Be wary when buying electrical goods at boot sales

[5129frederick]

I was at a boot sale on the Island (Sheppey) when I saw a heavy duty garden strimmer/chipper machine going for a reasonable price.  It looked in very good condition so I gave it the once over and bought it.  On the way back, striking while the iron was hot,  I filled in a private ad and put it staright up in Sainsbury's before I got home.  Switched it on - the damn motor was jammed. It wouldn't move! The fool of a man had crammed everything in, including wire that had wrapped itself round the motor and everything doh!  I had to systematically strip everything down to get it going.  2 1/2 hours later it was, and still is, working perfectly.  Probably a lot better than with him.

Naive perhaps, because I play a very straight bat - I couldn't play it any other way, but why the hell sell something you KNOW doesn't work properly?!    If I see him again, and I'm a regular visiter to the Saturday bootsale, I'll just stone wall him.  I'm certainly not buying anything from his stall again.  I know his van and his pitch.  The  thing is, at a boot sale you have no comebacks - you pays yer money, you takes yer choice.  Came very close to buying a pig in a poke.  Be warned.

[2017clearout]

Isn't that sort of the point at boot sales, though - you check everything over before parting with your money, because essentially, it's sold as seen?  And presumably the price was lower than you would have expected (if you advertised it for resale already on the way home) - did you not ask yourself why?  Those sorts of arenas are always more caveat emptor than anywhere else, I think, because of the lack of guarantees and the fact that there's no auction house etc whose reputation matters.

Personally, I would be very wary anyway about buying second hand electricals from someone I didn't know - I don't know enough about them to know whether the wiring or whatever was safe.  But at least you had the knowledge to repair it, and whilst you may not have had the easy bargain you thought you were getting, you will still be selling it on, presumably, at a profit.

[captainbovine]

at least you were able to fix it, something of a lesson though eh?

some places have somewhere you can plug things in to test them though don't they?

carboots here are rubbish, the stuff for sale is abysmal.

[5129frederick]

You are, of course, 100% right on everything you say   I took a chance and managed to get it going.  My biggest relief was getting it in working order before the phone rang: "Hello, I'm making enquiries about ..."  You've never seen me work with such determination in my life!   Luckily nobody made any instant enquiries about it.  It works perfectly now.

No, my biggest anxiety would have been the humiliation of having to take the thing to the recycling centre with my wife keeping very quiet, making no comments at all which would make matters ten times worse - knowing what she was thinking but not saying   I had a close shave, there.  If nobody buys it, it's no problem, I'll just use it myself.  It's one of these things that are only worth buying second-hand, the new price doesn't justify the expense unless you've got about three acres of land.  Happy to sell or keep.

[5129frederick]

Yes, the one at Canterbury opposite Morrisons has a toilet with a couple of double sockets in the seating area.  The place is awash with potential customers testing radios, televisions, power tools - even hedge trimmers, which make a hell of a din, normally accompanied by the seller, although not always.  Most people just walk back to the seller and pay the money.  Very few people try to walk off with the stuff.  However The Saturday one on the island is just a field with about four portaloos - Lord, it really hums on a hot day!  

[ilove2patch]

The big one I went to today had a rag man that was weighing in bags of clothes, shoes etc at the end of the day to save people taking the left over stuff home again. I thought that was an excellent idea.

[peteryola]

Look up what the very first item ever on e-Bay was; it was a broken electrical item - a laser pointer if I recall correctly...

[5129frederick]

I bet HE thought so too!  

[2017clearout]

I'm impressed you managed to get it working - I wouldn't have a clue!  I even had to be taught how to wire a plug by a very nice security guard in Asda (don't ask...)  At least that way, you're spared the trip to the dump (my dad has been surreptitiously spiriting away stuff my mother's put out for car boot sales for months: the one by them even has a charity shop attached!) - and the "I'm not saying anything, really I'm not, look at me not mentioning it"!

It's nice, though, when a gamble pays off, and you still get a bargain: I don't go to car boot sales anymore- my mother used to make me take my brothers every weekend in the season, years ago, and I'm still scarred for life.  There was one on the way to Slough that was just terrifying, with all these aggressive dealers *shudder*.  

My favourite was the Tetsworth one, mainly because it was closer to home, but there were also fewer bullies: and I've never forgotten the time my brothers and I just gave everything that we had left to the couple next door, who were professional booters - we knew it would take mum ages to get another car load together, and we'd be off for the rest of the summer 😄  

It's a good idea to have someone there to take left overs, though - charity shops round us used to have a  sign up on Sundays begging people not to dump their booting leftovers on the doorstep...

[2017clearout]

I seem to think you're right - mind you, those used to be hugely expensive: I remember being chuffed to bits when a new boss gave me one as a welcome present in about 1996...

[mustard-tree]

I remember reading years ago about someone who bought a VHS player from a carboot sale.

They got it home, but it did not work, so took it to someone who knows about them.

He opened it up, and found no workings, the casing contained 2 house bricks.

[5129frederick]

You always get the scum de la scum.  And yet despite their cleverness, they never seem to be any better off than the rest of us.

[5129frederick]

Cat used to gr crazy when you zipped it across the room and just as it got to it, you'd turn it off!  It literally growled in anger,, flashing it's tail.

[leoleoleo123]

I have had many bargains from car boots.. I love em!
however, you really do take a chance on electrical items.. though I think I have only ever had two items that were useless... one went to the tip, one was sold on ebay as spares and I got my money back with small profit!

[twishy123]

I buy all sorts of things at our car boot but never electrical items.....probably missed out on a few bargains along the way...

but hey ho....my pockets are too deep for my short little arms when it comes to taking a big chance....