Ever been to a trainshow were a vender asking price for a train caused a big fight?

I've seen a lot of over-priced trains at the Virginia Train Collectors meets I've attended. I'm pretty sure some vendors just participate so they can socialize with their buds because they always have the same stuff, nobody buys it, and they end up taking it all home at the end of the day. Every meet is like deja vu, you've seen it all before. I was once pleasantly surprised by one vendor, a husband and wife team, who had a good selection of trains and decently priced. I mentioned that I liked their prices and they responded, "We don't want to take this stuff home, we want YOU to take it home!" I liked that business model.  

I'm easy.  I don't dicker if the item is something I really want.  It only matters what it is worth to me.

.....

Dennis

I have been going t meets since 1971 and sometime in that period I saw the only real angry disagreement I have ever witnessed. A vendor had a bunch of Lionel/MPC O-guage boxcars for sale around $10-15. A guy came up while I was trying to decide on a #6468 B&O  Double Door Automobile Box Car that was really clean and appeared reasonably priced.  The other guy offered the dealer $5.00 for one of the common MPC cars. Without a word, the dealer put the car on the floor, stomped on it and said the buyer could have it for free. Needless to say, that B&O went back on the table and I got away from there.

Not that anyone got angry, but a few years ago at York a dealer had a set of Atlas O auto racks that I wanted. They were priced at MSRP so I asked, very politely, if he could do anything for me on the price. Without saying a word he pulled out a magic marker and raised the price by $10. I burst out laughing and walked away. The next two years he still had them for sale. And if he had just said no I would have bought them any way but instead he now loads them up every year and hauls them to York and then loads them up and hauls them home. Classic!

I've been stalked by a guy on a train fair. I was just looking at his booth like many others, but he must have seen me looking at some car he had. I even didn't ask a thing. I didn't even point a finger or touched the thing, as I always ask a dealer if I am allowed to take a closer look.

He asked me how much I would pay for the item. I said thank you, but I don't want it.

He followed me almost the whole lane, shouting louder and louder, insisting I would name my price. Embarrassing though, caught in the act of the day unwillingly.

Kieffer

An old man was an the Amhurst Train Show yesterday and had some old beat up Ross switches and curved track.  l asked him if he could do any better on the track price that was at $32 and I suggested lowering  the price to $20. He takes $2 off the price and cries to his buddy loudly how cheap people are.  I just walked away and left him yelling at me.  If he wanted  them so much, he can take them home with himself.

I'm easy.  I don't dicker if the item is something I really want.  It only matters what it is worth to me.

.....Dennis

Bingo!

Back about 10 or 12 years ago, there was a large online dealer that would take less than his listed price. He might have an engine, say for $700, which by the way was the same price other dealers were asking. I would send him an email and ask if he would take $600 for it. He would usually answer within a couple of hours and say no, but, he would take $650. I bought a number of items like that from him.

Hi all,

   I'm going to a show today, but just getting parts, the prices are to high at 

train shows most of the time, sometimes you can get a good deal not all the 

time. Case in point a 2330 GG-1 every show I go to there $400.00 and up on ebay 

last week I waited and got one for half that I took a chance I got a good one and 

it was from a retailer as well with a 14 day return as well, but I'm keeping this bad 

boy, but you guy's are right there are some dealers that want you to contribute to 

their retirement fund not all but some.

Tin 

I try to remember that many of these are NOT seasoned, professional businessmen who have focused on customer service and relationship building...
Many years ago, I had some credit at a LHS.  I applied some of that credit to one item, later changed my mind and asked to apply it to a different item.  The guy behind the counter sneers to his buddy "This one's goin' back on his word!"  I said, "No, I'm still buying something, just a different item."  Now, I'd demand cash for my credit and scram... since I've turned into an old, nasty, intolerant, offensive jerk.  

These types of tales have been the talk of many over the years. There are those who think that it is still the 80's and everything they own and have for sale are "Investment Quality". I've noticed the prices of postwar items have become more affordable. While just fifteen years ago Std & O-Gauge tinplate was was a collectors market. Now........ there are those who feel the anything made prior to 1925 are "extremely" rare and valuable. One thing I've learned these many years is just as my grandfather's advice. "If you do not like the price, walk away. There will always be more trains than there are buyers".

