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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Sutty100 on March 13, 2011, 11:32:57 PM
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Hi Everybody, I was thinking of going to have a look around a few car boot sales to see if I could find any retro gaming items and I wondered is it a myth that people pick up working systems and games all the time from car boot sales or does it actually happen! And if anybody has any really good finds they discovered at one maybe they would like to tell us about it!
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Over here in the States we have garage sales, which I'm assuming are the same sort of thing... not always in the garage, and not all in one place, usally. I like to hit the sales for entertainment, but it is possible to find some good deals.
I bought the pc i'm using now at a garage sale for 5 bucks. They were paranoids and pulled the HD, but not bad for a 2.1 gHz Athlon. Works great. Got one of the monitors for 8 bucks, the other was free (freecycle)... While out hitting the sales couple years back, I found a guy with a baker's rack in the yard and a "free stuff" sign on it.. I got a nice scanner with an ADF unit.
You can get burned though... I took a chance on some bare HDs once. Crash!... got some nice magnets out of 'em. ;-)
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Well....as a retro computer collector I've had some bargains! Boxed Mega Drive's, Saturn's etc, I picked up a mint Vic-20 in a case for £20.......and a broken Amiga 600, it is hit and miss here.....nothing for weeks and some jems.....there is a kind of retro dealer but all his stuff is dirty and not very good.....but I always stop just encase.....I bought a GameGear off of him and it was shot ;(
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Problem with a lot of car boot sales is that you get people who go early and pay extra to get in before it opens.
These people go and find all the best stuff and then take it home to sell on ebay.
You also get the dealer type that lordspunky mentioned who will go round all the stalls as they are being setup and only set up their stall when the doors open.
They either buy things to add to their collection or add to their stall.
So it is very hard to find a bargain when it comes to computers.
Saying that though I managed to get a Commodore 128 and a Grundy NewBrain at a carboot for £8. Both working
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Problem with a lot of car boot sales is that you get people who go early and pay extra to get in before it opens.
These people go and find all the best stuff and then take it home to sell on ebay.
You also get the dealer type that lordspunky mentioned who will go round all the stalls as they are being setup and only set up their stall when the doors open.
They either buy things to add to their collection or add to their stall.
So it is very hard to find a bargain when it comes to computers.
Saying that though I managed to get a Commodore 128 and a Grundy NewBrain at a carboot for £8. Both working
My sister & brother-in-law do a car boot sale most Sundays, and the dealers are there first thing (even as your trying to set up your table) rummaging through all your items... :(
The brother-in-law just tells them to bugger off and refuses to sell anything to these guys, who as you say will have it up on eBay or even worse on their own stall minutes later at twice the price they paid for it... :(
Although sometimes the brother-in-law will take stuff along that he knows to be broken and sell it to them just for the hell of it... :D
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Your "Car Boot Sales" sound like our "Flea Markets" here. The same type of things happen at our sales as yours. Some people get in early, dealers buy up the good deals, and the general public is left with paying higher prices for what the dealers have bought and marked up. Still, I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday or Sunday morning!
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I'd rather go to the garage sales than the flea markets. Usually the prices are better from people not trying to make a living at it. There are a couple of flea markets around here... one of them reminds me of a casting call for "Deliverance", and the other is like Bagdhad. ;-)
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They are all worth going to, no matter what you call them. As sure as you cross one off, that's where the deal of the century is.
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I've found some great stuff at Car Boot sales, we used to go to them all the time but less these days.
Amoungst the gems I got my first Amiga in about 2001, an A1200 for about £20 :)
Recently I've picked up an A600HD for £4, Dreamcast + 10 Games for £8, Megadrive plus 10 games for £5, GBA for £1 lol
When I was collecting my sega saturn stuff originally I got most of the games for £1-£2
As Franko says you get the dealers there early but a lot of people are wise to it now and don't sell to them :hammer:
Anyway, a great way to spend a summers morning :)
Steve.
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You can find some pretty decent stuff at garage sales, but (in my experience, at least) it tends to be more "modern but outdated" PCs and game consoles the kids no longer use than old computers dragged out from the attic. What I do, and has yielded a good variety of stuff, is find a local rag that offers free classified ads and put out a little want ad offering to clear old home computers out of someone's attic or garage. If you can make it sound like a service, it's quite possible you'll get something for free ;)
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* Getting there early.....yep that's me.
* Buying at higher prices.......na I buy at the right price.
* i've bought around 70 computers there or thereabouts of the last 15 years at car boots.
* Some, not all, I've sold for far more than I paid, but then again, I've probably spent more than I've sold and lost more than I've won but that's the buzz. I beat the seller. I win.
and your right......can't think of a better way to spend Sat and Sun Morn, breakfast, boot and bargain.....
Where ! ******* STAY THE HELL OUT OF NOTTINGHAM ****** ;)
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* Getting there early.....yep that's me.
* Buying at higher prices.......na I buy at the right price.
* i've bought around 70 computers there or thereabouts of the last 15 years at car boots.
* Some, not all, I've sold for far more than I paid, but then again, I've probably spent more than I've sold and lost more than I've won but that's the buzz. I beat the seller. I win.
and your right......can't think of a better way to spend Sat and Sun Morn, breakfast, boot and bargain.....
Where ! ******* STAY THE HELL OUT OF NOTTINGHAM ****** ;)
Need to send the brother-in-law down your way with a load of PCs and consoles filled with house bricks... ;)
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Need to send the brother-in-law down your way with a load of PCs and consoles filled with house bricks... ;)
Its funny you say that......
