After walking round my local car boot sales this morning in the wind, rain and dark, I came up with these 5 car boot sale tips for buyers;

Get there early

It is essential that you get to your chosen car boot as early as possible. If there are sellers who have already unloaded their cars by the time you get there (dealers excluded), then you should be ideally getting there even earlier.

My reasoning for this is simple – If people are putting goods out on their table while you are not there, then someone else could be buying them instead of you.

This is not to say that you can never find anything later on – Infact I have done quite well visiting a car boot shortly before the sellers started packing up. Last minute reductions are very common as sellers try and avoid taking anything back home with them. As a result goods that appear overpriced at the start of the morning can end up being bargains by lunchtime!

Be Assertive

Car boot sales are a very competitive place so you need to make sure that you are assertive in your buying. If you see something you are interested in, pick it up immediately and don’t hesitate. This may sound rather obvious but I have seen many items lost by someone who was too casual in picking it up to have a closer look.

In addition, If you see something in the back of a seller’s car, don’t walk off and hope it will still be around when you return 5-10 minutes later. Ask the seller politely if you could have a look at it and more often than not, they will more than happy to get it for you.

Be Persistent

The grass may always look greener on the other side, but most of the time it isn’t. It may look like your rivals always seem to be buying all of the best items, but they probably think the same about what they see you walking off with! You can’t buy everything you want at a car boot sale and you should ensure that you are focused on your next great find, and not what your rival has just picked up at your expense.

You should also always follow up on your competitor purchases on a stall by politely asking if the seller has anymore of that item. There has been a number of occasions where I have actually walked away with much better items than my competitors, when the seller digs out another hidden gem!

Haggle

Car boot sale prices are rarely set in stone, and sellers usually accept less than their original asking price for their items. So it stands to reason that to maximise the amount of money you can make, you should always try and get goods for the lowest possible price.One effective bargaining tactic is to offer a price lower than you are willing to pay, then, if the seller rejects it, you offer to meet them half way between your original offer and their desired price. Most of the time the seller accepts as they think they have managed to make you pay more than you originally wanted to.

That said, you should remember that sellers have to pay for their pitch and petrol to and from the car boot, so unscrupulous haggling is not recommended.

Get Talking

Car boot veterans are certainly a competitive bunch, but most are quite friendly. It is highly desirable to start talking to as many of them as possible in order for you to learn as much as possible. Once you get to know people, they will start to tell you about the items they have found as well as the things they have missed out on recently. This can help your own game considerably by raising your awareness of goods to start looking out for.

There is, however, no doubt that this tactic can also be used against you. Be wary of anyone taking too active an interest in what you buy, and offering to look out or buy these goods for you. Whilst this can initially be quite useful and profitable, they are usually only doing it to learn more about your niche so they will eventually become your newest rival, not an ally.

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