attending Boot Sales, most Sundays, except when the
weather is so bad there's unlikely to be any sellers, and consequently little
by way of bargains ( although sellers are often desperate then to shift goods
just to cover admission costs ), and have found many items of interest.
Some of the excellent purchases I have made include ( prices in GBP ) ...
| Cost |
Description |
List Price |
Saving |
Lifestyle Enhancement |
40.00
2.50
0.20
0.50
|
Nokia Mobile Telephone ( including 30.00 SIM )
Spare Nokia Phone Body ( no battery )
Spare Battery
Spare Battery Charger
The Nokia 2140, the first Orange phone, may look like a Cortina compared to
modern designs, but, for those of us who dislike curvy buttons and designs with
more style than functionality, it's a classic piece of engineering and a very
capable phone. Suitable for connection to Orange's Just Talk service, with
unlimited voucher lifetime and no service charges, it makes an ideal emergency
phone which can be kept in the car without worrying about its loss. Although it
has a rather short talk and standby time, emergency use means it is powered off
most of the time. Second-hand spare batteries add extra capacity, cheaply, and
a spare phone body makes charging and discharging spare batteries easy.
| 50.00
40.00
10.00
10.00
| 10.00
37.50
9.80
9.50
|
| 7.00
|
BT Renown 1-to-4 Telephone Exchange
Why would anyone want a telephone exchange ? Well, if you have kids and you are
fed up of shouting that their dinner's ready it's a neat solution. And the
same's true if you have a garden shed; even better, you can have a 'live' phone
in the shed and no one can break in and use it for making outside calls if it's
programmed correctly. It also provides an ideal way of testing modem links
between two computers without having to use proper telephone lines and the
associated costs of calls. | 80.00
| 73.00
|
| 5.00
|
10 x BT Telephone Sockets This mix of single and dual, master and slave telephone sockets are genuine BT
parts and have proven to be ideal for wiring in extensions around the house;
master sockets can easily be converted to slave sockets. | 25.00
| 20.00
|
| 1.50
|
Holographic Image of Dentist Drilling Teeth
This A5 sized holographic image was of extremely high quality and made an
excellent birthday present for a friend. In terms of cost to value ratio, it
has been the most impressive find to date and stands as a testimony to how
sellers can undervalue what they consider to be junk. | 120.00
| 118.50
|
| 3.00
|
High-Visibility, Waterproof, Safety Jacket
This is the sort of jacket used by emergency services and road construction
workers. It is padded, lightweight, definitely waterproof and warm and is
ideal for outside use in inclement weather. It is rather bulky but ideal in
most cases where it can be carried in a car. | 30.00
| 27.00
|
Audio Visual Equipment |
| 100.00
|
Sanyo 8mm Camcorder | 200.00
| 100.00
|
| 4.00
|
Citizen 1.5" Colour LCD TV with AV input
Although the screen is slightly scratched, the damage is unnoticable in normal
use and, with its AV input, makes it an ideal colour monitor for a camcorder. | 60.00
| 56.00
|
3.00
1.50
|
Audio Visual Mixer
12V/800mA Power Supply
It's not top of the range and doesn't offer much more than the ability to mix
audio from a camcorder, microphone and an external music source, but it is a
great leap forward in video production allowing background music and
voice-overs to be added to otherwise mundane footage. | 25.00
| 20.50
|
| 24.00
|
12 x 6V/1800mAh Camcorder Batteries They may have been two to three years past their sell-by dates but these
batteries charged up first time and are giving upwards of one hour's use
each. | 180.00
| 156.00
|
| 12.00
|
12 x 6V/10W Tungsten Halogen Camcorder Lights
Designed to fit between a camcorder and its battery to provide lighting whilst
filming, these units also work as adaptors between Sony and Panasonic style
batteries and camcorders and can be used as very cheap, powerful rechargeable
torches for camping or emergency use. | 120.00
| 108.00
|
| 8.00
|
2 x Camcorder Battery Chargers / Dischargers
Both are universal, any battery type, battery chargers which can be used in
a car, from a mains power supply or connected to rechargeable sealed lead-acid
batteries; ideal for discharging and recharging camcorder batteries on location. | 50.00
| 42.00
|
3.00
2.00
3.00
3.00
|
6 x Yuasa 12V/2.1Ah Batteries
2 x Panasonic 12V/7.2Ah Battery
Dryfit A500 12V/16Ah Battery
Hawker Energy 12V/26Ah Battery
Camcorder batteries are notoriously expensive, so why buy low capacity NiCad's
when you can get sealed lead-acid rechargeable batteries at this price ?