I don't know if this strictly qualifies under the premise of this thread, but I am hoping my fellow hobbyists may find this an interesting little tale. It's not about a fight, but it is about an "intense," yet amiable, "discussion." No blood-n-guts.

A customer bought a portable vignette I had crafted, which I had on display at a TCA Meet at York, back in 2007, for use on layouts . He liked the scene very much and paid cash for it, but since it was 33"L x 2"w, he asked if I would leave it on display until he was ready to depart on Saturday. I assured him it would be packed and ready to carry away when he came for it.

When he returned two days later for it on Saturday, it was boxed and lightly cushioned with some styrafoam "peanuts" and "pillows," what little I could scrounge up, and even included a little handle made of several layers of duct-tape. He then asked if I would further package it so he could take it on a plane (!) I assured him my crafwork would never survive shipment on a plane (I wasn't too skilled at packaging off-the-cuff at my table, as yet, having just begun my little business.) He said he would buy the package a ticket if he had to for its own seat next to him, but that he intended having the scene go home with him.

I insisted he take his money back, which he refused, assuring him that even if he came back to the TCA Meet looking for me, later that day or subsequently, after finding out he could not take such a package aboard a plane with him, that he'd be confronted with an empty building because we were all just transitory vendors, leaving only a cement floor and abandoned tables behind; that once the show was over, we were all long-gone and that he'd have absolutley no recourse and find himself in a tough spot. I had to convince him, with some effort, to take his money back and leave the vignette w/ me. He left, smiling but unhappy.

FrankM.(of Layout Refinements)

(P.S. Since then, I've learned how to package my craftwork for shipment to customers and clients, but back then, not leaving him stranded with a package in his hand and a goodly amount of money wasted was the only choice I felt I could make.)

I am normally polite.  As Allan implied and I agree, a polite inquiry to determine how flexible a price is should not warrant a rude or insulting response from the seller.  The problem is that there are those sellers that consider it the height of rudeness to make that inquiry and they decide that since you insulted them, they need to "up the ante".  Walking away is the obvious and mature answer but some seem to find it impossible once the gauntlet has been dropped.

two stories come to mind. one train related, the other not, but along the same frame of mind. friend went to TTCS show in Utica New York and was looking for a specific Marx metal building with all the "fixins".  found two, one for $125, and a second for $25 with everything. two guys were standing in front of the table for the $25 item arguing about who saw it 1rst and who was going to buy it. my friend leaned over to the dealer and asked if any money had changed hands. the dealer said no, my friend asked if he would take the asking price. the dealer said 1rst one who shows me money.

my friend payed the dealer and leaned in for the item. the two guys got upset and said they had 1rst dibs. my friend said there was another item just like that one two isles over for $125. snooze you lose!!!

2nd story. My uncle used to work on old cars and went to a junk dealer friend of his in Potsdam New York years ago. they were standing in the shop shooting the breeze when two "young bucks" came waltzing in. they were looking for a windshield for a 1969 muscle car. the old guy said he thought he had one, but they needed to go look for themselves. and if they found one to come back and pay him before attempting to pull it. well about 1/2 hr later they cam back with windsheild in hand. the old guy was not happy and said if they had broken it , he would have been out a windshield. so the kids asked how much, the old guy said give me $25(which was nothin) and the kid said, well look, its got chips all around the edges (from them pulling it), Ill give you $20.  The old guy says wait a min. and walks over to his tool box, pulls out a ballpean hammer and smashes the windshield scareing the pants off the two youngsters. he told them to hit the highway and never show their face in his junk yard again. My uncle laughed about that for about a week.

chessefan,

ive learned long ago, that if you think you want something, get it

in your hands. You can dicker, while holding and/or decideing.

possession is still 99.9% of the law. If you leave it on the table

any and all are fair game. AND Ive been on both ends of the stick.

I like the ones that dicker for a price and get the dealer to come down

and then say, Ill think about it and walk away!!

my father-in-law and I got kicked outta a train shop

near Albany new york one time. went in to look. all used pre and post war lionel. guy was standing behind me and wanted a particular item. I handed it to him.

price was $12, he didnt want to pay that, so I suggested he offer the guy $8.

he did and the guy behind the counter, said no, in fact its not for sale. I went up the counter with a hand full of items and asked if he would take $20 for everything, he said No, in fact its not for sale, in fact nothing in nthe store is for sale, everybody get out!!. we stood out in the parking lot and laughed.

