Dealer Tips

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Dealers are not acting on your behalf but earning and income for themselves. This is not a callous remark but the plain fact of the truth. Unless they sell items then they are out of business. There are good dealers and bad dealers.

	Avoid being SOLD something, make sure that you are in control and BUY it instead.
	Important here to ask all the relevant questions, buying from a dealer is usually a one-on-one experience and so there is enough time to examine everything and get all the facts before entering into negotiation.
	If a dealer is honest then they will have nothing to hide and should be able to furnish all the facts available to them
	Make sure that you get a receipt
	Don't get involved in third party secret negotiations, they are usually very dodgy. If the seller does not have the item then wait until they do. Items sometimes get stolen to order or deposits are taken and items never turn up or in the case of props they could just be fakes and as the deal was done before the item was seen it is hard to get out of it.

Dealer Tips

BEWARE OF TRADES

Often a nice source of stock for dealers is the trade that collectors do for items.

The commonest trick is if you have something to trade then the dealer will ask you what you want for an item.

	if you have no idea of the value then ask them what they think it could be worth. Then they can offer you a trade price based on that amount.
	If you find out later that they are selling or have sold the item you traded for a lot more than they quoted then they have cheated you and this can be the basis of a fraud case.

Weigh up the value being given in trade as it is often best to keep your items and do a cash deal.

Dealers are a good source of collectables and should be contacted regularly, good ones might ring you if they get something that will interest you but if they have many collectors for the same thing then you should ring them.