Whether you’re at a local boot sale or a French brocante, there’s a fine art to talking your way into a bargain. Here are a few tricks to help
1 Be friendly
A smile and a pleasant demeanour go a long way. Aim for affable rather than smarmy though - you don’t want them praying that you’ll just leave. Try to strike up a bit of a relationship before you start haggling; a bit of chat about the weather, whether they’re at the event regularly, the quality of the coffee… You’re trying to find some common ground, something to agree about. That way, when you start bargaining it’s harder to say ‘no’ to you.
2 But play it cool
Don’t be too interested in the item you want - definitely no hugging it to your chest and saying you love it! That just tells them to drive the price up. Peruse the other wares, ask some questions about them, maybe even buy something else, and then open the discussion on the item you really want almost as an afterthought, so you have the element of surprise.
3 Look for flaws
Have a good look at the item and see if there’s any reason why you might reasonably ask for a discount. Is it missing a piece? Not in its original box? Has a small stain? Politely point that out to the vendor and ask what their best price would be.
4 Know the market
It always helps to have some idea of what you might pay for the item elsewhere. Modern technology can help you here as you can look up similar items on eBay or see if they’re going free on sites like Freegle. If you can find it cheaper elsewhere you have a great bargaining chip.
5 Know your upper price and start low
Have in mind what the maxium is you’re willing to pay and then start low enough to leave room for some haggling. So if you’re willing to pay £10 start at £5. They might offer it to you for £15. You laugh heartily and say you’ll go as far as £7. Hopefully they then bite your hand off or offer it to you for £10 and you pretend they’re absolutely taking you to the cleaner’s, taking food from your children’s mouths etc etc… but then accept graciously.
6 Buy in bulk
Most sellers, particularly at car boots, just really want to get rid of their stuff. They might have had a clear out at home and want more space or they might be small business owners who simply want to make room in their storage facility for new stock. Either way, if you’re offering to take more than one thing off their hands, that sweetens the deal for them. Here’s the sneaky trick though… Link the sale of the thing you want less to the thing you REALLY want. So you want their lovely (but expensive) cake plates and you quite like the huge fruit bowl and set of napkins, too. Tell them you like the cake plates but can’t really afford them at that price. Would they consider 50% off if you’re also buying the fruit bowl and napkins? Then they feel that they’re about to lose three sales rather than one if they say no.
7 Walk away (but leave ‘the door’ open)
This is a master negotiator trick. Claim you aren’t really sure. You might need to consult your partner or call your daughter and check if she actually wants the said item… Then say you might pop back when you’ve done that and go for a little walk. You need nerves of steel for this and to accept it’s possible someone else will snap it up while you’re gone, but it’s a great way to put the seller on the back foot. They think they’ve probably lost the sale and when you saunter back they might be more likely to take an offer.
So here’s the clever bit… You return and tell them you’ve spoken to your daughter/partner/financial adviser and you have permission to spend up to x amount on the item. You might have to hardball it if they say ‘no’ and claim you just don’t have the authority to pay more but often at this point they’ll say ‘Oh go on then’.
8 Time it well
Turning up early definitely means you’ll see the best stuff, but it’s the latecomers that will get the real bargains. So sweep the event for the things you definitely don’t want to miss out on early, then go off for a leisurely lunch etc and pop back half an hour before it ends. At that point, the vendors will be thinking with dread about having to pack everything back up again and are much more likely to want to strike a deal with someone willing to take things off their hands.
Once you’ve become adept at haggling for a bargain at boot sales, fetes, jumble sales and more, don’t forget that there are no rules about where you can haggle; you don’t have to be standing in a Souk. Try it in shops and department stores - just ask a supervisor if there’s any flexibility on price or if there might be a sale coming up. Online sales are particularly ripe for discounts - use the ‘chat’ feature or phone their sales line and say you want to shop around or that you’ve been offered a better deal elsewhere and they’ll often come up with an offer.
Love hunting for a bargain? You can read more about the joys of car boot sales in our feature Fill Your Boots in our July issue, an extract from Raucous Invention: The Joy of Making by Mark Hearld. Published by Thames & Hudson. Photography: Mark Hearld
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