10 Best Things to Buy at Car Boot Sales to Resell

What are the best things to buy at car boot sales to resell? Car boot sales can be great places to find hidden gems and bargains. However, amidst all the trash, how do you spot the valuables?

I’ve been selling at car boot sales since I helped my mother as a child. Having seen everything, I figured out what sells online and what doesn’t. Now, I share my findings with you!

1. Jewellery

Jewellery is one of the classics. However, you have to know what to look for. People may mistake genuine gemstones for fake ones and sell them for cheap. On the other hand, you have sellers with fake jewellery claiming them to be real.

Learn how to distinguish authentic jewellery from fakes before heading to a car boot sale. My best achievements with reselling jewellery include:

Item	Bought for	Resold for
Agape Isis Necklace	£5.00	£29.00
Monica Vinada Corda Fine Chain Friendship Bracelet	£20	£100

2. Computer and Video Games

Games are profitable for resellers for one or more reasons:

• Games that are not available for sale in the UK
• Limited editions
• Good games that are not produced anymore, so few people want to sell their copies

Thus, if you know computer and video games well, you can find gems easily. Beware of scammers trying to sell broken games. Always open the box to check the game. Here are some great games I bought and resold:

Item	Bought for	Resold for
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance	£10.00	£29.00
Disgaea 3: Absence Of Justice	£1.00	£15.00

3. Clothes

Clothes are an all-time best-seller. Focus on branded pieces that still have the original tag. Everything else is difficult to resell except for fancy vintage pieces. There are many places online where you can sell clothes for cash. Even if your clothes have an odd style, you’ll find the right audience online.

Some of my best achievements with reselling clothes include:

Item	Bought for	Resold for
LuisaViaRoma Gimaguas Sora cotton long dress	£5.00	£55.00
Artknit Organic Cotton A-Line Top	£10.00	£65.00

4. Lego

Lego is one item that retains or increases in value as it ages. Nowadays, most people know about the value of Lego. However, you can still find some sellers selling Lego cheaply.

Professional resellers may ignore Lego sets due to the risk of missing pieces. When you buy a Lego set at a car boot sale, telling if all the pieces are present is tricky. Few people know that you can order replacement bricks online. These pieces only cost a few pence. Thus, you can still sell the sets for a profit once completed.

Personally, I stay away from Lego because I don’t like counting the pieces. But if that doesn’t scare you, you can make a good profit.

5. Cosmetics

Many sellers offer cosmetics at discounted prices on car boot sales. If you are in luck, you can find a real bargain. Just ensure the product still has its original seal in place. Scammers often try to sell fake cosmetics. Examine the product carefully to ensure it is genuine. Unused cosmetics are also one of the best household items to sell for quick cash.

Great cosmetics I bought and resold include:

Item	Bought for	Resold for
Sephora I Need a Nude Eyeshadow Palette	$20.00	£40.00
CHANEL LES 4 OMBRES BYZANCE	£10.00	£30.00

6. Unique and Rare Items

Unique and rare items are hard to find. One way to find them is to keep your phone with you. If something catches your eye, look it up immediately. According to the Eastern Daily Press, rare items include:

• Retro items such as Furys or N64s
• Records from the mid-90s
• Le Creuset homeware
• Old electronics such as Super VHS video recorders
• And more

I avoid rare items because I am never lucky enough to find any.

7. Collectables

With collectables, collectors will often pay more than the item is worth to add it to their collection. You may think of collectors as old eccentrics, but collecting is actually common. In a UK survey of 2000 adults, 83% of participants admitted to collecting or having collected something at some point.

If you see items commonly collected on a card boot sale, buy them cheaply and resell them online. Collectors not local to the car boot sale can then purchase the items. Common collectables are:

• Antiques – I stay away from these
• Toys
• Coins – I stay away from these
• Comic books
• Stamps – I stay away from these

Reselling collectables requires knowledge. For me, I can often gauge if a toy or a comic book has good reselling value. Everything else, I stay away from. I still made some okay resells, though:

Item	Bought for	Resold for
Mattel-X6999 Hot Wheels Vehicles Pack 9	£6.00	£15.00
Barbie Ancienne Collection Muse	£5.00	£35.00

8. Watches and Clocks

The risk of buying a faulty item or being scammed is low with watches and clocks. If it ticks, it works. If it does not, you can pass on it. Watches and clocks also do not depreciate.

So far, I haven’t made any great resells with watches or clocks. I usually manage a small profit, but nothing to brag about.

9. Electronics

When buying electronic appliances at car boot sales, assume they are broken. Even if the package is unopened and sealed, it may be a scam. That said, you can still make money from reselling them. If they are cheap enough, you could take the item apart or sell it whole for spare parts.

For example, I once bought a projector for as little as £5. I only wanted the HDMI cable, so it didn’t matter that the projector was broken. New HDMI cables cost around £10, so I saved money. If you are tech-savvy, you can also repair faulty electronics.

However, I don’t tend to buy electronics for reselling. They are often heavy and take up too much space.

10. Books

With books, you have to be careful with what you buy. Many sellers offer books for low prices. If you grab the right ones, you can sell them for a profit. I once bought a book for £1 and sold it to an online book-buying website for £30. The books you want to look out for are:

• Textbooks
• Rare books
• Books with the author’s signature

The book I bought and re-sold was a textbook on Photoshop. Textbooks often retain some of their original values. Unaware of this, car boot sellers may toss them in the sale together with novels.

Rare books are another valuable book type. As an amateur, it may be hard to spot rare books among the other books. If you want to target rare books, it may be worth specialising in them.

Books with a signature also have more value than other books. However, opening all books to find signatures is a waste of time. If you come across one, buy it. If not, do not spend time searching for them.

Here are some big resells I made:

Item	Bought for	Resold for
Adobe Photoshop CC Classroom in a Book (2015)	£1.00	£30.00
Life: The Science of Biology (2016)	£4.00	£35.00

Tips for Buyers at a Car Boot Sale

1. Be Aware of the Competition

Car boot sales have many terrific bargains. This is not a secret. Expect many other resellers to search for valuables at a car boot sale. To beat the competition, you have to get up early. If you are the first buyer at the car boot sale, you can get ahead of other resellers.

2. Be Patient

Buying the next best item you see can be tempting if you are new to reselling. However, there is no use in buying things you are not sure you can resell. This is a waste of money.

To find the best items, visit different car boot sales. Once you become more experienced, you will develop an eye for valuables and spot them quickly.

3. Be Thorough

Most people who sell at car boot sales already tried to sell their items online. This is because selling online is much less effort than transporting items. Thus, the best items to resell may not be immediately apparent. One approach is to target older sellers who may not be familiar enough with the internet to sell online.

4. Know Where to Go

This may seem obvious, but you need to know where the car boot sales are. Check the car boot sales UK directory for an overview of all car boot sales. Look at local online communities to see whether it is worth going. Many recurring car boot sales also have a website.

How Much Money Can You Make With Reselling from Car Boot Sales?

How much money you can make from reselling depends on two factors:

• How much time you put in and
• How experienced you are

There are only a limited number of car boot sales, which limits your earnings. If you also source items from other places, you can make an extra £200 per week or more.

Frequently Asked Questions

Best Things to Buy at Car Boot Sales to Resell Summary

Car boot sales are a place to find hidden gems and valuable items. If you want to find the best things to buy at car boot sales, try the following items:

1. Jewellery
2. Computer games
3. Clothes
4. Lego
5. Cosmetics
6. Unique and rare items
7. Collectables
8. Watches and clocks
9. Electronics
10. Books

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