A man who paid less than £10 for items from a car boot sale has managed to turn nearly £100 in profit, all because of one big mistake the seller made that he took advantage of
Going to a car boot sale on the hunt for treasure is always a bit of a gamble. You never know what goodies people are going to be selling, and you can either walk out of the event with a huge haul or leave empty-handed. You have to have a good eye for hidden treasures and keen haggling skills if you want to pick up goodies for a fraction of their usual price – especially if you want to try and turn them over for a bit of profit.
But one man on Instagram has claimed he often gets away with finding bargains at car boot sales because of common mistakes that sellers make. Kev, who regularly shares videos of his car boot sale finds, posted a clip recently where he stated that it’s “awkward” when sellers ask him one question – as he knows he’s about to score himself a huge bargain.
In the clip, Kev is looking at two coloured glass dishes, and he asks the seller how much he’d be willing to part with them for. But then, the seller responds with a question of his own that puts Kev on the spot.
The seller asked: “What do you want to offer me for them?”
That put the ball firmly in Kev’s court, so he took a chance and told the seller he would give him £1 each for them. The seller agreed, and Kev revealed he later managed to sell just one of the dishes for £14.99 – making him a tidy £13 profit even before selling the second dish.
Next, Kev went to another stall that was selling an array of books priced at 50p for one book, or £1 for three. Among the books were at least 20 novels by Terry Pratchett, which in the seller’s deal would come to around £7.
Kev asked the seller if he would take £5 for all the Pratchett books as a cheeky saving, and the other man agreed, thinking he got himself a good deal by getting rid of some books he had no interest in keeping.
But Kev once again proved sellers should research the items they’re trying to get rid of. He showed recent eBay listings selling second-hand Terry Pratchett novel collections for at least £52, with some going for as much as £57. If he managed to sell his books on the higher end of the scale, Kev would still make over £50 in profit on the novels.
And the deals didn’t stop there, either. A third seller was also flogging a book that Kev was interested in, and after asking the seller how much it was, he was told he could have it for just 50p.
The book, Deliver Us From Evil by J.F. Sawyer, was sold for a whopping £27.99 on eBay, making Kev just over £27 in profit from just one book that he found among someone’s unwanted possessions.
In total, Kev spent £7.50 on his haul and has the potential to sell his items for just shy of £100 at £99.98, not including the second glass dish that Kev didn’t list a selling price for. That means that even before that last dish is sold, Kev is looking at a profit of over £90 – which isn’t bad for a day at the local car boot sale.
But the video served as a stark warning to people who are thinking of taking some of their unwanted items to a car boot sale, as you should always do your research on your items before parting with them for pennies.
One person commented: “Not pricing things gives people the chance to size you up and say whatever they feel like. I don’t entertain no prices. I walk away.”
Another added: “All those Terry Pratchett books for less than £10!” A third posted: “Today I have learned to find Terry Pratchett books.”
