Negotiation strategy if selling something ?

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I have a unique document from the FDR White House, left to me by an aunt who assisted the president's press secretary all through WW II.

Yes, Uncle Sam wants every interesting item (the justification therefor being by an un-codified principle of "replevin") but solid provenance gives me ownership.

So, here is the question: when I contact dealers in that slice of collectibles, SHOULD I SPECIFY ASKING PRICE --- OR HAVE THEM GIVE ME AN OFFER ?

If you can back up that opinion with solid game theory support, I would appreciate such additional information.
 
wait, aren't the dealers on your side, let them do their job they get paid on commission. if you cant wait for an end buyer, then take what you can get.
for the paranoid, countries / states have laws on fraud, but in the end go with the one you trust most.
 
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Never know about such prices... even from the experts. i had a painting I paid 1000 dollars for about 20 years ago. A couple years ago, it was appraised at 50K by an auction house art expert. It went up for auction and sold before the auction started for 130K.


THx-RNMarsh
 
O.P. here ---- Thanks to you five helpful members for those suggestions. Because the Smithsonian museum is just a short ride from me, I will probably try the curator-opinion first. I will bail out of this thread, skipping future comments on more replies, but I will read them all. Adios, dudes and dudettes.
 
...So, here is the question: when I contact dealers in that slice of collectibles, SHOULD I SPECIFY ASKING PRICE --- OR HAVE THEM GIVE ME AN OFFER ?

If you can back up that opinion with solid game theory support, I would appreciate such additional information.

The sound strategy behind asking them to make you an offer is this. You first want them to declare what the item is worth to them. Otherwise, you risk selling the item for less than it's actually worth to them should you name a price first. Leaving money on the table, as business people like to say.

If the other party knows anything about negotiating, they will hit the ball back in to your court by asking you to first name a sales price. This could seem like an reciprocating impasse, however, the onus to go first ultimately falls on the party soliciting the transaction. For example, if someone were to come up to you on the street and ask you if you would sell them your car, the onus falls on them to make you an offer. Which you can accept or reject. If instead, you were advertising that your car were for sale the onus falls on you to first name a price and accept an offer at that price. People will usually pay more than they first offer to buy, but will not pay more than you first offer to sell. In the end, parties knowledgable about the value of an item will reach a deal fair to both. A lack of knowledge is what leads to one party being being taken advantage of by the other.

Know this too. Whatever is the starting figure for either party, assume that they are expecting to settle on a figure something less than that. So, never begin with your best offer. Everyone wants to feel like they negotiated a good deal (whether they actually did, or not) by getting the other party to compromise a bit, so leave pricing room to allow for them to feel that way so to close the deal.
 
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