Car boot sale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Car boot sales are a mainly British form of market in which private individuals come together to sell their unwanted items. In U.S. terms, a car boot sale would be considered somewhere between a garage sale and a swap meet. Though garage sales are not unknown in the UK, car boot sales are much more popular.
They are often held in the grounds of schools and other community buildings, or in grassy fields or carparks. Usually they take place on weekend mornings. Sellers pay a nominal fee for their pitch, and arrive with their goods in the boot (trunk) of their car. Usually the items are then unpacked onto folding trestle tables, a blanket or tarpaulin, or simply the ground. Entry to the general public can be free or chargeable. Advertised opening times are often not strictly adhered to, and in many cases the nature of the venue itself makes it impossible to prevent keen bargain hunters from wandering in as soon as the first stallholders arrive.
They are used to sell unwanted household goods, ranging from old books, records, videos, toys, stamps, coins, through to radios, old computers, ornaments, tools, clocks, furniture, kitchenware, and clothes. However, a number of commercial sellers often make an appearance, selling vegetables, or new goods such as tools, toys, batteries, ornaments and fittings, paper, pens and stationery. Almost everything is sold at knock-down prices ranging from 10p to 50p for books, through to several pounds for the most expensive items.
Anyone can turn up at a car boot sale to sell their items, whether a first-timer, a regular, or a seasoned professional. To secure the best pitches, it is best to turn up very early, e.g. from 7AM. Often amateurs will bring a car load of junk to sell when they move home, or clear out the home of a deceased relative.
No guarantees are given in a car boot sale and if something does not work private sellers are not bound to much of consumer law. The rule is caveat emptor - 'let the buyer beware'. However, if you are a seller and describe goods in any way and that description proves to be false, you will be obliged to give a refund or replacement or reduce the price to reflect the misdescription or misrepresentation. So if someone tells you it works and it doesn't you will, in theory, get your money back (if the seller hasn't packed up and gone home!).
The fun of a car boot sale is that you never know what you will find of use in someone else's junk. Mostly it is just everyday junk that can be found, but occasionally stories have made the papers of antiques or paintings being bought for a few pounds in a car boot sale and then sold in auction for thousands. Film collector Gordon Hendry, for example, purchased two episodes of the television series Doctor Who on 16 mm film at a sale in the early 1980s, paying £8 each. He later found that they were the only known surviving copies of these episodes (see Doctor Who missing episodes).
It is not unknown for stolen goods or pirated videos/DVDs to be sold at car boot sales.
The World's first 'Boot Fair ' or 'Boot Sale ' was held at Nepicar Farm, Wotham Heath, Kent in September 1980. The title or name 'Boot Fair ' was coined by the originator and organiser, Barry Peverett, in order to create the curiosity that ultimately ensured that Car Boot Sale events became a run-away popular success and a burgeoning nation-wide weekend activity.
