Ten tips on car boot sales

My brother-in-law and I braved a 4.30am start and headed off to Burscough for a car boot sale on Sunday. It went well and our net profit had crept into three figures by the end of the morning.

Given that we are now both successful retail entrepreneurs, I feel well qualified to dish out words of advice, so here goes - ten top tips to making a fortune, 10p at a time.

1. Aim big. We travelled 30 miles to White Dial Farm, probably driving past 20 other sales on the way, but it was worth the trip. Literally thousands of people turned up and I can't imagine why anyone would try one of the smaller sales when they've seen this Daddy of all car boots.


2. The people who jump on your car when you arrive (6am last entry) are other stallholders. No punters are there at that ridiculous hour and these people are looking for novice car booters to flog them mobile phones, cheap jewellery and dodgy perfume, which they will then mark up and sell on their own stalls.


3. Adult clothes don't sell. Kids' stuff does. I swear there were people there who could fill an entire children's wardrobe with the stuff they've bought.


4. Brands don't exist in carbootsaleland. I had racks of kids' clothes for sale with labels like Timberland and Duffer of St George. Nobody cares. I got just as much per item for cheap stuff from George by ASDA.


5. Don't be too ambitious when it comes to pricing. A fiver is a lot of money and is also something of a milestone price-wise. Most of the stuff we sold went for 50p or a quid. We just sold lots of things, that's all.


6. Consider investing in a rent-a-crowd. People attract other people and every time a couple of bargain hunters began rooting around our stall, loads of others followed. I've no idea what they thought they were going to find, but that's crowd mentality for you.


7. Take lots of change. One woman gave me a £20 note to pay for two children's books that were priced at 25p each. Actually I saw a lot of £20 notes, which got me a bit nervous. I'm not sure I could spot a forgery.


8. Do not go alone. It takes two people at least to man even the smallest stall. Remember, even the Queen needs to go to the loo sometimes.


9. On your way home go to the tip and bin/recycle the stuff that didn't sell. Do not be tempted to take it back to clutter up your house again. Don't give it to the charity shop either. If you couldn't get anyone to pay 20 pence for your old copy of The Jazz Singer by Neil Diamond, what makes you think the local Oxfam shop will want it?


10. Quit your job and buy a farm. At £10 per car for stallholders and £2 per car for punters, the owner of White Dial Farm must be raking it in every week. Bet you he couldn't make that much growing carrots.