Dealers' Pricing at the National

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by The Detroit Collector

My advice would be to walk around and hit every table. Have a notebook and write down the cards that catch your eye and the price. After you did a walk of the floor, sit down somewhere and see what cards in your notebook seem to have the best deal.

Also, if you can wait, Sunday prices are more reasonable.

And by the time you get back to those tables, the good deals will be long gone. If you see something good at the show for a good price, you have to pounce on it or it will sell to someone else. I've made that mistake more than once because I didn't want to pay for something too soon on the first day.

[Yoda]

Having worked both sides of the aisle at the Nat'l, I would only offer 2 nuggets:
1. When buying something special, the fatal line is, "Is that the best you can do?". Instead throw up a number less than what you might eventually be willing to pay. The dealer might then knock something off and then the true negotiating begins and who knows you might get the card.
2. This is just a personal dislike. I can hardly be polite when a card bro slithers around, opens his shinny card briefcase, drops a PSA 10 Zion Williams card, 1 of 25, jockstrap swatch and says something to effect that he could let me have it for the "distressed" price of $90,000. Of course, he hasn't even looked once at my cases that are nothing but pre-War and vintage. Short discussion.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Having worked both sides of the aisle at the Nat'l, I would only offer 2 nuggets:
1. When buying something special, the fatal line is, "Is that the best you can do?". Instead throw up a number less than what you might eventually be willing to pay. The dealer might then knock something off and then the true negotiating begins and who knows you might get the card.
2. This is just a personal dislike. I can hardly be polite when a card bro slithers around, opens his shinny card briefcase, drops a PSA 10 Zion Williams card, 1 of 25, jockstrap swatch and says something to effect that he could let me have it for the "distressed" price of $90,000. Of course, he hasn't even looked once at my cases that are nothing but pre-War and vintage. Short discussion.

Ha! #1 is spot on and the way transactions get done, #2 gave me a chuckle, thanks John.