Tips for sellers

01The night before

The difference between a good Sunday and a long one is almost entirely decided on Saturday night.

• Load the car the night before, with the things you most want to sell packed last so they come out first
• Give everything a wipe. A clean thing sells for double a dusty one and it takes ten seconds
• Test anything with batteries and put fresh ones in. Nobody buys a radio that might work
• Bag up the small stuff: Lego, cables, jewellery, cutlery. Loose bits get lost in the grass
• Get the float out of the cashpoint before it shuts, not on the morning
• Set two alarms. Everybody thinks they will wake up. Half of them do

02What to bring

• A float of about £20 in coins and small notes. Mostly pound coins and 50p pieces
• A bum bag or money belt. Not a tin, not a pocket, not the car
• A table if you have one. Wallpaper pasting tables are the standard for a reason
• An old sheet or tarpaulin for laying goods on the grass
• Carrier bags, far more than you think, and a roll of bin bags
• A flask and something to eat for the first hour before the food opens
• Layers. A field at seven in the morning is colder than your kitchen said it was
• Wellies or old boots. Dew soaks through trainers in twenty minutes
• A pen and stickers for pricing as you go

03Getting there

Turn up early. Sellers go in before buyers, and the earlier you are through the gate the better the spot and the calmer the set up.

• Pay at the gate and keep the ticket somewhere a steward can see it
• Follow the stewards to your row rather than picking your own spot
• Reverse in, so the boot faces the walkway and your table sits behind the car
• Drive at walking pace. There are people and prams between the rows already

04Setting up

Get something out fast. Buyers walk the rows while people are still unpacking, and an empty pitch gets walked past.

• Table at the back of the car, sheet on the grass beside it, boxes underneath out of the way
• Put the eye catching things at the front and at eye level. Colour pulls people in
• Stand things up rather than laying them flat. People do not bend down for a maybe
• Keep a clear path in front so two people can browse without blocking each other
• Books spine up, clothes on a rail or folded by size, toys in a box people can dig through

05Pricing it

The most common mistake is pricing what you paid instead of what it is worth on a Sunday morning in a field.

• Round numbers. 50p, £1, £2, £5. Nobody wants to count out £3.75
• Price the small stuff in batches: a 50p box, a £1 box. It sells itself and saves you talking
• Put a price on things. A pitch with no prices gets half the questions and a quarter of the sales
• Leave a little room to come down, because you will be asked
• If you would not carry it back to the car, it is priced too high

06Haggling

You will be haggled from the moment the car door opens. That is not rudeness, it is the whole sport.

• The first people at your boot are dealers. They are quick, they know values, and they pay cash. Sell to them or do not, but do not be offended
• Decide your floor price before you are asked, and then it is an easy no
• Bundle instead of dropping. Three for a fiver moves more than one for two pounds
• Prices come down as the morning goes on. By the last hour, shifting it beats keeping it
• A cheerful no works fine. You do not owe anybody a deal

07What actually sells

Almost everything sells at the right price, but some things walk off the table.

• Children's clothes, toys and books, especially anything complete with its box
• Tools, garden bits and anything practical for the house
• Retro games, consoles, records, cameras and old tech
• Kitchen equipment that still works
• Anything collectable: football, comics, stamps, china, vinyl

Big furniture, old textbooks, tube televisions and anything chipped tend to come home again. Think hard before you load them.

08Keeping your money safe

• Takings stay on your body all morning. Never in the boot and never under the table
• Move big notes into your pocket as they come in, so the bag never looks full
• Check any fifty properly, or just say you cannot change it
• If you are on your own, ask a neighbour to keep an eye while you go for tea. Most people will, and you do the same back
• Lock the car even though you are standing next to it

09Packing down

Whatever has not sold goes home with you. Every bag, every box, every cup.

• Start packing before the very end so you are not the last car on a dark field
• Take your rubbish with you. Leaving it is fly tipping and it costs everybody the venue
• If you truly do not want something back, take it to a charity shop on the way home rather than leaving it on the grass
• Wait for the stewards before driving off. There are still people walking the rows