Post #25780 by woofmutt on Sat, Mar 8, 2003 2:02 PM

Here's what I never tell a dealer: What I'm looking for. If they know you want it there's no bargaining room. And in the case of Tiki items the majority of them have no idea what Tiki is anyway.

Kailuageoff brought up many of my peeves with dealers (by the way, unless you deliberately break an item you don't have to buy it whatever the stupid little "Lovely to look at..." signs claim), here's a few more: The dealer who can't answer the question "How much is the _____?" without a lengthy preamble about what the ____ is, and how rare they are...The word "old" on a price tag...The dealers who snap "We're closing in ten minutes!" when you walk through the door (A friendly "You and your money can go to Hell!" would be preferable)...Items so wildly misidentified one can only assume it's an attempt to scam someone...Things priced on assumption (I collect tobacco pipes and there's a broad sweeping belief that all pipes are old and rare)...Items without prices...The dealer who acts put out when you ask her to look at something in a locked cabinet and the unlabeled keys to the locks which means 5 minutes of waiting just so a price tag which has been purposely put face down (due to some bizarre dealer notion that if you have to ask to see the price you may be more inclined to buy) can be turned over...And finally (Kailuageoff already mentioned this but it's becoming more common) the "I could get a million dollars for that on eBay" line. Then why the hell aren't you selling it on eBay?

Although I generally say nasty things about dealers (becasue it's fun to hate) I'd like to say that I've been shopping for junk since I was 11, and over the decades (!) I've met some great dealers who are in the game because they love junk as much as their customers. These unusual folk spend a lot of time researching antiques and collectibles, are often friendly and like discussing items, and usually price their items fairly. And their cabinet keys are clearly labeled.