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How important is it to you that the seller is willing to negotiate on the price? Occasionally, I sell items at shows, only a couple times a year. I mark my items below market value to move the merchandise and usually sell a substantial amount of my items.  Even if the prices are low, some people refuse to by items if I don't negotiate or am willing to take only a small amount off of the price. When I mark up the items at a higher price to leave wiggle room to negotiate, I sell less items, but usually end up netting the same amount, as some people pay the sticker price without asking for a reduction. It may sound crazy, but I would rather sell more items at the same price, as I don't have much storage space. It seems as though some people really enjoy the negotiation process or the thought they got a good deal because the price was lowered.  Would you rather pay the sticker price or negotiate a higher price down to the same amount?

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I know what i'm willing to pay for an item when i see it. If it's priced no more than 10% more than what i'm willing to pay i'll buy it without a question unless the seller indicates he wants to negotiate. As far as anything that's priced way over fair market value I won't even begin to bargain with the exception if it's something i really want. Then i preface my conversation with, "i'm going to make you an offer, but please don't be insulted; it's based on fair market value".

When i sell at train shows i price my items at 10% to 20% below fair market value or less to get rid of them.

If it is an acceptable price - I'll buy. Very Easy.

If it is marginal, I try to find multiple items from the same vendor and make an offer on the lot. I'd say about 80% of the time, they take my offer. 15%, they get close enough and I take their counter.

If the price is "outrageous", I'll express an interest and ask what is special/unique about their piece to command the asking price. Sometimes that leads to a conversation friendly to negotiations within my price range. If we can't quite get there, I'll may attempt to return towards the end of the meet and simply state "I'll still take it for $x". Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Last edited by bmoran4
bmoran4 posted:

If it is an acceptable price - I'll buy. Very Easy.

If it is marginal, I try to find multiple items from the same vendor and make an offer on the lot. I'd say about 80% of the time, they take my offer. 15%, they get close enough and I take their counter.

If the price is "outrageous", I'll express an interest and ask what is special/unique about their piece to command the asking price. Sometimes that leads to a conversation friendly to negotiations within my price range. If we can't quite get there, I'll may attempt to return towards the end of the meet and simply state "I'll still take it for $x". Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Pretty much. Especially the end-of-show offer idea.

I dislike negotiating in general. Now, the offers-back-and-forth a couple of times is fine - if respectful and good-natured - I do it myself - but endless "dickering" over an item is tiresome, undignified and, as practiced by some personality types, offensive.

Those who consider "dickering" a sport, yet actually want to buy item XYZ, need to realize that not everyone likes the dickering process, just as guys like me who don't care for it much need to realize that some people do. Make a friendly offer or two, accept or not, and then go away. A couple of times I have actually started raising a price just to get a guy to leave my table. 

I negotiate by bundling or add trade ins.  Frequently when selling, someone offers a lesser price, I will hold firm to my price but throw in an item or two that I just want gone.   Target, reduce inventory & acquire cash.

When buying I always offer anything off my table and cash for whatever they are selling.  Target,  reduce inventory & retain cash.

 

It all depends on what the piece is, and what all I’m buying....certainly if a fella has a 10 dollar item, I’m not asking him to give it away......that’s just ridiculous.......but if I see a few pieces, or high dollar piece, I’ll ask the fella before I even show my hand on what I’m looking at if they have any wiggle room or not....this easily sets the stage, if they say no, but it’s a piece I want, and it’s in my range, I’ll buy it....I find 99% of the time they’ll negotiate, and so do I....but I’ll always let them fire the first volley....let’s them be in charge.....I call it taking their temperature......most of the time the price in my head and the sellers price is only off by a single split....split it down the middle and get the piece....on to the next.....if a piece is hard to find, and you and the seller both know it and you want it.......pay the man....your on the ropes.........Pat

I'm a buy at sticker person.  I hate negotiating, it's a waste of time that could be spent looking at other stuff, IMHO.  If I like the price I see, I buy it.  If I don't, I walk away as I don't want to waste my time or the seller's time.  If I was selling I'd just list everything at the price I'm willing to part with it at, and if they like it they can pay for it.  If someone tries to give me an 'offer' below that I'll just tell them the items are priced and that is what I will sell them for, no less.  And if they still insist on trying to 'negotiate' I'll just ask them to stop wasting my time and to leave.  They can just go get their 'thrill' somewhere else.

