Hey guys I recently had the good fortune (IE A night off from work) of being able to go to a local indoor flea market (Merchant's square, for those of you in the Allentown PA area )and take a look around.

Long story short, Joes weren't prevalent but the few pieces I did find were horribly overpriced and I was wondering if anyone had any tips or tactics for negotiating price

I would love to get a decent almost complete weapons transport (missing antennae and Steering wheel) but they are asking 22$ (same for most of the dozen and a half figures they had which I might ass have been there for 3 years since the last time I visited)

PS: there was one vendor who had Target PP Conquests and tiger Rats for 25$ and 3/4 of the Arctic Commandos set for 18$

PSS: Opinion: Seems that people like to look at their stuff instead of sell it, especially since they are in a curio shoppe amidst the sea of green and blue glass vases. I would feel differently about dealing with someone who was obviously into toys.

Steve

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MBB,

you can't go wrong with the funskool weapons transport. They still pop up on ebay from time to time. Just need some repro stickers for it.

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when I go to the local flea market, there is a used toy vendor there pretty regularly. I don't know that I've paid "full price" for anything yet. lol. Tip is to buy something small first, in cash. Make sure they get the hint that you'll be handing over more of said cash if you like the price. I'm not sure this works in the situation you describe, since they don't know what they are selling. but for me, I start with the cheap bins, pick out a few things I like for a buck each, and work my way up from there. Also, I sometimes combine my deals. I'll pay full price for this (something not too costly), in cash right now, if you can sell me this other thing for $x/name your price. Most vendors don't like to see people walk away without the purchase, once they have seen your cash in hand.

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Just offer what you're willing to pay. If they've been carting the items around long enough, they'll probably relent. I got most of a Moray and a pretty decent Skystriker along with a bunch of other parts for about 5 bucks, largely because the dealer didn't want to cart them home. This applies especially to stuff that they're unfamiliar with, after enough time it doesn't matter how much they think it's worth, they just want it gone.

And if they won't deal, oh well. Come back in a month, and if it's still there say "How about now?"

I do something similar. I'll ask them what they are looking for with my price in mind. Then I'll counter with my offer if their price is too high. It never hurts to ask. The price is arbitrary based on what they think it is worth and maybe how much they paid for it. If they don't budge or don't come down low enough, walk away. I've honestly had several dealers meet my price as soon as I went to leave. In other cases, I've seen the same item there for the same price every time, collecting dust.

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It has been my experience that 90% if all flea market vendors have no clue what toys are worth - or what an average price really is.

There's a guy that does a local toy show around here. He's had the same G.I. joe case, with the same 7 figures in it (no weapons) for $100.00 for 7 years. SEVEN YEARS.

He once brought it to me and offered it to me for $80.00. I said no and tried to tell him that the figures (all 1990 era) weren't worth much without the weapons. He said I was wrong, and went back to his table.

I should mention - I had a giant display of G.I. Joe, Mego, and Vintage Star Wars items behind me.

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