Car Boot Sale Reselling: A Thrifter's Method, Hour by Hour

To resell what you buy at car boot sales, go twice: at opening time for rare pieces, and late morning or late afternoon for bundles at rock-bottom prices. Set a maximum buying price of about a third of the Vinted resale price, haggle for bundles and check each piece in daylight before paying.

The method below follows a day of thrifting, from the evening before to listing your finds. It works for car boot sales and flea markets alike.

How do you find the best car boot sales?

Aim for sales in residential neighbourhoods rather than big tourist flea markets. The sellers there are private individuals clearing out their cupboards, not traders who know the prices.

To find them: online listings of car boot sales and jumble sales, posters in local shops, council and organiser pages, local press. The evening before, note three to five nearby events and rank them by size and type of area.

A useful reminder for France: a private individual can only take part in two such sales a year, with a sworn statement that the organiser attaches to its register, according to Service Public. So the people in front of you really are private sellers, often keen not to pack anything back up.

What time should you go to a car boot sale to buy?

There are two good moments, for two different goals.

At opening, while stalls are being set up. Rare pieces go in the first hour, often to other thrifters and traders. That's the time for niche items, sought-after brands and vintage.

Late morning, then at the end of the day. Sellers want to go home with less. That's the time for bundles, round prices and "take the lot for €10".

In between, mid-morning is the weakest moment: the good pieces have gone and nobody's discounting yet.

What should you take thrifting?

Pack your bag the night before; you won't have time in the morning.

• Cash in small notes and coins. Nobody will give change from €50 for a €2 jumper. Withdraw it from your dedicated business account.
• A large sturdy bag or a shopping trolley.
• A charged phone and a power bank, to check prices on Vinted.
• A tape measure, for sizes that mean nothing.
• A small torch, useful at dawn for reading labels and spotting stains.
• A notebook or a note on your phone to record every purchase, with the place and price.

What should you look for at car boot sales to resell?

Look for what the seller doesn't know how to value: a brand, a fabric, an era, a model. Ordinary pieces are everywhere; the details aren't.

What's worth stopping for:

• Labels: brand, country of manufacture, fabric content. Wool, cashmere, silk, linen and leather change the price.
• Well-known cuts and models: jeans with their style number, outdoor jackets, branded shirts.
• Vintage prints: sweatshirts, T-shirts, football shirts from past seasons.
• Complete items: video games with box and manual, toy sets, book series.
• Vintage household linen and designer tableware.

What you're better off leaving:

• stained, holed or smelly pieces, unless the value justifies repairing them;
• electronics you can't test on the spot;
• cut-price luxury items without authentication expertise;
• anything heavy, bulky and cheap.

How do you haggle at a car boot sale?

Haggle for bundles, politely, with a round number. A seller would rather sell five pieces for €10 than one for €3.

A few principles that work:

• Don't show your excitement about the piece you really want. Slip it into the middle of the bundle.
• Never run the item down. You're talking to someone clearing out their memories. Politeness gets better prices than criticism.
• Be ready to lose a piece. If the price goes over your limit, walk away. There'll be other stalls.

How do you know on the spot if a piece is profitable?

Apply the one-third rule: your maximum buying price is about a third of the likely resale price on Vinted. For a jacket that resells for around €30, don't pay more than €10.

Check that resale price in 30 seconds on Vinted: search for the brand and model, and look at pieces sold in active sellers' wardrobes rather than listings that have been sitting there. If you can't find any comparison, it's either a gem or something nobody's looking for. At first, give it a miss.

Example morning: €38 spent, 17 pieces. Three weeks later, 11 pieces sold for €184, six still listed. That looks excellent, until you count the 5 hours there, the 3 hours of washing and photos, and the contributions. The result is still good, but you have to do the maths to know.

The real work starts after the car boot sale: each piece has to be recorded, listed, tracked, and matched to its purchase price when it sells. Revendor does that matching from your synced stock and sales, and tells you which thrifting trip really paid off.

What should you do when you get home?

Deal with your haul the same day, before it joins a pile that never moves.

1. Record each purchase in your register: date, place, item, price. In France, it's compulsory for a micro-entrepreneur trading goods, according to Service Public.
2. Sort: list as is, wash, repair, group into a bundle.
3. Wash and steam, then photograph in batches on the same background.
4. List within 72 hours. A precise title does more for a sale than a low price, as we explain in our guide to a good Vinted title.

If you resell second-hand items bought from private individuals, the French rules for resellers of second-hand goods may require a register and registration with the prefecture, according to Service Public. Check what applies to you where you live.