Last edited by sinclair

I generally have an idea of what an item is worth to me.  I could care less what the price guides say an item is worth; ultimately it’s how much am I willing to spend to own the item.

If the seller has obviously priced his items to sell and I believe the price to be fair; I’ll pay the sellers price.  

If I believe the seller has some wiggle room; I’ll often just ask “what would you be willing to do on this?”  If I find that number to be acceptable, I’ll buy.  If not, I’ll generally say something like “nah; that’s more than I was thinking.”  In most cases; the seller will then ask what I think is fair and the negotiation begins.  

If I believe an item to be egregiously overpriced, I simply move on without expressing or showing any interest.  Odds are I’ll either find it at a lower price at some point or, I really didn’t need it anyhow.

Curt

I'm all about the haggle.  I'm the type of person that will haggle even if something is stupid cheap.  Bought a set of 6 new in box Williams passenger cars and a like brand new Lionel Trainmaster engine with sound and so on for 100.  He was asking 125.  I offered 100, they took it. 

That isn't to say that if the seller won't bargain, I'll pass.  I will still buy the item if the price is still very good. 

I just enjoy haggling and getting a discount. 

Someday I'm going to ruin a new car saleperson's day by going into a dealership with enough cash to buy a car outright and just toy with them.  

I'm at the stage of the hobby where I have everything I "need".    so nearly anything I see that interests me is not a "must have".     therefore I generally don't get interested unless it is a "good deal". 

That said, I like to make an offer.    sometimes the seller takes it, sometimes not.   I don't bother trying an offer if it is real overpriced, or my interest price is way lower than asking.     When selling, I always have a bottom line price in the back of my mind, but I don't price high on purpose.

The most interesting deal I ever made was the seller making me an offer.     I had walked by what I thought was a PRR caboose painted robins egg blue and lettered wabash listed for $90 (brass).   It was a very nice job, but an awful color for PRR caboose - better on a 54 chevy convertible.    I came back later in the day when things were quiet.    the seller was there and we got to chatting so asked him if it was indeed a PRR ND caboose.     he said yes and smiled sheepishly and made a comment about the color - I can't remember whether he got it that way or what.     we chatted a little more and I started to walk away, and in my mind I thought I would maybe pay 50 for that but not anymore requiring repaint quickly!     I never made an offer because I didn't need it and didn't want to insult him.     Anyway, I got a few steps away and he said - "Would you buy it for $50?"      I burst out laughing since I was thinking that, and I accepted his offer.

 

Not a haggler and I am not concerned with getting the absolutely lowest price I can on something, if someone has it at a price that makes sense to me, if I want it I'll buy it and not worry if I could get it for 5 bucks cheaper. What gets me upset is when I see things like common post war items at ridiculously high prices, where the seller hopes to catch someone who doesn't know (and probably justifies it with 'well, if they know what the price is, they can always give me an offer'), then they will complain when no one wants to buy their stuff.  I am not begrudging someone a couple of bucks extra in profit, if they price their stuff 10% over their dirt bottom price, I generally won't negotiate if I like what they have, I get something I like and they make a couple of bucks, I just don't like taking advantage where people don't know, not a fan of predatory capitalism (especially when I can be the victim

Obviously the best bet is if you are looking for something, take a look at what prices are like at stores or on fleabay or the like, take a look at pricing guides, and decide what you want to spend on it, and then when there negotiate based on that price. If you like something but don't know what fair market value is, find the model number or look at the description, and step away and look it up, smart phones are kinda nice that way, try to get an idea of what it likely is worth, then work from there. 

I will add that as someone who has done selling (not with train items), it annoyed me when people tried to negotiate at discount just to get a discount, where I had something at what I knew was a reasonable market price and they made either really silly low offers or worse, negotiated literally on 50c on something costing a hundred bucks, that isn't haggling, that is just being annoying. 

It sounds like you have a realistic approach to selling at train meets.

As for the folks on the other side of the table, there are all types out there. I sell quite a bit, and I run into some folks that just need to negotiate or they won't buy, and others that know the value of the item, and will jump in with "I'll take it" if the price is good to them whether it's as marked or talked down. Then there are others that play the "would you take__________?" game, and even when I agree, they say, "OK, just wondering". I used to let some get me upset, but now I just figure the whacky ones give me great stories to share.

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