Everyone knows one basic thing when they walk in the door at an antique dealer’s – they're supposed to haggle. They know that the antique dealer doesn't expect to be paid what it says on the sticker. They know they're expected to haggle. But how much are you supposed to haggle?
Any antique dealer will always have two prices – a retail price and a trade price. The trade price, you might well imagine, is the price he'll let something go for, when another antique dealer calls asking for it. Sometimes, they'll let it go of it for the trade price too, when a regular customer or collector comes a-calling.
The mistake first-time buyers make is that they imagine that that special price is only reserved for those people. They never imagine that they could have a chance at it, too. If the antique dealer doesn't know you as a regular customer yet, he may believe that you are serious enough about the whole thing and you may turn into one. And then, he may be open to considering letting go of something at the trade price.
Any antique dealer will always have two prices – a retail price and a trade price. The trade price, you might well imagine, is the price he'll let something go for, when another antique dealer calls asking for it. Sometimes, they'll let it go of it for the trade price too, when a regular customer or collector comes a-calling.
The mistake first-time buyers make is that they imagine that that special price is only reserved for those people. They never imagine that they could have a chance at it, too. If the antique dealer doesn't know you as a regular customer yet, he may believe that you are serious enough about the whole thing and you may turn into one. And then, he may be open to considering letting go of something at the trade price.