The nature of flea markets?

[RobertInOntario]

My sons & I went to a really good MRR flea market today (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://trainweb.org/lmra/">http://trainweb.org/lmra/</a><!-- m -->). We are not usually able to get to many flea markets, as I'm usually able to pick up the MRR items I need from my local hobby shops, eBay or stalls at model train shows.

I noticed very quickly how willing vendors were to negotiate or lower their prices. In many cases, as soon as I started looking, they said they could do better on the price -- at that point, I was just looking! So, as time went on, I got "wise" to this and started to ask sellers if they would lower the price or I would make an offer.
Usually, when I visit MRR shows (as opposed to flea markets), sellers don't seem as flexible.

I was also pleasantly surprised that this flea market had a fair bit of MRR stuff I was interested in -- i.e. vintage as well as brand new 00 British model trains. The ironic thing was that I only came away with one small freight car while I bought my sons some toy motor cycles -- Go figure! ... Even though there were some deals there, I was feeling a little tight-fisted today -- or guilty -- because I've recently spent a fair bit on this hobby, even though I was tempted.

The show seemed fairly well attended even though we arrived a couple hours before closing. At any rate, am I just out of touch with the nature of flea markets or are MRR sellers suddenly more willing to negotiate? In either case, I think I've been missing out!

Rob