If you want to negotiate a price in selling an antique to a dealer, the following are things to keep in mind. Generally speaking, an Antique dealer is going to offer you about half of what they think that they can sell the item for. That offer will be based on your local market and the price that items similar to yours are actually selling for. It will be based on the condition of the item and if there is any additional money that the dealer will have to put into the item to get it ready to sell. Another factor that they will take into consideration is how common your item is. If it is something that is very common, the offer will be less. The area you are in and the market in that area plays more in the value than you might realize. Different regions of the country command different prices for the same item, what is commonly found in the Midwest might be considered rare in California. Talk to people in your area before contacting a dealer to sell to. Find out who people trust. Doing your homework on the person you will be dealing with is actually more important than researching the value of your item.

Obviously, you might want to do a little research on the item itself to get a general feel for it's value. A visit to your local library will give you an opportunity to look in a Price Guide that has been written. You can do a search on the internet to see what prices you can find. An internet search should reveal more than one price from more than one merchant.

Any good Antique Dealer has spent years building a good reputation, one of integrity and fairness. They will not want to risk that reputation by making offers on items that are too low or too unreasonable. Ask the dealer questions about the item and about themselves. How long have they been in the business and do they specialize in a particular area? Is your item something that is pretty commonly found or is it something they don't see very often? Ask them if they happened to bring a price guide with them and can you see it. If there is internet available, ask them if they would mind showing you what your item is going for on the internet. If the dealer is being fair with you on their offer, they will not mind these questions at all. The dealer will be confident that they are being fair and will want to help you feel comfortable with the negotiation too. After all, you might have other things that they would like to buy in the future. They are also hoping that you are so happy with your deal that you will send others to them for future purchases.

Learn more about this author, Beverly Owens.
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