Barter, bid and bag a bargain! Vintage experts on 21 ways...

Get up early, decide on your budget and never say: ‘What’s your best offer?’ Here’s how to find affordable antiques like a true professional. In an age when we should be reducing, reusing and recycling, the retro look is more relevant than ever. How can you fill your home with timeless treasures and your wardrobe with “pre-loved” clothes? Here, secondhand specialists share the secrets to sourcing vintage, bartering for a bargain – and avoiding overshopping.

Image Credit: the Guardian [Sarah Phillips]

Vintage interiors offer “an invisible link to your history”, says Estelle Bilson, a broadcaster, designer and author whose book 70s House was inspired by her time-capsule terrace in Manchester. “There are pieces here that remind me of my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles,” she says, referencing the Mad Men line: “Nostalgia is a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone.” Bilson’s father was an antiques dealer, “so a lot of my early memories are of my dad restoring furniture. I started going to auctions when I was four and I was told to sit on my hands in case I bid on anything. I don’t remember my parents ever buying new furniture.”.

Image Credit: the Guardian [Estelle Bilson’s 70s-style workspace]

“By choosing secondhand, you are saving something from landfill,” says Bilson. When she goes to car boot sales, she is reminded that, most of the time, “we don’t actually need to make anything new. There are enough plates, drinking glasses and cutlery to go around.”. Most people are looking for mid‑century modern furniture, says Laura Budds, who owns Norfolk Retro, a vintage furniture shop in Norwich, and NR Closet, the secondhand clothing shop next door. “Unfortunately, the supply has dwindled over the last few years. A lot of it has been shipped off to Japan and elsewhere, so it is less accessible price-wise now.” Try not to fixate on unaffordable trends, she says. “The definition of vintage is only 20 years, so we’ve started to creep into the 80s and 90s, or even beyond. Ikea from the early 2000s can be really sought-after.” Budds describes her interior style as “vintage meets modern” and recommends looking for “anything that will work in a modern interior, from any era. Not heavy Victorian pieces, but light, small pieces.”.

Image Credit: the Guardian [Laura Budds sitting in a vintage metal-framed chair with a mid-century cabinet in the background]

Always do research into how much something should cost, advises Danny Sebastian, the market trader turned antique dealer and Bargain Hunt presenter. Whether you are attending an auction or a fair, or buying on eBay, know your upper limit and don’t go above it, “or else it can soon run away with you. You can fall in love with something and buy it for £180 and go down the road and see one for £90.” He also warns that using last-second bidding apps on eBay can lead you to go over budget.

Image Credit: the Guardian [Danny Sebastian in a bright purple jacket riding a carousel horse]

If money is no object, “places like Vinterior and Pamono are good for finding what you want quickly”, says Bilson. “Items have been restored and they have couriers in place, so you don’t have to pick things up – you may pay a premium for that.” For mid-price purchases, “there are dedicated vintage shops or centres, such as Pear Mill in Stockport and Bygone Times in Eccleston, where things are sold by independent dealers who have done the leg work: they’ve sourced it, cleaned it and often restored it,” says Bilson.

Image Credit: the Guardian [People in a field selling secondhand items from the boots of their cars]

Sebastian says: “The best place to get a bargain has got to be at the big antiques fairs up and down the country.” He recommends Newark, Swinderby, Ardingly, Kempton Park and Shepton Mallet. “I will dredge the likes of Facebook Marketplace, eBay and car boot sales,” says Bilson. “For me, it’s not the styling or the owning it; it is finding it that I get a buzz from. If I can find something that is worth £200 for £1 at a car boot sale, I get a bigger thrill from that than paying £150 at a vintage centre.”.

Image Credit: the Guardian [A man and his dog looking in the window of a charity shop]

What is her best recent bargain? “A pair of Anglo American sunglasses. I picked them up, thinking they were unusual, but didn’t know anything about them; I often buy on gut instinct. The seller wanted £5. I offered £3 and she said no, so I paid £5. I walked away, looked them up and they are really rare – from the 1970s and worth about £1,000. That is when I get really excited.”. Budds advises caution when using Facebook Marketplace: “Anything that is good is gone within minutes and you need to be on the seller’s doorstep ready to pick it up straight away. When you get there, it is often not quite in the condition that you thought it was going to be, which is fine if you’re just buying it for yourself and you’ve got the time to do it up, but it’s not always cost-effective if you are selling it on.”.

Image Credit: the Guardian [People looking around an auction room at chairs, tables and other items]

“I haggle for everything,” says Bilson. “You’ve got to be very polite and strong: you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. So if you go in with: ‘I really love this,’ it becomes a game. Never say: ‘What’s your best offer?’ Start instead with: ‘Can I make you an offer?’” Only pretend to walk away, which Bilson frequently does, if you can bear to live without it. “If I really want it, I will stump up the cash.”.