A Case of the 'Fleas: How to ask for discounts
My new column all about vintage shopping
Did you know I’ve been selling vintage professionally for over 11 years? Me neither! Until I was looking for photos for today’s post and found some from my early days of very early mornings setting up to sell at the famous Rose Bowl Flea Market. Ah, youth.. and energy!
Before selling curated vintage, I unofficially interned with a long-time vintage seller, helping her in her studio occasionally and meeting her at 5am to set up her flea market booths. Since my start as a seller, I’ve done a variety of different vintage markets, from ‘Fleas to curated shows like A Current Affair, as well as beautiful contemporary craft shows with my line, Bliss And Mischief, like West Coast Craft and everyone’s favorite, Echo Park Craft Fair (rip.)
And as a shopper, I’ve been buying vintage since I was little when my parents would drag (or more accurately, bribe) me to go to all the antique malls and vintage fairs that West Michigan had to offer.
All this to say, I’ve been on both sides of bargaining in many different scenarios, and there’s absolutely right and wrong ways to ask for a discount. Sharing this here will hopefully get you the deals you're after and not make the person you’re buying from feel bad, because asked in the wrong way, it does make us sellers feel bad. And no one wants that - We just all want to have fun buying beautiful things right? Right!
The Where and the How to ask for Discounts:
Flea Markets—
At Flea Markets, it’s pretty well assumed that there will be bargaining. But there’s still a preferred way to ask. As a shopper, my go to line is, “Is this your best price on this piece?” This allows the seller to say, “Yes it is.” because sometimes it is! But often they will take a look and offer a discount.
Another option is to request an actual amount you’d like to pay, such as “Would you take $60 for this?” Keep in mind here, I would only make this amount 10-20% off the listed price. More than that can be considered low-balling.
Another excellent way to ask for a discount is to bundle a few items together. Especially at a Flea Market, where people are setting up and breaking down all their items in one day, they would rather go home with less. So if you’re offering to buy a few items from them, it’s that much more appealing to the seller than discounting a single item.
You can say, “What’s your best price if I do these 3 pieces?” If you’re buying a lot of the same item, like for example when I’m buying many pairs of vintage denim, I might have the price I’d like to pay per piece in mind to offer up a total amount. Don’t be afraid to get out your calculator in this type of situation so you can be clear what you’re paying per piece.
Bundling can also be a good way to get a discount if there’s an item you love but the price is firm. You can add in another item, and say, “If I get both of these, can you do a little better on price?” and that lets a seller feel better about discounting a special piece or to just think of it as discounting the 2nd piece (this is the ‘Flea version of Girl Math.)
‘Cash is King’ as they say, so it’s also a great way to get a discount. These days, I shop with cards, Venmo, PayPal or Zelle at ‘Fleas, but offering cash can be a way to at least bypass sales tax, if not get you a bigger discount. For this, I might ask, “Can you do a better price for all cash?” though some sellers still only take cash, so you’ll want to know that up front.
A quick primer on what not to do when asking for a discount:
This goes for any of our buying scenarios, but I’ve seen it most often at Flea Markets– Don’t ask for a discount by pointing out all the flaws something has. This has a negative energy to it, and it makes the assumption that the seller doesn’t know how to price their items. Really the opposite is true, in that often a seller has taken a lot of time to inspect their items and priced them accordingly to their condition and value, so that’s why it can feel insulting. The better thing to do here is to actually show how much you adore an item! Even if it’s saying, “This is out of my budget, but it’s SO stunning,” because sellers want items to find good homes. They want to sell to people that love what they love, so after hearing how much you adore something, they may try to find a way to make it work for you.
Antique Malls -
Here you’re not dealing directly with the vendors, though the person working the front desk likely has a booth there. In general, if you have a resale number you can get the sales tax waived. But you can also absolutely ask if the seller can do a discount.
For this, bring the item to the front desk and say, “I’m really interested in this item. Would you be able to find out if the seller can do a better price?” or “for $X amount” like in the Flea Market example. The person at the desk will then give the seller a call to ask. The only issue here is that there’s a chance the seller isn’t available - Best to ask while you still have some browsing to do so you can give them time to call back.
Curated Vintage Shows -
I would classify a curated vintage show as something that has higher-end product and dealers. Like I mentioned, A Current Affair is a great example of this. I would say you can use similar techniques to the Flea Market example, but with a bit more sensitivity. There will absolutely be buyers that don’t haggle at these markets, so I wouldn’t assume it’s the norm. The items at these shows also tend to be more collectable, so the seller’s price may be firm. Personally, I would lean into really expressing how much I love and appreciate an item to make the bartering feel less transactional. Shows like this also give you opportunities to try on garments and ask about their history and details, so you can really feel confident about your investment.
Curated Craft Shows -
These are shows with mainly newly-made products by high-end small businesses and makers. Echo Park Craft Fair was a gorgeous example of this, as well as markets like West Coast Craft or anything with small makers you see happen around the holidays. This is a situation where I would not recommend asking for a discount. These shows cost the vendors quite a bit in both time and money, and it’s really an opportunity to showcase their product to customers that enjoy supporting makers and are happy to pay accordingly.
Often as a seller, I would do a special event deal, like 20% off, and I would make sure everyone that came into my booth knew about it. I think at shows like these, the sellers will definitely let you know about any discounted pricing upfront because they want to grab your attention. If you reeeeally want to, you could say, “Oh I love everything! Are you doing any specials for the show?” Again, compliments always help, and this allows the seller to tell you about any discounts OR just mention something special they made for the show.
A friend who’s also done these types of shows, recommends paying in cash or offering that as an option to see if it helps the seller out. “Is there anything you can do on the price if I pay in cash?” is something you could ask, and often the seller will deduct the amount of sales tax.
When NOT to ask for a discount
It’s my own personal rule not to ask for a discount when I don’t ‘need’ to - I would classify this as when I already feel like I’m getting a good price for something or when I have the means to help out a small business or maker - For example, would never ask for a discount from Indigenous artisans, street vendors, or smaller vendors setting up a local crafts fair. I would much rather focus my deals on bigger businesses that build it into their margins, and I will tell you from experience that buying full price from small business folks truly makes their day!
Tell me— What’s worked for you when out there getting deals? Of if you’re a maker or seller, let us know how you’d like to be asked.
And if you have other Vintage Shopping related questions, let me know in the comments so I can add them to a future Case of the ‘Fleas!
xo-Hillary
Thank you for the useful tips!! I’m planning on visiting LA soon and checking out a few flea markets so I’m definitely going to keep what you wrote in mind. Also, makes me realize, compliments go a long way in almost any situation!