10 Things Your Antique Dealer Won't Tell You

If you like to shop for antiques, then you probably also like to haggle over prices. After all, you may not even know what you’re looking for when you walk into an antique shop, but you probably know one thing—that the dollar amount on the price tag isn’t always what the dealer actually expects to get. For most buyers, though, the negotiation is shrouded in one mystery: Just how much wiggle room do I really have?

Lincoln Sander, an antique dealer in Redding, Conn., explains that dealers generally have what’s called a “trade price”—that is, an amount for which they will sell the item to another dealer, a known collector, or a regular customer. The discount can be significant—often as high as 20 percent—and most dealers build it into their markup when pricing an item. What you may not know is that the trade price could also be available to you as a first-time customer. The dealer may, for example, offer you the special price if he sees the potential for building a relationship with you, Sander says. But you might also get it just for being pleasant and not so presumptuous in your negotiating. “Ask in a nice way,” Sander advises, “with the idea that you might or might not get the price.” Pat Garthoeffner, a dealer in Lititz, Pa., agrees that manners go a long way. “Never make an offer [by saying] ‘I’ll give you . . .’ or ‘Can you take . . .?’ That’s just insulting,” she says. The phrase that makes her most likely to give customers a break? “I think the best thing to say,” says Garthoeffner, “is ‘Do you have any room . . .?’”