Reported for you.
I don’t like bargaining. It just seems that once I’ve decided to buy something, I want to get out of the store as soon as possible.
I dislike haggling, but “objectionable” is probably too strong a term in my case.
When it’s at the small handful of appropriate places mentioned above, it’s alright (but it still makes me uncomfortable if I’m doing it). When the guy in front of me at the grocery store is pointing out the tiny bruise on one pear to the cashier and asking to get a discount . . . not the same story. A good tip: if what you’re doing reminds you of George Costanza, stop it.
I can’t get to the whole story (not a subscriber), but Craigslist is one place I would absolutely expect haggling, unless the ad is marked clearly “firm” with the price. I sold my car on Craigslist once. I said $500. The guy came over, looked at it, and offered $350, cash in hand. Sold! The offer was fair to me: get this piece of shit out of my garage, and I get cash. If an item is fairly priced, I won’t haggle one bit (I bought an old synthesizer at advertised price most recently). If it’s a little rich, but I think the guy might be interested, I’ll let them know, and they can decide whether to sell to me or not. If my price is way off, I won’t even bother asking.
Normally, I do not haggle, and I hate haggling. But there are times where it’s expected, and I think used items is one of those places.
I expect it and enjoy in certain, specific situations - for me, for rare books and guitars. Heck, if a Haggle isn’t central to the story of how I got a guitar, then something seems missing. I just traded two old, excellent guitars (a '40’s Martin and a '50’s Gibson) to get a world-class, even older Martin. Total haggle - the shop dealer and I know and respect each other so we went round and round for about 6 weeks - and this was the second time I went after that guitar - I first encountered it a few years ago. Destiny + Haggle + Amazing Guitar = Yay.
I do work with a lot of antique dealers. Haggling, swapping, favors it’s part and parcel of the business. Sometimes it’s fun, some people are just assholes.
Why would you ever assume the price marked on something isn’t firm. I get people like that all the time in my store. It’s a regular store and yet all day long people argue about prices.
My grandfather was one of those people too. Ya know what people did, they’d raise the cost of everything when he walked in so that he felt like he won when he got it ‘cheaper’.
I did that too. A few years a customer came into my store and asked me for the price on a case of something. I told her it was $30. She said ‘okay, let me go tell my mom, she’s out in the car’. Now, her mom is a haggler and I know the daughter was embarrassed by her mom arguing about prices all the time, so I said 'wait, tell her it’s $32, then she can come in and yell at me and I can say ‘Joanna, I didn’t know this was for you…how about $30’". That was exactly how it played out. She thinks she’s this great haggler and got a great deal, but really, I just started the bidding higher when I saw her coming.
Unfortunately, if I didn’t think that out, it would have started at $30 and stayed there and she would have left, pissed off at me for ripping her off instead of be happy with me for giving her a great deal.
As my dad would say, sometimes you win by letting the other person think they won.
I’ll add pawn shops to the list of places where haggling is expected. If you ever shop with a pawnbroker, be advised that the marked price is more like a starting point than a finish line. Most of my purchases have been for about 2/3 of the asking price. (I’m told this rule doesn’t work so well for firearms, but I’ve never purchased any at a pawn shop.)
I would never haggle at most “normal” retail stores. When my family had a grocery store, a minister tried to talk my dad down on the price of a soda once. Dad never did like that guy going forward.
My parents were against it. My dad would pay sticker on cars.:smack:
Took me years to learn where and when. Still not great at it.
The only thing I hate more than haggling for an item is paying full price when I don’t need to.
I’ve never been in a situation where it was an option. I don’t buy big-ticket items, like cars. I would avoid it. It sounds horrible. I don’t even like auctions, which is the inverse. Just tell me what it costs, and I’ll pay that.
Even if that means you are over-paying?
That seems very…trusting of you.
I don’t judge people who enjoy it, because it’s how 99.9999% of transactions in the history of human commerce have happened… but I’m awfully glad that I live in a place and time where it’s rarely necessary.
I voted “I reject your options.” My option is “Yes, it’s objectionable, I just want to pay a price I’m happy with and be done.”
Perhaps it’s not objectionable, but I’m bad at it and would never get a decent price.
Only because they assume I’ll be bargaining them down. In most shops I go into, the price shown is the price you pay. I just wish that was true in every situation.
FYI with cars you absolutely don’t have to haggle. (Unless naming your own price is considered haggling.) Just find out how much that dealer paid for that car, add two or three hundred bucks (maybe a couple hundred more for expensive cars) and bob’s your uncle. Just be clearly willing to walk if they don’t agree to that price. Don’t worry–someone will. This is in my experience anyway.
It’d be weird to go into a Middle Eastern carpet shop with fixed prices.
I dislike haggling over price, and I generally don’t buy things without knowing what the market rate is, so I know if the seller is asking a fair price or not.
When I bought my last Vespa, the seller announced the price was “firm.” I looked it over and took it for a test ride. The price he was asking was about market value, and I wanted the scooter, so I handed him the money. He was surprised I didn’t try to haggle him down. We stood around and talked for a while, and he ended up giving me $200 off just because he liked me.
It depends. I’m not going to haggle at Sears but I am going to wait for the inevitable sale. But at an antique shop? All bets are off.