It That Your Best Price?

I went to a car boot recently, and met some lovely interesting people who came to my stall. The first person, she came over and her Husband picked up my old glass chicken egg container, the top half is a chicken and so is the bottom half where the eggs are kept, he wisely checked the rim to make sure there were no chips, then I watched him checked the bottom half, my price was on it £6 I saw them talking, then she turned to me as I sat there on my comfy camp chair, and she asked me, “Is this your best price?” I replied, “Yes, I could have been greedy and asked for £10” she said, “I collect them, and I have never seen a clear one of these before” I said, “Then you can bag a bargain for only £6” she looked at it again and said, “So, is that your BEST price?” I replied, “Yes, that is my BEST price,” her husband put his hand in his pocket, and took out £6 I said, “Thank you, this is your bargain of the day, I will wrap it carefully for you” I then took my time and wrapped the top half in lots of unused newspaper that I had brought with me and did the same with the bottom half, then put them both into separate bags and finally putting them both into a very strong bag for life shopping bag with the words, “Don’t bang into any walls on the way home,” they said, “We won’t” and off they went.

Next a middle aged man came to my stall he saw the lovely vintage brooch that I had priced at £5 with the words vintage on tag, he said, “This is a lovely brooch, the way it catches the light, they are like opals, he said, “Will you take £4 for it? I said, “No, it is worth £5, he looked at it again in his hands and said, “But it’s only £1, I replied, “Ok, I want £6 as “It’s only £1” he laughed out loud, putting his head back as he did so, and turning to my Husband, sat in the other comfy camp chair to the side of the table, he said to him, “She’s good!” He said to me again, “Go on, it’s only a pound, I said the same back, then if it’s only a pound I want £6” he said, “I’ll think about it and come back ....” he never did, it was his loss not mine. I’d rather keep it than give it away!

Next a young Polish lad and his friend came and saw the lovely leather brown shoes, he tried them on, then he asked me,”How much?” I showed him the price I had paid for them, “£6 is what I paid, so I want £6” he quickly handed, me a £20 note I said, “I don’t accept £20 notes, so he spoke to his friend in Polish and his friend gave me the £6 I thanked him and put the new leather shoes in a bag.

After them the young couple age about 22 came, he picked up the new men’s leather wallet it’s the flip over style that opens into 2 sections, and when closed it a lovely oval shape that is flat at 1 side, I had priced it as £2.50 with the words new, she said to me, “Would you accept £2? I said, “No it’s real leather and new” he quickly said, “I am VERY surprised!!” She said it again, “So you won’t accept £2” I said, no, “If I’d put it as £3 you would have asked me to reduced it to “2.50” they put the lovely wallet down and left (it seems in disgust). My Husband Paul who was sitting nearby said, “For the sake of 50p you should have let them have it”  I replied, “It’s still a very good bargain, it is worth more than £2.50.”      

Next came the oriental man, he really loved the leather and agate, chained links belt, each section has a big agate with 4 tiny agate at each corner of the square, the big agate had also 4 tiny studs just outside the large agate, on the back of each square, of which there is 5 it is metal then in between each square is leather straps crossed over and they go under the belt, quite quirky, he held it in his hands as he quickly looked over the rest of the lovely items on my table, then he concentrated on the belt, he gave his belt his full attention, he looked at it closely, he tugged at it gently, he turned it over to look at the back of the belt, he asked me, “How much,” now as I didn’t have a price on it, I quickly said, “£5” he said, “Will you take £3?” I said, “No, its worth more than that!” He looked at it again for about 3 more minutes and said, “Is it copper at the back?” I said, “If it’s copper, it’s more money!!” Finally after 10 minutes at my stall he said, “Can I take a picture of it so show my daughter?” I said, “OK.” It was bright sunshine and no matter which way he turned it, he couldn’t really be seen through his mobile lens, to take a good picture, he then put the belt back on the table and left. I said to my Husband, “That belt it now £10!” He said, “You can’t do that, you told him it was £5” so I removed it and put it in the car! If he’d come back, I’d have told him it was sold!!! He didn’t return.

