Better Quality, Better Price:

Getting What You Want at Auctions, Garage Sales, Flea Markets

© Cindy Brick

Nov 16, 2007

Finding that special piece at an auction, flea market or garage sale is not as much a problem as getting it for the right price! Emelie Tolley and Chris Mead, authors of Flea Market Style: Decorating with a Creative Edge (Clarkson Potter/NY), have been negotiating for years, and are savvy deal-closers. Here are some of their favorite negotiating methods, along with some tricks this writer has learned from decades as an appraiser and collector:

• How much do you REALLY want it? If it's something you can't live without, don't walk away. You may not get a second chance.
• Don't show your interest in the item -- at first. Choose a few others you wouldn't mind having. Talk to the dealer about them first. Or make some practice bids. (Keep it low.) You may find a second bargain on the way to the first!
• Check carefully for condition. Are there cracks, chips, repairs? If they don't bother you, they'll be good weapons for arguing on a lower price. But bear in mind that they will also lower the piece's overall value.
• Is it a reproduction? There are a lot more out there than you think. Make sure you know.
• Be nice. The dealer will stop listening if you start by badmouthing the item. No one is going to be persuaded more quickly if you insult them first. (Teenagers are notorious for not understanding this!) How would you like to be treated? That's how you should treat the seller.
• Don't assume the seller is stupid. They're not. (And if they are, they won't admit it!) Don't announce you've seen the same piece at a vastly lower price elsewhere. An auctioneer won't care -- and a seller will resent your implication. Telling the dealer all about the same piece in Aunt Sadie's collection (then quizzing him or her about the price) won't win you any points, either. Keep your thoughts to yourself until the sale is concluded.
• Buy more than one item from the same seller. A group sale will get you a better overall price.
• Is it large? Can you live without it? (If not, see tip #1.) Bulky pieces only get more unwieldy as the day moves on. They often sell at a bargain price at day's end, because the seller doesn't enjoy the thought of lugging them home.
• Offer cash. It may get you a discount. So do rain, burning heat and a lack of customers. (Snowstorms on auction days are an opportunity waiting to happen!)
• Is it still a bargain, compared to retail? Furniture, even when it's higher-priced, generally remains a good buy, compared to the price you would have to pay for its retail cousin.
• Is it well made? Will it last? (See previous comment.) This applies even when the antique item is more expensive than its store-bought counterpart. Take quilts, for example. Imports appear great right out of the package. But look at them more closely. Are the stitches small and even? What's the workmanship, overall? And what kind fabric was used? Most of these 'bargains' fade and begin popping seams with only a few washes. A well-made antique quilt, on the other hand, will endure use and even repeated cleanings, and still come out in terrific shape. It had to, or it wouldn't be here today.
• Put it in writing. Does your collectible have a provenance? Have the seller put its age and pertinent information on the receipt. (That way, it's all in one spot, and easily filed.) As Tolley and Mead point out, "If a dealer refuses to put the information in writing, you can be sure it isn't true."
• Don't buy something just because it's there! So you lost the chair you really wanted to another bidder, or while you were getting coffee, someone else snatched up that cup and saucer. Don't quickly purchase the next one up as a consolation prize. It won't be the same.

Getting what you want is a great feeling. But getting it at the price you set? Ah, that's priceless!

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