Selling at Battersea Car Boot…

Guten Morgen mein lieblings!
A few weeks ago we gathered together all our unwanted things/junk and walked around the flat with the mantra ‘would I prefer to keep this or make money from selling it?’ (which works really well by the way) and crammed it all into our van to make our way to Battersea Car Boot!It was a brilliant day! Not only did the weather stay nice (there were some worrying moments where the rain threatened to ruin it all but luckily it stayed in the clouds!) but my whole family were there to help this time and it happened to be Stephen’s birthday so we were in high spirits, and most importantly – selling!

This was only half our selling stash!

My brother, who definitely can not play trumpet, bringing in the masses! We had lots of instruments and amps which I think stoked people’s interest.

I don’t like to brag but we made over £600 that day and that’s without selling many of our big ticket items and it really helped us afford our rent that month so I would highly recommend this to anyone that needs/wants to make a little extra… who I guess is going to be everyone! 😉 Also it was so much fun!!

Here are my top 10 tips for a good car boot selling sale:

1.  BE NICE TO EVERYONE! I can’t believe how many times I walk away from stalls because the people selling were rude to me – who’s going to buy from them?!
2. Make your stall fun! Mainly because we had my mad family galavanting around our stall but there was a lot of laughter and sillyness around our area which became infectious and we had a right laugh with the punters!
3. Be ready to sell at much lower prices then you anticipated! I go to car boots for a bargain so I have to be able to offer them too. I always start at a price that I would be happy to sell for less – there’s nothing like a good ole haggle!
4. Provide mirrors and always have plenty of change! Yesterday, as a punter there was something I really wanted to buy and the girl selling defiantly told me ‘we don’t have change’ which I found rather shocking as I had to get some myself and go back – most people would have carried on walking… it should be rule number one as when things get busy your customer will only be interested until they see the next stall so you have to be ready with change to those quick sales. And mirrors… well we sold our main one in the first 10mins which was great but I wish I had bought along a not for sale one so people could look at the hats and clothes they were trying on!
5. Meet your neighbours – mainly because it creates a much nicer atmosphere and you can look out for each other. Also in my case, at the end of the day that item that you have been staring at for the day on the opposite stall can be yours for much cheaper because you went over and introduced yourself first thing that morning… of course that wasn’t the reason but it sure does help!
6. Play music! It brings people to you and makes it much more enjoyable for everyone. We had a little speaker playing Buena Vista Social Club and it really added to the fun of the fair!
7. Bring bags – loads of them!
8. Be ready to sell sell sell – again we messed this part up by being a little disorganised! When we arrived, on time I’d like to add (people that know my constant lateness will understand why!) the early birds arrived to buy about 10mins after and it was mental – trying to set up a stall with people asking questions about everything and riffling through unpacked boxes and bags is a nightmare as all we wanted to do was have time to set up properly and make our stall pretty but we didn’t get time to do that until a lull an hour later. The problem with that is the first rush missed out seeing what was at the bottom of the boxes and not even out of the van yet. I wish I had already put the clothes of hangers so the moment the rail was up they could be hung.
9. BRING FOOD! Man we got hungry! By 2pm I was getting faint and wish I had another option to eat apart from the greasy fast food van round the corner but huge thanks to dad for getting us all tea and drinks. Water is essential!
10. Bring friends and family – I’ve said it before but the fun that we had at the stall made the whole day for me- I haven’t laughed so much in ages! Also you will need help and someone to man the stall so you can have a look around for bargains too!