Tents pitched on the lawn before listing, tackle sold live in lots, and a 40 kg scale for the family tent that a medium parcel will not take.
Built forYou buy camping, walking and fishing kit at car boots, house sales and club clear-outs, store it in a garage or a dry shed, and sell 15 to 60 items a week: tents, stoves and boots on eBay, and tackle boxes broken into lots on Whatnot.
Kit total
£380 to £615
Running cost
£119 to £191 a month
Consumables at 38 orders a week
- Orders a week
- 15–60
- Space
- Garage or unit
- Budget
- £650
Why this setup
You buy camping, walking and fishing kit at car boots, house sales and club clear-outs, store it in a garage or a dry shed, and sell 15 to 60 items a week: tents, stoves and boots on eBay, and tackle boxes broken into lots on Whatnot.
A buyer can't see a tent in its bag, so pitch every tent on the lawn first, photograph it standing and count its poles and pegs back into the bag as it comes down.
Fishing tackle comes the opposite way: hundreds of floats, hooks, feeders and lures in one seat box. Split into lots on a Whatnot show, they sell faster than they would as single listings. The garage takes both: bulky kit on shelves, small tackle in tubs.
The kit
Every item, why it’s here and what it typically costs in the UK.
5-tier steel shelving, 180 cm×2
Floor space runs out before height does. Number the shelves and each item gets an address you can pick from.
Typical price£80 to £140
See on Amazon
Clear stackable 32 L tubs, 4 pack×3
Label each tub with a shelf code and record the code against the listing. A sale then tells you which tub to open.
Typical price£90 to £135
See on Amazon40 kg digital parcel scale
A wrong weight costs you surcharges or overpaid postage. A flat platform scale with a separate display stays readable when a box covers the top.
Typical price£15 to £25
See on AmazonMUNBYN thermal label printer
It takes the standard 100 x 150 mm labels that eBay, Vinted and Whatnot all generate, and generic labels work, so the running cost stays low.
Typical price£55 to £85
See on AmazonTape dispenser gun
Once you ship more than a handful of boxes a week, a tape gun saves minutes on every session and stops tape ends sticking to themselves.
Typical price£8 to £14
See on Amazon150 cm phone tripod with remote
Clothing and trainer shows need a full-body or full-shoe shot from in front. A tripod gets the phone to eye height and the remote starts recording from across the room.
Typical price£18 to £30
See on Amazon
Buy this kit
Copy the full list to take shopping, or print it.
Postage per order
What most orders like these go by, at today’s published prices. Prices checked 6 October 2026.
Royal Mail Tracked 48 Medium ParcelUsual£5.70 to £12.25
TrackedUp to 20 kgTrainers, homeware and electronics up to 20 kg, tracked and cheaper than untracked 2nd Class.
InPost locker to locker, medium£2.59
TrackedUp to 15 kgShoe boxes, books and bags up to 19 cm deep, sent between lockers when the buyer picks a locker.
- Royal Mail 2nd Class Medium Parcel
£7.00 to £13.70
Not trackedUp to 20 kgShoe boxes, homeware and bulky parcels up to 20 kg that don’t need tracking.
About £939 to £2,017 a month in postage at 38 orders a week On most marketplaces the buyer pays postage; this is the cost when you pay it.
How to lay it out
Where everything goes, so each order moves one way through the room.
- 1
Shelves along the dry wall
Put two steel units against the wall furthest from the door, where condensation is lower. Tents and sleeping bags on the top shelves in breathable bags, boots and stoves at waist height, heavy cookware at the bottom.
- 2
Tackle tubs on a bench
Three clear tubs for sorted tackle: terminal tackle, lures and floats. You run each show from one tub, and film it at the bench.
- 3
Show corner by the window
Mount the phone on its tripod over the bench with an LED panel either side. Use daylight from the window during the day, and switch to the LED panels for evening shows.
- 4
Packing by the door
Boxes flat against the wall, the 40 kg scale on the floor and the printer on a shelf above it. Lift a packed tent off the scale and carry it straight out of the door.
The guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
Working to the outdoor calendar
List tents, stoves and cool boxes from February so they are live before the Easter and May bank holidays. List walking boots and waterproofs by September, and keep the stock you buy at spring clearances for the autumn shelf.
