Boot Sale on Sunday

[simon]

Sydenham Community Radio is holding its first community car boot sale in the car park off Girton Road from 10am till 1pm on Sunday June 10. It’s £6 for sellers, and 20p for buyers, with proceeds helping to fund Sydenham Community Radio.

[sophie]

My car is packed! Just hoping the rain holds off.

[Postman]

Went and saw the 5 stalls today and was a tad disappointed! There needed to be more advertisment for this advent.

[sophie]

I made it there and was very glad the rain held off! I didn't sell very much so my car looks almost as full as when I went there and my house still looks like a hoarder's heaven! However, at least I covered the pitch fee and made a little bit of profit. @ Postman - I wonder if you bought anything from me ...

The next one is booked for 8th July so hopefully word will spread and there will be more people. I agree there should have been more advertising as, although the organisers said lots of leaflets were distributed, hardly anyone who stopped to chat at my stall said they'd heard about it. I heard about it by chance from perusing the STF the other day. I hope they manage to set it up as a regular monthly event as that way it will become well established. I didn't see any large posters for it and only saw the flyers today. If they could advertise it on a board in the car park itself I think that would be good.

The organisers have said that the cost next time round is going to be £15 but you get 2 parking spots. (They're offering a discount for people who went today which I think is a good idea - perhaps when it is established they could offer a discount each time on the next one as it would encourage people to book up in advance). I think £15 is a bit steep for a fledgling event still finding its feet, especially as they can't attract out of borough sellers. You need more than 1 parking space for a boot fair anyway and all the ones I have been to in the past have provided more space. I think £8-£10 is more reasonable. Not sure what other people think. I also think specifying a separate arrival time for sellers would be helpful. I was perhaps a little enthusiastic and actually arrived about 9am to see what time sellers could arrive. I think 9.30 for sellers should be enough time to get your wares set up before the crowds descend at 10am!

I think the car park is a great venue for it - 3 hours was long enough that I didn't need to run off for a loo stop. Even though there were only 6 cars there I still thought the atmosphere was pretty good. Lots of people popped in after dropping off their garden waste at the collection point.

[marymck]

Hi Sophie

Thanks for the information. Sorry you didn't sell as much as you'd hoped.

I had planned to go for a recce and take take my car next time, but I won't do so if the price goes up to £15. I think I'd have to be very lucky to sell that much!

There's a car boot sale where my Mum lives that is £5 for vendors, so I'll probably go to that one instead.

It's not local though, so if anyone knows of any other boot sales near Sydenham, please can you post the details?

Thanks.

[sophie]

Perhaps if enough people show interest in a boot sale but aren't prepared to pay £15 (and let the organisers know) they will drop the price.

[simon]

Hi Sophie
Glad it was good for you, shame you didn't sell more.
I'll pass on your comments to the organisers, particularly concerning fees and publicity.
See you on the 8th.

[Annie.]

Thats a lot of odds and sods to sell before you make any money or your time and profit, £15.00 is far too much to charge,£5.00 is more realistic!

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[multisync]

We went along to have a look this morning, that's all we did do didn't even think it was worth paying the entrance fee as there were only 5 stalls. Think there should have been more advertising, i.e posts on the greyhound roundabout. When Footsies did theres they had boards all up Sydenham Road. Come on if you want something to go well you need to advertise it. We only got a flyer after we had been to have alook

[multisync]

I think that if the fees etc were going to Sydenham Community radio, they couldn;t have done very well out of only 6 cars!!! I also think all of the women at the entrance to the sale were very off putting {grabbing hands}.
Then to hear they want £15 next time around, to greedy methinks

[hollydolly]

Shame, I couldn't go today, but was going to do a stall at the next one. Not if it's £15 though - I already thought £8 was expensive! Think they've got the wrong approach, it's not a high end event you charge more for with fewer customers, it should be all about increasing numbers.

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[sophie]

Out of interest I have just had a look on carboot junction and seen lots of car boots in London. What is interesting is that it lists the prices and the facilities available - not sure why I hadn't seen all of this before.

Practically all of them have refreshments and toilets which Girton Road car park doesn't have. The prices for sellers range from £5 to £15 (not lots at £15) but most are about £8. Having seen this I really do think that if the Sydenham Car Boot is to be successful they can't charge £15 for sellers. They need to attract more sellers so having a low sellers fee would help them do this.

The entry fees for shoppers also varies and seems to be between 50p and £1. Perhaps that is an area where they could increase the amount asked from 20p to 50p. Not sure if children paid or not but the others don't seem to charge,

[leenewham]

£15 is a hell of a lot for a car boot sale. I quite like doing them but the last one I did was huge and that was only about £8.

To get it established I'd have made it cheaper, around £5 like Sophie said.

It wasn't advertised on the Sydsoc website and I'm not sure if it was on here either. It was on the town centre website but I'm not sure who many people look at that.

A banner in Sydenham road and the car park would have been good too. I parked in there the other day and didn't see one. A generic banner with a space left to paint over for the date so it can be reused would have been good with directions.

Good luck for the next one. I hope it builds. They can be fun.

[Postman]

How can they put the price up when lets face it, the first one was a flop and it hasnt even been established yet. Does then mean that the 20p entrance fee is going up to a £1? Dont think there going to attract more people. More like lose customers the people who turned up.