Building a converter for use with 6V equipment is simple and cheap and gives
massively extended operating times. The smaller, 2.1Ah, batteries are totally
portable whilst the others can be easily carried to film locations.
| 102.00
46.00
50.00
60.00
| 99.00
44.00
47.00
57.00
|
| 0.50
|
Music Cassette Carrying Case Not the most exciting thing to buy, even at a car boot sale, but three of the
above Yuasa 2.1Ah batteries are a perfect fit allowing them to be easily
transported around. | 5.00
| 4.50
|
| 5.00
|
Miranda Camcorder Tripod Complete with box and packaging, this mid-range tripod was in mint condition.
Even if it wasn't useful, it could be resold well above its purchase price. | 30.00
| 25.00
|
| 15.00
|
Tyco Video Camera This cheap looking black and white camera is sold as a toy but contains a small,
1" x 1" photodiode camera module and lens with composite video output which
plugs straight into a Scart connector and can be used as a covert surveillance
camera or webcam. | 75.00
| 60.00
|
| 2.00
|
Kodak DC50 Colour Digital Camera Digital camera technology has moved on rapidly in the past few years but this
is a fine example of a top of the range camera from five years ago and,
despite not having an LCD preview mode, provides almost everything one wants
from a simple digital camera; 700 x 500 pixel resolution, 24-bit colour,
up to 22 photo's in internal flash memory, a PCMCIA / Compact Flash interface
and serial port transfer capabilities. Complete documentation and transfer
software is freely available and downloadable from official Kodak sites. | 150.00
| 148.00
|
Computer Parts |
| 5.00
|
Amstrad 5286HD PC Base Unit The Amstrad PC is pretty old hat 8086 technology by today's standards but when I
discovered this minor gem, it was still quite capable of running many MS-DOS
games and word processing applications.
As a cheap component source it delivered up 4 x 1MB SIMM Memory Modules, a 40MB
IDE disk ( still quite large at the time ) and an FM sound card; all of which
went into existing PC's as upgrades at a very low cost. | 30.00
| 25.00
|
| 3.00
|
83MB IDE Hard Disk Drive Although 83MB can hardly be called large, and it was pretty small compared to
the 850MB disk I had installed in my PC at the time, it was an awful lot cheaper
to buy than a Zip Disk, let alone a Zip Drive, and has come in extremely useful
for moving reasonably large amounts of data between PC's and for temporary
storage when upgrading operating systems. | 20.00
| 17.00
|
| 4.00
|
2 x 4MB 72-Pin SIMM Memory Modules
With smaller 72-pin SIMM prices rocketing, as larger SIMM's became the standard,
these were a life saver in making an old 486SX33 capable of running Windows 95
and have turned, what would be, a redundant computer into a machine very capable
of running a limited Linux system. | 20.00
| 16.00
|
| 12.00
|
External 36600 Baud Modem | 40.00
| 28.00
|
| 3.00
|
Pace Linnet 34 fx, External Modem | 30.00
| 27.00
|
| 0.20
|
Hayes Dual Serial Port Interface Card
Can you think of a cheaper way to add two high speed, large FIFO, serial ports
to a PC ? | 20.00
| 19.80
|
| 1.00
|
5 x Dual Port RJ-45 Wall Mounted Sockets
Wiring in a home computer network properly can be horrendously expensive. Buying
network connectors at a fraction of the retail price cuts costs and allows home
made back-to-back and cross-over connectors to built as well. | 40.00
| 39.00
|
| 3.00
|
3 x Mains Power Transmission Modems
Designed to plug straight into a wall sockets of a ring main, these units allow
computers to communicate with one another without any other cabling. Although
they have not been as valuable or as usable as they could have been, as it's
been impossible to find any software for them on the internet; salvaging the
internal components ( mainly the numerous LED's and connector sockets ) has made
them a bargain buy. List price is new component cost. | 15.00
| 12.00
|
DIY |
0.50
7.50
|
240V/60A Mains Isolation Switch Box
240V 12-Circuit Fuse Panel with MCB's and RCD
If you're running electricity to a shed, you need some means of isolating the
supply at the house or shed end. And, whether its a shed or a house you're wiring up, proper isolation combined
with ELCB, MCB or RCD protection makes for a safe installation, but it doesn't
normally come cheaply. | 40.00
75.00
| 39.50
67.50
|
| 5.00
|
High Security Yale Dead-Lock You can buy this quality of security at your local DIY superstore; but not at
this price. | 50.00
| 45.00
|
| 10.00
|
50 x 80mm Window Frame Securing Bolts
Even the most mundane items people have for sale can save you a small fortune if
you need what's on offer. | 40.00
| 30.00
|
| 4.00
|
2 x Skirting Board Radiators Low wattage radiators aren't much use at anything other than adding a little
ambiant heat around the place; but they're excellent for garden sheds and
conservatories where their low current requirements make them ideal, and their
low wattage makes them a lot safer than other, traditional, alternatives. | 40.00
| 36.00
|
| 3.00
|
Flourescent Light Fitting and Tube
Still on the garden shed and conservatory theme; almost as cheap as a 100 watt
light bulb and fittings, and giving better illumination, a traditional type of
bargain - still in its original, unopened wrapping. | 20.00
| 17.00
|
| 3.20
|
16 x Assorted Wood Drills An almost complete collection of wood drills of all sizes from 2mm to 10mm; all
genuine Bosch items, mint condition in their packaging. | 30.00
| 26.80
|
Miscellaneous |
| 0.50
|
12V DC to 230V/120W AC Invertor Ever needed to run mains powered equipment when camping or from your car ?
