Moses Yoder
08-03-2014, 5:33 AM
I was raised to be a negotiator of prices. Never pay the asking price. This has stood me in good stead, as I have found most people mark their stuff up in anticipation of being chewed down and will gladly lower the price if you ask. This is embarrassing to Meg I think, but it is one of the things that define my character and make me the person I am.
About ten years ago my in-laws bought a place and soon after they told me there was going to be a steam show next door. I thought it would be interesting to see and went. I found a rust hunter’s heaven. A large section of the steam show was dedicated to the flea market where you could find all sorts of treasures. Well, they were treasures to me; Meg just shook her head.
This weekend is the steam show, Friday Saturday and Sunday. A lot of the flea market people are not there until late Friday setting up their stuff, I have found the best time to go is early Saturday morning. Yesterday (Saturday) I got around a little later than I should have and it was past 8 when I walked through the gate and paid my $4 to enter. I assumed the good stuff was already gone, but it turns out I was still an early bird and there were worms to be had. A little ways down the first isle I saw a nice Stanley miter box without the saw, I figured easily worth $20 with the saw I had at home. No prices on the stuff so I held it up and asked “How much?” and he replied $5. Well with a price that low even I am not going to negotiate. I also found a nice set of Allen wrenches in a steel box, $2, and paid for them both a little gleefully amazed at my luck. I turned to go and saw a Gold Bond Coleman stove, a 413G made for Gold Bond flour coupons. He said $10 for that and since I knew it was worth quite a bit more again I just thanked my lucky stars and paid the price. Later I bought a nice fully etched Disston thumb hole rip saw for $3 and just handed over the money not believing my luck.
I was about to see a real artist in action. I wandered around the rest of the flea market and came upon a table with a man across from me looking at an intake manifold with a carburetor attached to the top. We will call him Pete. The owner of the booth is Ananias and he came over to see if we needed anything. Pete to Ananias “You know, I am working on one of these at home and the only reason I would like to have this is to see what the float looks like.” Ananias; “Well what’ll you give me for it?” Pete; “Well I don’t know, what do you think it’s worth?” Ananias;”Well how about twenty bucks?” Now Pete was the kind of guy that was probably a millionaire but he replies “Woah, that’s not what I was thinking at all!” Ananias replies “Well how about fifteen?” And Pete just looks at him and says “Well at least you are headed in my direction!” Ananias says “What about ten bucks?” And Pete replies “Now you’re talkin’ “ and reaches for his wallet.
Here he had gotten an intact and usable intake manifold with a complete carburetor for $10 and had never once suggested a dollar figure to the seller; the seller had set his own price. I walked away realizing I had been in the presence of a real artist
294090
About ten years ago my in-laws bought a place and soon after they told me there was going to be a steam show next door. I thought it would be interesting to see and went. I found a rust hunter’s heaven. A large section of the steam show was dedicated to the flea market where you could find all sorts of treasures. Well, they were treasures to me; Meg just shook her head.
This weekend is the steam show, Friday Saturday and Sunday. A lot of the flea market people are not there until late Friday setting up their stuff, I have found the best time to go is early Saturday morning. Yesterday (Saturday) I got around a little later than I should have and it was past 8 when I walked through the gate and paid my $4 to enter. I assumed the good stuff was already gone, but it turns out I was still an early bird and there were worms to be had. A little ways down the first isle I saw a nice Stanley miter box without the saw, I figured easily worth $20 with the saw I had at home. No prices on the stuff so I held it up and asked “How much?” and he replied $5. Well with a price that low even I am not going to negotiate. I also found a nice set of Allen wrenches in a steel box, $2, and paid for them both a little gleefully amazed at my luck. I turned to go and saw a Gold Bond Coleman stove, a 413G made for Gold Bond flour coupons. He said $10 for that and since I knew it was worth quite a bit more again I just thanked my lucky stars and paid the price. Later I bought a nice fully etched Disston thumb hole rip saw for $3 and just handed over the money not believing my luck.
I was about to see a real artist in action. I wandered around the rest of the flea market and came upon a table with a man across from me looking at an intake manifold with a carburetor attached to the top. We will call him Pete. The owner of the booth is Ananias and he came over to see if we needed anything. Pete to Ananias “You know, I am working on one of these at home and the only reason I would like to have this is to see what the float looks like.” Ananias; “Well what’ll you give me for it?” Pete; “Well I don’t know, what do you think it’s worth?” Ananias;”Well how about twenty bucks?” Now Pete was the kind of guy that was probably a millionaire but he replies “Woah, that’s not what I was thinking at all!” Ananias replies “Well how about fifteen?” And Pete just looks at him and says “Well at least you are headed in my direction!” Ananias says “What about ten bucks?” And Pete replies “Now you’re talkin’ “ and reaches for his wallet.
Here he had gotten an intact and usable intake manifold with a complete carburetor for $10 and had never once suggested a dollar figure to the seller; the seller had set his own price. I walked away realizing I had been in the presence of a real artist
294090