Mario E.

Yes the story about the dealer smashing up the pewter figures is true.  We even wrote it up in Collector's Gallery many years ago.  By the way, the seller was given a golden hammer to commemorate the occasion the next year at the show.

As an earlier poster said, some buyers as well as sellers are real knuckle heads and it is understandable that dealers lose their composure when confronted with repeated behavior of this sort.

However, read Allan Miller's post. He has the right of it when it comes to buy/sell interactions.

Ed Boyle

I agree.  Buying and selling is not a life or death matter and it's easy enough to be a gentleman about it.  If you want it bad enough, you'll be fair about it and pay.  Otherwise, move on and look for a better deal.  We can easily forget this is a hobby, and not like a major transaction.

Phil

This is what is so good about shows like "Pawn Stars" or "American Pickers", they show us how to go about the lost art of the deal in a respectable manner.

When I was a kid my mother would always try and get a discount on things for us.

She would think nothing of saying something like, " she has five kids and most of their cloths come from this store so I expect you to treat me right".

Sure enough there would always be a ten percent discount.

One day, when I was about ten I saked her to stop doing thst because it was embarrassing. She looked down at me and said that there was nothing wrong in asking, it's just plain stupid not to.

She was no the only one, all of the parents did that back then. I remember my friends father bragging about the deal he got on his sons Lionel trains.

We went through a cutural shift in the past fifty years where to barter was less then classy and I don't think it was a good change.

No hijack intended, but I was in that yard several times in 1981!  Lots of Mopar as I recall.  I've always wondered what happened to all that stuff.

If I see something I feel I really need, I try to do a "bundle" and see what else is there for sale from that seller before starting on the bargaining.  I got a lot of my MTH rolling stock doing this at shows, sometimes buying everything after negotiating a package deal.  Everyone comes out rosy and feeling good.  LONG before "Pickers"!

I was in a train store in charottle n.c.I was taking a look around and spoted a o gauge dash 8 ns.The clerk said it was part of a set.He offered to sell it to me for $100.00.I took it I still have it pulls pretty good.After that I had got some boxcars half price.One thing I do is to wait after christmas.Your biger mail oder werehouses have to make room for more stock.They can,t hold on to it they must make room for more stock.So sometimes you can get a good discount.I have a kline 2-8-2 that retailed for$400.00.They had a after christmas blowout.I got it for $200.00 she still runs and can pull a long train.Another time I got kline spgs4 in freedom train piant for reduced price.I have gotten 1 locomotive a year for awhile.Got a new mth railking northern sf.Thats a another story altogether.

Not trains, but a vendor at a flea market had some hinges priced at one dollar each, I asked "How about four for three dollars" His rather short reply was NO! so I asked "How about three for four dollars" He still said NO! I did but three for three dollars.

How about when a vender doesn't mark prices on all of his stuff??!!

This is not about bartering for trains, but buying food.  Several months ago, at my local Publix chain grocery store, a customer came to the checkout register with $153 worth of groceries in several carts.  However, she had $150 worth of coupons, and wound up paying $3 for everything.

That must have taken a lot of preparation work on her part, and she may have gotten some stuff she really didn't like. But in times like today, the savings surely would have been worth it.

Most times I "walk". Is he too lazy to price it, or is he "sizing up" prospective buyers?

On the other hand, if I see something that is priced below what I would have paid for it, I do not offer less.

quote:

How about when a vender doesn't mark prices on all of his stuff??!!

So that's cause to start an arguement at a train show? If you are afraid to ask a price, then move on.
A major, well loved hobby shop in my area puts price tags on the trains in their locked show cases. whether it is accidental or by design, almost all the tags are placed so a customer cannot read them.

I have seen more than one case where there were incidents involving spouses.I remember a near riot breaking out at a train show when a fellow's wife found out what he had paid for an locomotive.Talk about a bunch of LOUD cussing and fussing.I felt sorry for the vendor. Scary! If I recall,it was a 2360 Single striped GG1 Like New and Boxed for $1000!