Possibly not, but it's a small price to pay to have the capability should you
ever want to. | 80.00
| 79.50
|
Expenditure and Savings |
Ignoring the Camcorder ( 100 GBP cost, 100 GBP saving ), the Hologram ( 1.50
GBP cost, 118.50 GBP saving ) and the Digital Camera ( 2.00 GBP cost, 148.00
GBP saving ), I've spent about 200 GBP and have bought over 1,750 GBP worth of
goods, equating to a total saving of over 1,500 GBP.
Although it's always hard to put an actual 'full cost' value on items and the
savings made may be slightly greater or less than I have calculated, I think
they're pretty much in the right ball park. The 'list price' given is the price
I would have expected to pay, commercially, at the time I purchased the item.
As can be seen, tremendous savings can be made; on average, I've paid 10% of
'list price' on the items bought. Some are less of a saving but many are much
greater ( the Hologram and Digital Camera being the most significant ).
It's also fair to say that the actual savings are exaggerated because I've
bought things which I would have never thought of, or even needed to buy, at
full or even reduced price; that's true, but all the items listed above have
proved to be useful or have at least provided some entertainment or enjoyment
along the way. Comparing purchase cost against what I would have been willing to pay for each
item is perhaps a better reflection of savings which can be made; I calculate
that I have still achieved better than a 75% saving.
No matter how one looks at it though, a 200 GBP expenditure, spread over five
years, has brought an awful lot of 'value' items for less than the price of a
pint each fortnight. Car Boot Sales are an excellent place to find goods cheaply, often in good or
perfect condition, if you are prepared to spend long enough looking for what
you want. You can buy an awful lot of c--p cheaply, but you have to be patient if you are
looking for real bargains which are of genuine use.
It is however amazing what can be found, which others think is junk.
You might have to attend a lot of Car Boot Sales to find what you want,
and you have to look hard to see what's hidden away in old shoe boxes, but it
is almost certain that you will, one day, find something which makes all that
hard effort worthwhile.
Hints and Tips
Sellers
- Never sell faulty electrical goods; these can kill people and destroy
property.
- Wear warm and waterproof clothing. Wear suitable footwear; fields and
sites can often be muddy and waterlogged, even on sunny days.
- Don't push your stalls into the aisles as this is counter-productive. Buyers
won't have a chance to stop and look as the flow of people pushes them past. It
also annoys people who then won't care if they knock your goods on the floor
whilst passing.
- Make sure you have plenty of change and plastic carrier bags.
- Label all items with prices; people don't like asking the price of things
because they can't think of excuses not to buy when it's too expensive and
become embarrassed thinking they're offending the seller.
- Know the value of what you're selling, but be realistic. Decide what you'll
actually accept for an item.
- Make sure you know what it is you are selling or you could lose out on a
lot of money; other sellers may buy the item and resell it on their stall
at a much higher price.
- Expect people who will haggle and barter. Be firm about what price you will
accept and practice your, "No, I'm sorry, that's the least I'll take for it",
line.
- Don't be too eager to sell yourself short. If necessary, reduce your prices
during or near the end of the sale, some buyers may be waiting for the price to
drop.
- Selling expensive items can be difficult; buyers don't turn up with hundreds
of pounds in their pockets.