[The Clown]

I'm not sure why they feel the need to change the pricing.

I popped along and was happy to pay 20p, 50p would have bought me a book - perhaps one of Sophie's

£6 is fair for a pitch in an unestablished location which is never going to make anbody any real money, but simply help to clear out the shed, cover costs and with a little money left over for the pocket.
Don't we want it to be a fairly small local, community affair?
I am not sure we would want "professional" car boot sellers to operate out of our local car park.

It was nice to see some homemade cakes on sale as well.

I think rather than knee-jerk change, give it a bit more of a chance at current prices.

[Chris Best]

I have just spoken to Anna from Sydenham Community Radio and they will be sticking with the advertised price of £6 (net) for sellers and 20p for buyers.

Yes there were only six sellers at this first community car boot sale but more people have agreed to take pitches at the next one on Sunday 8 July - same time from 10am to 1pm.

Given that this rear part of Girton Road car park is large each pitch will be two car parking spaces - plus the six sellers have been offered a discount for the second car boot sale.

There is a community toilet scheme in place on Sydenham Road with Kente and Chef's Delight taking part - Sydenham Community Radio have ensured their facilities are available for anyone who needs them on Sunday morning.

Agreed more publicity is needed in the form of banners - the details were included on the back of the last Sydenham Assembly newsletter that was hand delivered to every door in Sydenham ward as well as a flyer that was delivered door to door.

I hope this community initiative gets support - not only to raise funds for Sydenham Community Radio and other charitable organisations but also to offer some bargains for residents in the area.

[sophie]

If I was the baking sort I'd definitely bake a few cakes to lure the punters over to my stall! They did look good though but as I had banned myself from buying anything at all I didn't sample them.

@ Chris thanks for the info about the cost of the next boot sale. Good news all round I think.

[sophie]

My car boot sale quest continues.

I turned up at the 2nd Sydenham Community Car Boot Sale on Sunday, 8th July with husband in tow in a car full of stuff as well but it was rained off. Torrential rain. Most of the day. They're aiming for a 3rd in September (I think the 9th) so watch this space! Still not seen anything advertising these boot sales though apart from something on the Sydenham Town Centre website which is apparently incorrect information.

Last night I packed the car up to head for a Tuesday boot sale I found online being held at Catford Wanderers Sports Club (next to Homebase in Downham). Advertised as 7.30am for buyers and gave a mobile number to contact. I contacted it but no response. I duly turned up in glorious sunshine at 7.30am to find the place completely FULL. Apparently casual sellers have to be there from 6am! Looks like a busy one but £15 might be a bit steep when it seemed to be more of a market with big white vans and new things being sold. Anyway for anyone who is interested they run every Tuesday and Thursday and are clearly popular.

For other people interested in car booting to clear and earn a bit of extra cash there is a Saturday boot sale each week at Comber Grove Primary School in Camberwell - 8am for sellers. On Sunday apparently THE one to check out is the Pimlico boot sale.

Tomorrow I am venturing out of South East London and going further afield to SW. I am going to head over to Wimbledon dog track. Apparently it is a massive boot sale and very popular. I've kept my car packed up. The weather is forecast to be hot and sunny again. I'm going to get there at 6am. I've got plenty of change and carrier bags for buyers to put their purchases in.
What could possibly go wrong?!

[simon]

Good luck at the dog track tomorrow Sophie. I often go over there on Wednesday mornings for greyhoud trials and the boot sale is always really busy. Must have been the right call to cancel the Sydenham boot sale on the 8th; was really chucking it down.

[sophie]

Not sure if anyone is reading this BUT on the off chance people look up car boot sales I shall now review the one I attended yesterday at Wimbledon dogs (although, really it seems to be nearer to Tooting!).

I was there by 7am, not the 6am I had intended, and was in a pitch by 7.30am. The downside being that you couldn't start to unload your car until 10.15m. The plus side was I took a walk in the morning sun and ventured to Earlsfield which looks like a pretty happening place - loads of nice looking bars and cafes. I had a coffee but in my "super scimper" style it was a freebie from Caffe Nero as a I had a fully stamped card!

The cost was £12 for a car. It was a busy boot sale but regulars said people weren't buying as much. The car park was split into 2 sections with the vans and bigger sellers in one section and the cars in a smaller section. There were loads of people with vans so to be honest from what I could see it was more like a market.

There were toilets there BUT they were minging! I think the organisers put out toilet paper and soap at 10am before it started but by 1.30pm there was nothing there.

I made my entry fee back and about £40 which for such a busy venue I was disappointed in but the competition was tough and I was mainly selling DVDs, books and household bits and pieces - someone tried to haggle a M&S kettle down to 50p from £1! I stood by my extortionate request though and got a pound! For anyone selling clothes and kids' things I think they would have made loads more.

I liked the atmosphere and fellow sellers were friendly and helpful. Not sure I would go there again on a Wednesday though. I have heard that the Saturday and Sunday ones there are busier and better AND only £10 a car so for anyone carbooting at weekends bear that in mind. They're run by different people to the Wednesday ones so perhaps they'll leave the soap in the toilets until the end of the bootsale!!!

My next boot sale is Fisher Athletic in Rotherhithe. I'm heading there on Sunday. Apparently it is £10 for a car and you have to be there at 9am to get in. Has anyone tried that one?