Coarse river tackle follows the close season in England and Wales, which ends in mid June. Run tackle shows in May and early June, when anglers are getting ready.
Pitching and testing every tent
Pitch each tent before you list it, ideally on a dry day so it goes back in the bag dry. Check the zips, the seams and the groundsheet for holes against the light.
Count poles and pegs into a photo. Write the count on a tag tied to the bag, so a packed tent can be checked in seconds if a buyer asks.
Splitting a tackle box for a show
Empty the seat box onto the bench and sort by type: hooks and terminal tackle, floats, feeders, lures, and reels. Bag small items in counted lots and keep reels and rods for single eBay listings.
Remove anything with a blade, any loose lead weights you are unsure of, and old line that has gone brittle. Start each lot low and let the bidders set the price.
Kit for this step
Stoves, fuel and items that cannot travel
Strip every stove of gas, meths or paraffin and wipe it clean. Post office staff can refuse a stove that smells of fuel, so leave it outside to air for a day.
Keep a box on the shelf for things you will not post: gas canisters, loose lithium cells, flares and knives. List the stove and keep those parts out of the parcel.
Packing tents, boots and long kit
Tents go in a double-wall box with the poles laid along one side so they cannot punch through. Boots need paper stuffed in the toes and the soles wrapped so mud cannot transfer.
Weigh family tents before you choose a service. A six-berth tent can weigh more than a medium parcel allows (check the carrier's current weight limit), so get a courier quote. For lighter kit, compare couriers and include Evri.
Kit for this step
Keeping the garage dry
Garages and sheds sweat in cold weather. Seal the door gap, keep stock off the floor and check the back wall for damp each month.
Air tents and sleeping bags after a pitch and before storing. A tent packed damp grows mildew.
Kit for this step
Common mistakes
Each one costs you money or reviews, and each has a fix.
- Listing a tent from the bag without pitching it, then refunding a buyer who finds a missing pole.
- Leaving a gas canister screwed to a stove in the parcel and having it stopped or returned.
- Putting a bait knife in a tackle lot sold live and posted to a home address with no age check.
- Storing sleeping bags in sealed plastic tubs in a damp garage until they smell of mildew.
- Quoting Royal Mail postage for a rod tube before measuring it, then paying for a longer service out of the profit.
When to upgrade
At 30 orders a week, a courier comparison account quotes DPD, Parcelforce and Evri side by side for the heavy tents and rod tubes Royal Mail will not size. At 40, add a folding table as a packing bench so the tackle bench stays set up for shows.
- 30+ Parcel2Go
- 40+ 180 cm folding table
Questions
Can I sell a stove with a gas canister attached?
No. Unscrew it and leave all gas out of the parcel. Royal Mail prohibits flammable gas, including camping gas cylinders, and couriers refuse it too. Check Royal Mail's current restricted items list. Say in the listing that the stove comes without fuel.
Can I sell knives from a tackle box?
Bait knives, filleting knives and multi-tools with a blade are bladed products under UK law. Selling one to an under 18 is an offence, and a remote sale to a home address needs age checks on delivery. Check GOV.UK's guidance on selling knives online. Check the platform and courier rules first, or take the blades out of the lot and keep them.
How do I photograph a tent nobody can see in the bag?
Pitch it in daylight and take one photo from each corner, then one inside. Lay out every pole, peg and guy line next to the bag and photograph the count. Mention any patch or seam tape.
Is a garage too damp for sleeping bags and tents?
It can be in winter. Keep them off the floor in breathable cotton bags, not plastic, and air any tent fully before it goes on the shelf. A tent with mildew often comes back as a return.
How do I post a long rod tube?
Measure the tube before you quote postage. A rod tube can be longer than Royal Mail's standard sizes allow (check Royal Mail's current size guide), so a courier with a longer length limit is often cheaper. Plug both ends and pad each section.
Are fishing lots good for Whatnot?
Yes. Open and split a seat box on camera, and sell small lots of floats or lures without a separate listing each. Size each lot to fit a padded bag.
Can I post a head torch with batteries?
Royal Mail accepts lithium batteries fitted inside a device within its limits, but spare lithium batteries cannot go on their own. Check Royal Mail's current guidance before you post. Take loose spares out, and ship AA or AAA torches without batteries.
More setups
Updated 6 October 2026
