The joys of "upwards haggling": best of the Butterfly market

"So how did the big sale go on Saturday?" someone in town asked me today.
So I said: "Well, humanly it went great, and commercially, it doesn't really matter, does it?"
The person was puzzled. "How come?"
"Well, we did sell stuff, there were lots of visitors, more than we expected, the stalls didn't cost anything, so yes, we did make a bit of money."
"So it went ok then? You made money" the person said, wondering whether it was my explanation or my brain that made no sense.
"Yes, but most of us spent it immediately... on one another. And I think some of us spent more than they made."
I explained what had happened: from 10 to 11 it was rather busy with normal customers: I am not counting the "specialised" people arriving over an hour before the start and sniffing into the gardens long before any stall was up (I'll be frank, I didn't like that one bit, and we'll have to do something about it next time. We will be polite, but they will have to wait until we are good and ready: some of us are elderly, some are shy, it's our homes, so... it's not a regular car boot sale, is it?). But afterwards, it was more normal.

Then it calmed down, then a second wave,  then calmer again. Then something was started by the kids: One who had a stall with us went and bought a scooter from the family sharing with Paddy. Then my son went and bought a bracelet from Rebecca after selling a toy. Then he and two friends started going everywhere... to spend the money they'd just made. And then the same thing happened to some of the grownups : as far as I am concerned, I went and bought some of Sharon's cakes, Rebecca's shampoos, Naomi's adorable little fabric toys, a shirt from Paddy, a docking station from Ian, some pudding at Anna's stall, and so on. Then Sharon came to our stall, then Tony, Anna visited too, etc etc. And the best part was the giggles we had over haggling...upwards: "come on, your cup cakes should be 40p, not 10, they are gorgeous." Or: "No, I want to pay for this, don't give it away to me for free".

Another great, completely unexpected side was that some of us turned out to do fantastic sale pitches on behalf of the next stall, like Rodney did for Ian, whom he never met (Ian and Anne were our only "proxy" participating family: they had to be away, so they left their stall in the care of their neighbour Patrick, and did very well...). Or Nicky stopping me from getting intimidated into dropping the price of a jet cleaner.
 Or Sarah and Rebecca realising that next time, they should put up their stall together, as their styles complement each other nicely.

All in all, people seem to have enjoyed themselves, on either side of the stalls. Jasmin did brilliantly with her plants, and they were a few fantastic deals here and there: people who arrived to set up stall later than scheduled escaped the traders wave, so a couple of items that would have been "dissed" down to a ridiculous price one hour earlier made a couple of regular customers very happy, like the person on the photo here with his newly acquired chair.

A lot of ideas emerged from Saturday. Here are a few, some mad, some sound:

1.My sons suggest we hide in trees with super soakers, during the 2 hours preceding the start of the next sale, and warn traders that if they turn up early, they automatically volunteer to be target for a: "soak-the-trader-sniper-game". They were already working on the rules, teams, etc. It gives the "Buyer beware" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? Another defence system thought up was guerilla slingshot warfare.

2. Possibly swapping gardens systematically (so that our stuff is in someone else's gardens) and announcing clearly that we are doing so: this way it will become impossible for anyone who'd happen to harbour bad intentions towards people belongings to find anything out about their taste, physical strength, etc.

3. There is some immensely nice stuff and creative talent around: Rebecca, Naomi's mum, Sarah, Jasmin (and Sharon and Anna for the cakes). This is what we'll concentrate on for next time. How do you feel about a craft and talent fair, everyone?