There is new trend at Car boots/Flea markets/auctions and scrap markets. The "Bulk" buyers, its been getting far worse over the last couple of years, the boxes are bought bulk by nefarious buyers who just bulk the stuff and load into a van/truck, god knows where it all goes, mostly tat, but bikes/stereos/tv's/large single person to carry items/just bulk.....a couple of times i've dipped into a box bought by them and I get a "long" stare of "I'll kill/stab you!"......One dealer said its going to container overseas, Africa/Asia....but if it gets any worse not only will you have to get there early, you will need to camp.
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The sister & brother-in-law get these regular types that show up about 6am every Sunday morning...
The Dealers - who buy stuff for their own stalls, ebay or antique shops...
The Poles - who'll buy mobile phones, PCs, TVs & clothes to take beck to Poland and sell...
The Africans - who buy anything at all as long as they can get it for 50p and again take it back home to sell...
The sister cottoned on to this a few years back and they have a regular supply of old suitcases that they pick up from auctions as the Africans snap these up to make it easier to transport the stuff back home... :D
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The sister & brother-in-law get these regular types that show up about 6am every Sunday morning...
The Dealers - who buy stuff for their own stalls, ebay or antique shops...
The Poles - who'll buy mobile phones, PCs, TVs & clothes to take beck to Poland and sell...
The Africans - who buy anything at all as long as they can get it for 50p and again take it back home to sell...
The sister cottoned on to this a few years back and they have a regular supply of old suitcases that they pick up from auctions as the Africans snap these up to make it easier to transport the stuff back home... :D
Never know which is worse. At least with dealers if you wait long enough, they often sell at almost what they bought it for. When I was a "Dealer" the trick was to keep your stock changing, holding out for a price was foolish as you better to just rotate the stock. Made a few quid but a lot of cold/hard winters did me.
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I've been to quite a few car boot sales in my time and not once have I ever seen an Amiga on someone's table.
Perhaps the Welsh know a good computer when they see one ;-)
AH
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All boring worthless tat when I go, late 90s was chock full of lovely stuff.....then wankbay came along and e-wankers ruined it. Not even the toy sellers have anything worth buying now. It's like the 80s tech never happened!!
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Your "Car Boot Sales" sound like our "Flea Markets" here. The same type of things happen at our sales as yours. Some people get in early, dealers buy up the good deals, and the general public is left with paying higher prices for what the dealers have bought and marked up. Still, I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday or Sunday morning!
We have Flea Markets here too.
The difference between the 2 is that at a Car Boot Sale your stall is the boot(/trunk) of the car.
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We have Flea Markets here too.
The difference between the 2 is that at a Car Boot Sale your stall is the boot(/trunk) of the car.
The difference is most "flea" markets are held in town on the market stalls as for regular markets, and generally if you sell at more than 1 or 2 weeks of these in town markets, you have to become a member of the market traders federation and the associated membership fees and really are classed as a "Sole" Trader as a business and subject to the rules/tax/income etc around that.
Car Boot Sales are outside these rules and as such a regular seller isn't bound to be a business and not subject to those rules/tax/income etc.
Basically if you want to keep the states fingers off your profits, Car Boot sales is the "Dark/Black Market" whereas Flea markets are were the "dealers" hang out. Although they also do the car boots too.
I was a flea market seller for around two years, I got round the rules by having different people standing and rotating between about 10-15 markets, problem was my "turf" suffered from living around an Antiques trade area where the prices went through the roof in the summer months, due to tourists and I couldn't be arsed standing week in week out during the winter. One thing I take my hat off to are those that do markets 365, hardier souls than me. Went back to an office job and haven't looked back.
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I mainly look at how old the people are that have the garage sale's if there in
there 70 or older you have a better chance at finding older computer gear
that there kids left found a few Vic 20's and 64's no atari's yet..
Chris :roflmao:
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I mainly look at how old the people are that have the garage sale's if there in
there 70 or older you have a better chance at finding older computer gear
that there kids left found a few Vic 20's and 64's no atari's yet..
Chris :roflmao:
Wow....70 or older is the age now is it. Those old people with Vic20's...I would widen your search criteria fella. My first computer was around that time, and I'm 43 not 70 or older. I think the mass market hit was around my age group 40-50. That's the period for Sinclair/Commodore/Atari/Acorn/TI/Apple/Tandy/Radio Shack/Timex/Japanese and Far Asia brands. I wouldn't be so hasty to rule out those without grey hair yet. ;)
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Here we dont have much carage sales, not that I remember anyway.
But my town is full of flea markets, where people drag their stuff to a stand for a week, pay about 25€ for the space, and hope to get as much as possible.
Mostly it's all just clothes and baby stuff etc. And I have not found anything (retro)computer related in the past 10 years from them:angry:.
But my luck just turned the other week when I decided to go to a local electronics recycling company. I asked the manager that do they sell anything to privates, and the answer was no. But then I said the magic word: Commodore.
Guy took me to the back and there they were:
Commodore 64 x4 - all working
Loads of casette games
Two datasette's
One 1541 disk drive.
4 joysticks.
All for 20€
Man I was a happy little chump that day.:)
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* Getting there early.....yep that's me.
* Buying at higher prices.......na I buy at the right price.
* i've bought around 70 computers there or thereabouts of the last 15 years at car boots.
* Some, not all, I've sold for far more than I paid, but then again, I've probably spent more than I've sold and lost more than I've won but that's the buzz. I beat the seller. I win.
and your right......can't think of a better way to spend Sat and Sun Morn, breakfast, boot and bargain.....
Where ! ******* STAY THE HELL OUT OF NOTTINGHAM ****** ;)
So thats why I can never find any amiga stuff at the cattle market, I need to wake up earlier! I did managed to get a working dreamcast for £2 which was a nice little bargain.