Car boot sales - what not to do?

Olhos d'Água, Algarve -the smallest market I've ever seen!

In my opinion, success at an open air car boot sale anywhere depends on preparation and luck. You can have prepared your sale very carefully, but if it rains or the visitors haven't come to buy the items you have there you may just have a flop.


There is nothing you can do about the weather or luck but you can and must take care of the preparation side of things.


Here is a my shortlist of what not to do:

• go to bed late the day before,
• oversleep on the day,
• wait until the day to pack the car,
• get to the site after every other seller and take up an obscure place that nobody else wanted,
• forget to take a groundsheet and/or a table to keep all your items on display,
• overlook the need to observe the competition and see what sells and how much you can realistically expect for your items.

Having said this, you can still make all these mistakes and have fun, as someone found out recently! Just don't expect to sell much!