- Demonstrate an item works whenever possible; take batteries to demonstrate
electrical goods. Mains powered equipment won't sell easily if people suspect
that it won't work unless it's cheap.
- Mobile phones usually only sell if you can show the buyer that it will work
on a particular network. Having the charger, user manual and spare batteries
will help make the sale.
- Don't sell items which don't work unless clearly labelled as such. Be
honest; people will often buy broken or faulty goods if they believe they can
fix them and you will have a clear conscience.
- Put items in their original packaging and include receipts and user manuals
whenever possible. A genuine receipt increases an items perceived value.
- Don't just throw all your items into a pile on a table; buyers won't see
what they're looking for.
Buyers
- Don't buy mains powered electrical goods. Faulty electrical goods may
kill or injure you or your family or burn down your home.
This may seem hypocritical, given that I have bought a number of mains powered
electrical items myself ( see the above list ), however, I have had considerable
experience working with high voltage and live electrical equipment, I have the
facilities to test such equipment and everything was fully tested before
use. - Don't buy safety equipment. Second hand child car seats may not prevent
your child's death in an accident. Faulty safety goggles, filtration masks, hard
hats, welding masks and other personal safety equipment may fail to prevent
damage to your hearing, vision and person.
- Don't use car tyres, suspension parts or brake pads until they have been
checked by a garage and confirmed as fit for use. Faulty, dangerous, incorrect
and unsuitable parts can cause injury and death to car passengers and may
invalidate your insurance or lead to criminal charges.
- Sealed lead acid rechargeable batteries need a special charger and
cannot be charged using a car or bike battery charger; they are likely to
explode, cause injury or burn your house down.
- Don't take children or pushchairs; it annoys other buyers and makes it
almost impossible to move around. Banging your pushchair into other people's
ankles will often evoke an offensive, sometimes violent, response.
- Keep dogs on a lead. Preferably, don't take your dog at all as it annoys
other buyers, makes it difficult to move around and people will keep kicking
it or tripping over it or the lead.
- Wear warm and waterproof clothing. Wear suitable footwear; fields and
sites can often be muddy and waterlogged, even on sunny days.
- Take plenty of money if you are after more expensive items and take plenty
of change for smaller items. Take carrier bags to carry things home in.
- Try to have an idea of the sort of items you are looking for. Keep an open
mind about possible uses for things you see.
- Work your way round the stalls in an organised route. Retrace your route in
the reverse direction; you'll be surprised what you may have not seen from the
initial direction.
- It can often make sense to whiz around the stalls to see what's on offer
rather than doing the stalls slowly, one at a time, the last stall you get to
may be the one who sells items you are really interested in.
- Check what's in the boxes beneath the stalls; what sellers think is real
rubbish may be what you're actually looking for.
- Determine what you are prepared to pay for something before asking its
price. Don't be afraid to say, "I was expecting to pay ...". If something is
too expensive; just politely say, "No thanks", or, "I'll think about it", and
move on rather than be embarrassed. Don't appear too excited about an item unless
you are prepared to pay the asking price.
- Check later to see if prices have been reduced. Note the stalls which had
things you were interested in. Sellers often reduce prices as the sale
progresses.
- If you don't buy an item, someone else may. Be prepared to agree a price
or be prepared to see someone else take it whilst procrastinating. If you
miss out on an item; put it down to experience and refine your purchasing
scheme.
- Be prepared to accept that some things bought may not work. Ask to see an
item demonstrated as working or adjust what you're willing to pay accordingly.
- Don't automatically believe anyone who says they'll be there next week to
take an item back if it doesn't work. Try and get a receipt whenever possible
or a contact number for the seller; don't expect either to be overly useful !
- Check to see if an item has a user manual or identifying marks so you can
find out how it works or how to install it; you won't get far, searching the
internet for information, if you don't know what it is you've got.
- Don't buy a mobile phone unless you know it can be connected to a current
network. Check that it's a digital phone and can take a modern SIM card. Make
sure that the battery works and that it comes with a charger. A
mobile phone may be difficult to understand or program if it doesn't have a
user manual. Be aware that older phones often have much shorter standby and
talk times than newer models. Putting the phone on a network will incur
additional cost.
- Be careful when buying components for computers. Faulty components can cause
serious, irrepairable damage to the rest of your system. Don't destroy an
expensive computer for the sake of a few pennies; try components in an old or
spare computer first, whenever possible.
- Always check the sell by date on food and drink.
- Attending sales more frequently increases the chances of finding bargains.
It also gives you greater experience and fluidity in asking about prices and
in haggling and bartering.
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