Bargain hunt.

I am inclined to agree with you that maybe there is something in it for the dealers. I do think that, compared with auction prices, the prices that dealers ask at antiques fairs are often way off the scale, especially for small silver items. Most of it comes from auction rooms anyway. You can always spot the dealers. A couple of years ago, I bought a pretty silver inkwell at a fair and managed to get a minuscule amount knocked off the price but I lusted after it so I paid it. I saw a very similar one go at our local auction house for around half the price I paid, but that is the luck of the draw. That will go on some dealer’s stall, waiting for a mug like me to come along and pay twice the price - or Bargain Hunt!

We were told by someone who was involved that the TV company come along afterwards and compensate the seller!

Would some of these people buy such rubbish if the £300 they are given was their own? I doubt it very much. One or two have good taste but not many.

Greyduster we run a small antique stall at a number of fairs every year as a hobby and we do not set out to 'mug' anyone. The price we put on our goods is a combination of making a profit on the purchase price and what we think is the market price for the item. Most of our customers, trade or retail, know how much they will pay and overpriced things do not sell.

Remember we have costs as well that need to be included in the price: stall hire, travel costs, sometimes accommodation, equipment (tent, tables, waterproof covers) sometimes van or trailer hire.

We see Bargain Hunt being filmed at a number of fairs where we have a stall, and most stall holders really do not want them poking around their stall. They visited us once and one of the presenters picked something we had on the grass (we usually have a grass pitch) and plonked it on a stool with off-white upholstery. I told him in no uncertain terms to take it off again and checked the upholstery for soiling. They moved on after that.

I do enjoy the programme

Yes M0nica, I bought and sold items (60s/70s stuff) for a few years at the beginning of this century. I arranged a stall at an Antique Fair once, sold several items but ended up with a couple of pounds to show for my days work, after paying for the stall.

I did make a reasonable turnover, buying at car boots/auctions and selling online for a couple of years, then the market became too full, people wanted more to sell and wanted to pay less online, which is fair enough but there was no longer enough profit to keep me going.

I have always thought the whole Bargain Hunt idea is basically flawed, buying from fairs and selling at auction seemed the wrong way round to me! But it has occurred to me before that sellers were compensated, just as no antique dealer could make a profit on things like Road Trip, they must be paid a retainer fee by the BBC or the would starve!

Everyone on this programme gets on my nerves, including the contestants.
They always seem to laugh almost hysterically at everything.

Despite all these flaws H and I love watching, except when Charlie Hanson is on. I find him so annoying. H and I have speculated that he may actually have "issues" ?? (I know he can't help that)
We compete as to who comes closest to what the item makes at auction.

PS
H always says "you could do better" and I'd love to try but I would not want to be seen on TV

Bargain Hunt works on buying at fairs and selling at auction BECAUSE it is the wrong way round. That way it is much more difficult to make a profit so it ups the ante.

It also depends on where the auction house is. DD and I were on The Great Antiques Hunt about 20 years ago. One of the things we had to do was buy items at a car boot sale. We bought what we knew would sell well on our home patch in the south east, only to see them sell for peanuts in Grantham.