Do you get a receipt at a car boot sale and what should you photograph instead?

Does a seller have to give me a receipt?

Business Companion answers this in one line: there is a general misconception that a trader must provide a receipt. It is a convention — even good practice — but not a general legal requirement. Tax law can require traders to keep their own records; that duty is not a till roll in your hand.

PTA guidance (Sylvia Rook, Chartered Trading Standards Institute, for school second-hand sales) repeats the same point from the buyer's side: there is no obligation for the seller to give a receipt, so it is up to the consumer to ask the trader for their contact details at the time of sale.

A handwritten scrap with a first name and a mobile is more use on Tuesday than a pretty logo and no number. If they refuse both a receipt and a contact, treat that as a reason to put the notes back, not as a gap to work around.

What contact details should I ask for instead?

PTA advice to organisers is to ask sellers for contact details in case there is a problem. Business Companion tells traders they must display a business name and an address for legal documents if they do not trade under their own name, and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 require identity, address and telephone number before a consumer buys from a trader's stall. A genuine private seller is outside most of that — which is why you ask, and write it down, rather than assume the law prints a receipt.

• Name they will answer to — trading name or the name on the van.
• Mobile or email you can use on Tuesday, not a Facebook first name.
• Pitch or row on the field, and the name of the boot sale.
• What they said about faults, missing parts, recalls and whether the kit is their own.

Those four lines are what refund rights actually run on. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (trader) and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (private seller, as described) both need a person to serve.

What should I photograph before I hand over cash?

Photograph for description evidence. The pictures record what was offered and what was said. They are not a test of the unit, and they are not a substitute for the GOV.UK recall search the Lullaby Trust tells you to run on your phone.

1. 1
   The item as priced One frame of the kit on the rug with the price visible. That is the offer you accepted.
2. 2
   Every label Brand, model code, serial or batch, size, tog, CE or UKCA if present. Recall notices are written against model codes, not marketing names. The Lullaby Trust also tells you to get the instructions — photograph the remaining booklet, then download a PDF from the maker later.
3. 3
   The faults they pointed out Scuffs, a missing raincover, a tired battery door. If they said "the buckle is sticky" and you later claim it was hidden, the photo of the sticky buckle is their defence and yours.
4. 4
   The words used A close-up of any cardboard sign, plus a note in your phone of the spoken pitch: "original plug", "never in a pram smash", "both brakes work". That is the description for Sale of Goods Act 1979 section 13.
5. 5
   The stall and the vehicle Pitch number if there is one, the seller's van or car registration, and a wider shot that shows you were at that sale. Business Companion's stolen-goods note is to ask for identification and to note the seller's vehicle number.

Why does Business Companion mention the seller's vehicle?

Under Stolen goods, Business Companion warns that handling stolen goods can attract greater penalties than the theft, and that if you sell stolen goods the buyer is entitled to their money back from you, even if you were not the thief. The practical advice it then gives — aimed at anyone buying stock — is: ask for a receipt and proper identification, note the seller's vehicle number, and contact the nearest police station if you are suspicious. Popular stolen lines it names are garden equipment, power tools and bicycles; a boxed baby monitor or a folded pram can sit in the same cash economy.

A registration plate in your camera roll does not make the kit yours if it was stolen. The true owner can still reclaim it. The photo is so you can tell the police which van, at which sale, on which morning — and so you have a chance of finding a regular trader if Tuesday's fault is a description fight, not a theft fight.

If the price is far below every other stall, the serial sticker has been peeled, or they will not let you photograph the van, that is a reason to walk away. Official records of a recall, or no recall on file, do not answer a stolen-goods question.

Are the photographs a safety check?

No. They record what was on the stall. They do not test a harness, a mattress firmness, or a battery. The Lullaby Trust's second-hand checklist is a separate job: instructions, the relevant British Standard mark where one exists, a GOV.UK recall search, and whether the item is in one piece. Phone checks before you pay is that workflow.

In shortAsk for a name and number. Photograph labels, the description, the stall and the vehicle. A receipt is nice and not required. The pictures are for Tuesday's letter, not a stamp that the kit is fine.