Wednesday 2 March 2011

Spot the Dealer

When I go on my treasure hunts I like to play the game 'Spot The Dealer' just for a bit of fun.  It seems that recently most of my Charity Shop haunts have been over run with dealers as well as the boot sale.  For example in the CS yesterday there was a middle aged man going through the women's shoes checking the makers labels...unless he has a fetish for women's shoes I could put money on that he was a dealer. The other week one man bought his own bubble wrap with him in his bag to wrap up his glass buys, the lady on the till was quite amused.

Yesterday there were also two other men who came in loudly speaking about how much money they had made that weekend and then suddenly realised they were in a quiet shop and shhh'd themselves.  There really wasn't any need as you can see they were dealers a mile away and I'm all for people making a bob or two on items they buy (unless its an item I had my eye on that is snatched up before I get to it).

Boot sale dealers are another bred all together, there is an elderly couple (80 if not older) at my local boot sale who go round buying up the children's toys at other peoples stall and then marking them up considerably on their own stall. I was buying some baby clothes off a lady the other week who said that one of the couple bought a cot mobile from them for 50p and they then put it straight on their stall for £5...cheeky! I had it happen myself when I sold a tigger soft toy to a lovely little girl for 50p and found it later on her parents stall for £4 - they obviously sent their cute kid round to do the wheeling and dealing for them lol.

I was once checking out a handbag at a boot sale while on the phone to my mum sorting out the sunday lunch meeting time and the stall holder assumed I was a dealer (on the phone to my many contacts haha) and said that i could have all the bags she had on the stall (about 30 of them) for a really good deal and that "I could make a good profit on them", she did look a bit embarassed when I said only had two arms and not enough nights out to warrant buying 30 bags in one go :o)

So onto my buys from yesterday, Jars are the new bedspreads for me it seems as found these two:

Sorry about the crazy light effect in the jars! They cost me £1 each and I've spruced one up already with my transfer cheat:

I also picked up these vintage floral coasters:


These were £1.50 for the box of 6 - I needed some new coasters so these will come in handy.

So if you're out and about bargain hunting today hows about playing 'spot the dealer'? You get bonus points if you get the good stuff before them too :o)

Scarlett x
Linking to: mycottagecharm - Trinkets and treasure and thrifty-thursday

10 comments:

  1. Great buys. My friend Grace runs a charity shop. Its not like a normal charity shop its pretty cool but there is a shoe shop that sells cheap looking highstreet shoe's for a rip off price and vintage furniture and homeware also for a rip off price, they have the cheek to go into Grace's shop buy her furniture then put it in their shop down the road. (I am not being mean they really do over price everything and have no idea of an items worth). If you ever end up in Nottingham City Centre you should check Graces shop out. I feel you would love it

    http://charityshop.posterous.com/

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  2. Great buys, I love the jars, I am always filling jars up with cotton reels, ribbons etc :)

    Bee happy x
    Have a delicious day!

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  3. Ooh what a cheek about the child procurement of bargain toys. That's some brass neck to sell on things at the SAME carboot sale! I'd have been tempted to say loudly "oh dear, mummy and daddy seem to have accidentally put a label on this toy I just sold you!"

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  4. I've found the same thing here, so one particular lady who often beats me to the things I'd like! Lol. Those jars are lovely - really similar in shape to my little hoard od Douwe Egberts coffee jars, I love jars with lids and your transfer is super pretty :-D

    Jem xXx

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  5. Blimey, Scarlett that is one shocking story about that old couple buying stuff and then selling it on their own stall. What a nerve!

    I doubt we get any dealers around the charity shops down my way, they wouldn't make much of a profit as the prices can be a little steep.

    Love those coasters.

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  6. we have a man in our charity shops who does actually buy the stuff for himself.. it freaks me out a bit because he is very strange and hes always buying the nylon nighties and once bought himself a wedding dress!!!..
    love the jam jars. ive got a few in a similar style but mine were coffee jars.. ive stuck a ribbon around them and put tea lights in them but im loving that transfer you've used.. have to have a go at that!

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  7. Cheeky indeed!! especially using their kids to do the wheeling and dealing hahaha...now that i read your post, i get to know a little bit better about the bootsales and charity shops, maybe this is why, in my town, they have possibly 6 charity shops that close to each other but seems to put the prices on their stuff too expensive, not sure if any dealer would make a profit out of those, as a buyer, I wouldnt even want to buy most of their stuff, i keep to rummage the box they put outside where it says £1 each only and lots are not so interesting *sigh*. Anyways, love the jars again! love the transfer on the jar too, so beautiful and the coasters...*sigh in contentment*....thanks for sharing!

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  8. right...see you have the same dealer competition we have in the states!!! i always let folks know i am a vendor when i shop....that way i can relax a little when i buy in bulk!! i try not to mark my items up a bunch. i want to sell them...not keep them!!!
    love the jars with the transfers!! how clever.
    good luck with your car boot sales!!!
    cheers
    sue

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  9. Thanks for your lovely comment on my blog. I love your CS bargains especially the coasters. Funnily enough, I once had a man refuse to sell me what he said was a LLoyd Loom box all because I disagreed with him and said it wasn't. He thought I was going to sell it on for more money! I only wanted it to store toilet rolls in. Well, he lost a customer!

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  10. hey scarlett! Thanks so much for linking up to my party again..it's always a joy to have you! My mom has a shop in a local peddlers mall and people do that to her all the time...buy her stuff cheap and mark it up for their own booth. Drives a girl crazy! You're right..it's cheeky indeed! :)
    Your jars and coasters are so sweet...they look just like something I would buy! :)
    Have a great day
    missy

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