‘I SPENT £17.50 AT A CAR BOOT SALE AND WALKED AWAY WITH ONE ITEM WORTH £90’
NOTHING says British summertime more than walking around a muddy field full of cars early on a dewy morning. Car boot sales are a long-held tradition in the UK and, with second-hand shopping on the rise, the popularity they have lost over the years is starting to return.
I have visited a fair few in South Wales – some of which, like Cardiff’s famous Bessemer Road sale, are no longer up and running.
And while I stand by Carew Market in West Wales, which runs on a Sunday, being the best one out there, I fancied trying out one a little closer to home.
Hengoed Car Boot Sale runs every Thursday and Sunday, open to sellers from 7am and buyers from 8am, and I was majorly impressed by what I found when I went along earlier this month.
I spent a total of £17.50 and was extremely happy with my finds.
For a little side-hobby/hustle, I like to do a bit of reselling with Vinted and eBay so I went to the car boot with that in mind but also with the idea of picking up some bits for myself.
Upon arrival, I found a packed but relatively small field and was ushered in to park before making my way to the rows of sellers.
It is free entry for buyers which is great as you don’t want an entrance fee biting away at the pennies you have taken along to spend.
I arrived at about 8.30am, half an hour after it opened to buyers, and it was busy enough that there was a good buzz but it wasn’t so packed that there wasn’t enough room to look at each stall.
There was a really good mix of people selling their own items, as well as those who were more professional resellers with specific items they were flogging.
There was one stall with lots of antique decor, including brass candlesticks. I asked how much for a pair and they wanted £5, which is a really decent price for that particular item.
I’ve spent the best half of a year tracking down brass candlesticks for my wedding and they are really hard to come by second-hand in charity shops – and if you do they are quite pricey.
I managed to find some in a car boot last year for 50p each and recently managed to sell a pair for £15 on Vinted.
There was also a woman selling denim jackets that she had hand-sewn individual details on.
It was a classic market set-up but I doubt she managed to get what they were worth at a car boot sale as everyone just wants a bargain.
There was also an ice-cream van and I think a van selling hot drinks and food, which is great if you’ve skipped breakfast to make it there.
While I enjoy browsing the more seasoned “professional” sellers, it’s the people selling their own or loved ones’ old items I like to look at the most.
And this is where I spent most of the £17.50 I spent that day.
The first item I bought was a knitted/ crochet grey bag, in excellent condition, and it was just £1.
The seller was the first I spotted and they also had a table of jewellery and other bits I rummaged through.
It was there that I made the winning find of the day.
A small box of watches caught my eye and in there I found a silver and gold Olivia Burton watch.
I was familiar with the brand and knew they retail at between £70 and £150 so even though I couldn’t tell if it was working, I was really keen to pick it up.
The seller wanted just £3 for it – a real bargain considering I looked it up online later that day and the exact same watch retails for £90.
This is a piece I’m definitely going to keep hold of for myself though I still haven’t got around to trying a new battery in it to see if it works.
I also picked up two small-face vintage gold watches for £1 each.
You take a gamble when buying a watch at a car boot sale, as there really is no knowing if it’ll get working, but I don’t mind too much as I think they look great worn just as bracelets anyway.
I picked up another two vintage gold watches at a different stall, again for £1 each, taking my total spend so far to £8.
I then spotted a stall where a woman was selling what looked like the con
tents of her attic and could see lots of baby clothes.
I picked up a pair of vintage denim Baby Gap dungarees for £1.
I had said to my husband earlier that week that I’d love to source vintage kids’ clothes to sell so was really pleased with this find.
A quick look online shows these can sell for anything between £10 and £25.
Next I rummaged through a pile of clothes that were laid out on a piece of tarp and I found a blue-striped Zara shirt, the exact same as one I happened to be wearing, and the seller wanted 50p.
I picked it up knowing that either my mother or my sister would happily rehome it.
This took my spend to £9.50.
The final decent discovery of the day was a Lego Duplo train set, which the seller asked £3 for.
It came in a box and looked like it had hardly been played with.
If anything, I would have been happy with a few extra pieces to add to my son’s collection but when I got home there were no blocks missing from the set. And it costs £17.99 brand new. My total now stood at £12.50.
Among those selling off their own clothes, I spotted a stall with £5 Amazon mystery bags.
I’ve seen videos of people opening Amazon mystery bags that seem to be quite popular at car boot sales these days and decided to take a punt on one.
People who sell these have usually bought a pallet of returns and this is one way they can flog the items that they might not be able to resell.
Though the contents of the bag would clearly add up to more than £5 if ordered individually on Amazon, I don’t think it is something I would bother purchasing again.
In my Amazon mystery bag there was a yoga block. I’ve looked online and it looks like it is one out of a set of two which retails for £9.
That was probably the best in the bag followed by a pack of four freezer bricks, which you could probably buy for around a fiver.
The other half-decent item was a gift set of handbag accessories made up of a keyring, a pen, a mirror and a notepad. I can’t find anything comparable online but I imagine it would cost around £8 to £12 new.
I’ll probably donate this to the local school for use in a raffle.
Then I was left with two pieces of baby clothing, which had clearly been worn as they were stained, and two ladies vests, which also looked like they had been worn. There was also a pair of cheap flip-flops.
So while these items might have a use to someone else, they’re all items I wouldn’t have bought individually for myself.
They also hold very little resale value so I’ll just be donating them to the charity shop.
For some people it might be worth taking a gamble and seeing what you get, and I’m sure some do fall lucky, but I think I will stick to more intentional purchases moving forward.
Finally, I did one last lap before heading home and I picked up three Jacqueline Wilson books for my niece that someone was giving away for free.
I spent an hour there in total and was home by 10am. A well-spent morning out.