Car-Boot Sales and Flea Markets

Car-boot sales and flea markets can be defined as transient, informal forms of exchange. They have affinities with the street markets that characterize developing countries and are of interest since they are types of exchange that Max Weber argued would disappear in rational modernity.

Car-boot sales are primarily a U.K. phenomenon. They emerged around the late 1980s and early 1990s. Although there are no accurate data as to numbers or frequency, qualitative research suggests that these events peaked in the mid-1990s. Although they continue to occur, they have been affected by the subsequent emergence of virtual secondhand exchange, notably eBay. Car-boot sales require vendors to have access to a car, which works both as the means to transport goods to the site of sale and as the fixture for displaying goods for sale. Thus, once at a car-boot sale, the car-boot (trunk), bonnet (hood), doors, and seats all become props for draping, hanging, and laying out goods for sale. In that these sales are car dependent, they generally occur on large, open sites. Farmers' fields and racecourses are typical locations, as are parking lots. In the United Kingdom, planning regulations limit the number of car-boot sales occurring on one site in any one year, thereby contributing to the transient character of these events.

Car-boot sales have affinities with a range of other exchange activities, including garage sales, flea markets, and rummage sales, as well as nearly new sales and table-top sales. Key points of commonality are that the sales are primarily of used goods and that consumers act as vendors and not just buyers; but, there are important differences between these sales. One is in the quality of goods for sale: in the British case, the distinction between a nearly new and a rummage sale is considerable, reflecting both value decisions (relative, not absolute) and the degree of consumption visible in goods (how used they look).

A second distinction is in the site of sale and its geographical location. The garage sale is a U.S. and suburban Australian phenomenon, conducted at the home of the vendor. This home-based, face-to-face form of selling has never taken off in Europe. In part, this is explicable in terms of differences in housing stock (older fabric, lack of garages, a high proportion of apartment dwelling). It is possible, however, that the mix of secondhand exchange in particular countries is indicative of different social and cultural norms and practices. For example, the absence of the garage sale in the United Kingdom, and the prevalence of sales in nondomestic spaces may say more about attitudes toward privacy and the boundaries drawn around domestic life. In this way, the range and character of secondhand sites and spaces of exchange in particular countries and regions of the world show how consumer cultures are more broadly embedded within, and shaped by, culture and cultural practice.

The theoretical importance of car-boot sales, flea markets, and their close relatives lies in their [Page 139]contribution to debates about exchange, value, the social life of things, and consumer competence. These sites and spaces show that acts of consumption—even when narrowly defined as shopping—are not confined to urban malls, high (main) streets, department stores, and supermarkets. Rather, acquisition and exchange can occur anywhere, even temporarily in farmers' fields. What is important is that these sales highlight the extended social life of things. It is not inevitable that goods are discarded when they reach the end of their socially useful lives in one household.

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