Next to my stall was the 2 black elderly gentlemen, the one tried to try on the black leather shoes, I didn’t want him to fall over so I said, “Would you like to sit down to try it on? I don’t want you to fall over,” he replied, “No I am fine,” and added “How much is the shoes?” I said, “£3” I watched as he tried them on and put his fingers at the toes, I could see there was lots of room, clearly not his size!!! I left them to it.... then after a while he called me over and said again, “How much is the shoes?” I took them off him and looked at them they were brand new and real leather I said to him as I showed him the sole, “They are brand new and leather, so £5 they both looked at me cross (but not angry cross) and one of them said, “You said they were £3” (I should have looked at them more closely first before I’d given him my price, so it was my mistake and loss) and I said, “Yes you’re right, I’m sorry, I’ll put them in a bag for you,” after all they hadn’t cost me anything as my Brother had given them to me in a huge bag of items.

Then an old couple came to my stall, I would say they were about late 70’s or in their 80’s on the tarpaulin on the ground were Bibles that I’d bought brand new when our children was small, hardback and expensive. I had put on them various prices, the highest priced one was £3.50 or less, they couldn’t reach down to the ground the gentleman had tried, so I asked, “Which 1 would you like to look at”? He said, “That one,” pointing to the £3 hard back Bible, they looked at it and hand it back to me after they had had a chat, and started to walk away, I said, “Too much? You can have it for £1,” she said, “OK” and gave me the £1. I thanked them and put the Bible in a bag for them.

Next a young male in his teens came to my stall he picked up the gospel track in cartoon form it was not in English you could see that from the front cover, he flicked trough it and said to me, “How do you know what language it is?” I turned it over and showed him it was Hindi, I said, “It is called, “This Is Your Life.” He asked me how much it was, I said, “It is free,” he said in surprised, “Free?” I said, “Yes some things in life are.” He said, I’ll give it so my friend who speaks Hindi” and left.

Then two lovely men came to my stall, it was hard to tell their ages, they picked up the Beatles’ fridge magnet and asked me how much it was, I said, “£1” he put it back on the table and I said, “Do you like the Beatles?” He replied, “I went to see them when I was younger, and his friend piped up, “So did I,” the first man said, I had collected lots of original magazines and other things about them, I had a huge collection, then when I was getting married I didn’t know what to do with my HUGE collection and went and found a very large bin and threw then all in there!!!!” I was shocked, my mouth wide open and he quickly added, “If we all knew back then what we know now, they would be valuable and some things priceless none of us would have thrown anything away!!!” I felt his pain and utter regret. I said, “I had Russian dolls when I was a child and didn’t keep them,” he nodded and his said to his friend, “You threw away all your Dinky toys!!” And his friend said, “I know.” It was sad all round for him, them and me, but especially for him.... so I knew why he didn’t buy the fridge magnet, that wasn’t old, or hadn’t been touched by THE Beatles compared to what he had thrown away in the dustbin, we eventually said, “Bye” as they walked away, deep in thought...........                

Finally a lady dressed in Muslim cloths came to my stall she was young and stooped down to where the Bibles were on the tarpaulin on the ground, after a minute I went up to her and said, “The price you see is not what you pay, they are all reduced,” she had picked up the best and most expensive Bible that I’d bought for the children when they were young, it had been voted the Best Children’s Bible of that year, and still had the gold sticker on the front, she looked through it, it was now priced at £3.50 she said to me, “I home school my children, I would like this Bible,” I said to her, “It is free, she smiled and said, “No” I said, “Yes it is free, she thanked me and put it under her arm with the cover facing outwards and the words Children’s Bible in large letters, I said, “Would you like me to put it in a bag?” Hoping she would she would say yes, she replied, “No thank you” and off she went. She made my day, and I said to Paul, my Husband, “You can never judge a book by its cover!”  She was my best customer.