Sort of kidding but sort of not. I am both a buyer and a seller...both a collector and a dealer. The fact is that sellers want to get as much as they can and buyers want the best deal. This will never change so unless you are like Mike who never sells (ha) you are in this push and pull and there is no way around it.

Don't get me wrong. After spending almost all of my very soon to be 62 year life involved in the watch business either as the son of a big collector or on my own, there are people who really annoy me and there are people I won't deal with. When I deal with new people I try to figure out how they like to be dealt with. I would rather have friends than adversaries. I would rather have people say to their friends that John Cote is a good bloke like they say about Stewart but the fact is that while I don't want to cheat anybody I do want to get as much as I can for my watches and I want to spend as little as I can for them. Anybody who says different is playing with a different deck of cards than the people I know.

What I dislike is people who will not put a price on their goods at all and play one buyer off against another. I won't play this game. I don't care if someone asks me what my best price is. That doesn't mean I will always tell him. That question is just a bargaining strategy. As the seller you can play into it or out of it. Some sellers hate offers more than the best price question.

When I walk through a mart room at a watch or a jewelry show I know and have dealt with most of the people. It is the same thing when I am on the road going in to hawk shops and jewelry stores. I know that some people prefer offers. Some want me to ask what the best price is and some people want exactly what they are asking with no fooling around. I try to deal with them in the way they want to be dealt with. When people buy from me some know me and know how to make a deal with me. When I deal with somebody knew I try to let very little offend me. I want to sell. I know what my best price is.

JohnCote