CHEAP AIN'T CHEAP ENOUGH!!

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glass man

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I wonder how many of you have set up at a bottle show and had something priced cheap and you knew it...yet someone always wants to give you even less?

For instance:I once had a mint 1915 coke bottle and had it priced for 3 dollars..not bad huh? Well no one snapped it up...Finnaly I sold it for buck fity...

A couple years ago we needed money [per usual] and I had a mint pint o.p. usual green urn/cornocopia flask that was loaded with seed bubbles and so crooked it could hardly stand up.a great example...I started at 200 bucks...high maybe..but it was an exceptional example...A man [big time collector] had decided to branch out into flasks and wanted to know if he could take the flask outside in the sun to check it out better...I trusted him..known him for years..well Nina happened to be out there and saw him with another collecter telling the potential buyer"I know flasks and this is a great one for what it is".GROOVY!

He comes back and we get down to the haggling part we all love so dearly...but I swear it seems sometime people can smell you need money...I take it all the way down to $125.....and he wants it for a dollar less!![:mad:]So he got it for $124[:-]...now it was mine to do as I wanted..but dang!!

I myself love a great deal...but many times I have seen a bottle I knew was already cheap and just paid for it...once I even gave a bit more money for a bottle and told the person it was worth much more....but I know that may just seem dumb to some...but then that's me![8D]

I ain't complaining..too much..cause in the end I have made money over all on buying and selling and every one has to take less then they gave for a bottle at times...the way it goes...a starting collector better know these things right from the start...but it just befuddles me[be-fuddle..a good word[8|]] sometime at how low some one wants to give for something...well free of course...I have put for free ,cheap things on my table at times just to see if any one notices...also hopefully a kid will see it..I kinda help them...a few times it was hard to convince people that an item was actually free!![:D]PEACE!JAMIE
 

SAbottles

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Jamie, as someone who deals in and sells bottles for a living, I can certainly relate to your "impassioned cry" ! Customers range from the wonderful ~ "I'd like all these, oh, and that one too!" without a quibble about the price ~ to the "Oh, this one is $1, how about 50c !"
I know to most people "Flea Market" = bargaining, but sometimes it can be outrageous. [:eek:]

I must confess to being a bit guilty too, sometimes ! Before airfares and exchange rates made it impossible, I used to visit the UK for the big National Bottle Show and buy things, especially low end transfer-printed stuff, to take back home for re-sale. And I was one of those who would approach a dealer, especially near the end of the day, put together a number of items and say "What's the best you can do on these?"
I wouldn't have blamed him if he had said, "The best I can do is put them back and tell you to b#@% off !" In actual fact they were usually keen to move things before they packed and would often be very generous [;)] !
 

LC

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I think wanting a great deal or better is an evil that resides in all of us deep down Jamie . I love to get a good deal , but in most of my endeavors if and when I had a little bit of money , I never minded paying on the high side for something if I truely wanted it .
 

glass man

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Thanks yall..just needed to get that off my chest....YEP I guess like a long time bottle collecting friend [since the 70s] once told me"There is at least a little bit of greed in us all"...BUT some have a heck of a lot more then a little!![:)] JAMIE
 

LC

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I can atest to that from experience Jamie lol /
 

Plumbata

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He dickered you down to 124?? what a turd!

At sales/markets I've probably only asked "what's the best you can do on this (or all of these)?"about 6 times in my life, and I have never tried to haggle with sellers. I ask that only when the price honestly seems high to me. I can sniff out more than enough bargains as-is without attempting to take advantage of an unwitting seller.

I think it has earned me good karma, because many more than 6 times I have had sellers and dealers give me automatic, non-requested discounts both big and small when I say "I'll take this", either because they appreciated my smile and friendly conversation or because we have a positive history of buying/selling (as an adult that is; deals were showered upon me when i was a cute inquisitive kid [:D]). Being gentlemanly and charming to the women sellers also earns discounts, and is fun too. [;)]

On the other side, as a seller at markets, I've had mostly positive experiences, even with the hagglers, but man it can be a pain because I usually price my stuff on the low end already, since i want it to move fast - not sit for 3 years.

One funny event occurred 4 years ago. The show had just opened, and I had 135.00 on a 1940s Polarine Oil porcelain sign. A fellow came by and started to haggle on the price for the sign, and as i was considering taking 100 for it another person came by, overheard, and said that his friend would want it for 135. Both myself and the haggler were surprised, so the haggler quickly changed his strategy and offered 150.00 for it! I've never had an informal auction at my table before or since. [:D]

So the haggler, due to wasting time haggling, had it backfire and ended up walking away paying 15 more than I was asking! A sweet success... [:D][:D][:D]
 

Wheelah23

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I've had some funny things happen buying and selling. I didn't sell much at my first show selling, but I sold a bottle for $4 to a little girl no older than 7. Her mom showed her the bottle, looked at the price, then said "ooh honey, look at the pretty bottle! You want this one, right?" Haha, lucky she didn't pick up a more expensive bottle!

As for buying, one funny thing did happen. I was in tense negotiations with a seller over a nice local blob. I said $10, he wanted $15. We were going at it, then the guy at the table next to the seller's burst in. "I'll go $11!" he says. Then I go up to $12. "I'm out," the other guy exclaims. Then the seller had a change of heart, and decided to sell me the bottle for $10. I pretended not to notice the wink the seller gave to the guy next to us... [:D]
 

coreya

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Reading these stories reminded me of my mother, when we lived in Mexico City in the mid 60's my Mother would go to the large market and when looking at a fancy chess set or some other such thing the bargining would go something like this; Mom- How much for the chess set, Dealer- 200 pesos, Mom- Ill give you 50, Dealer- 175, Mom- 40, Dealer- 125. Mom 35, I remember she ended up buying it for 30 pesos which at the time was 8 cents to a peso so $2.40. I like to bargain but my Mother took the cake!!
 

ktbi

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I won a bottle on eBay several years ago. Don't even remmber which one now, but the seller sent it to me along with a $5 dollar bill and said it went too high! Never see that again....Ron
 

bostaurus

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It wasn't a bottle but.. about 4 years ago I won an 1850's book on horse disease and care on eBay. When the seller saw that our address was an overseas military one he refunded my paypal account and the book arrived with a check. The note in the book thanked my husband for his service and asked me to give the money to any fund I saw fit that was helping wounded soldiers.(we were at the main hospital in Europe)
Sometimes the good out there gets overshadowed by the harshness of the bad.
 

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