I suspect there’s a cultural difference at play here, but I would and do haggle in retail stores for things like televisions, computers, tablets, cameras, washing machines, fridges, small kitchen appliances. I would never pay full price without first asking “What’s your best price?” because this is how it is done. The shelf price is a starting point to negotiate from, not the actual lowest possible price. I also play retailers against each other to push the price down, and I look for cheaper deals online and ask the retailer to match them.
I would never try to haggle with a supermarket over groceries, and most small retailers I don’t feel comfortable asking - although I once bought multiple expensive baby gadgets from a small retailer and I swallowed my discomfort to ask if she could do a better price because I was buying so many. She gave me a discount.
I talked the salesman down 14% on my car when I bought it new, although he only agreed to my final offer after I decided to walk away and buy second hand instead.
My dad always tells me “You can only spend it once”. I like to know I’m getting the best value I can for my money because I can only spend it once. I try to be friendly, polite and respectful, but ultimately the salesperson and I each have to try to make the best deal we can for ourselves. It’s not personal, it’s business.
No… but I certainly imagine a similar type of conversation when I’m offered the job:
ME: I’m looking for $X per year.
BOSS: Well, we can’t go quite that high, but I can manage .9X. And we offer a gym membership and parking reimbursement.
ME: I can’t do it for .9X. But .95X, and an additional 5 days vacation per year from your baseline, and I think that’d work.
BOSS: I have some flexibility on vacation. How about that .9X with ten days extra vacation?
Etc…
Your example ignores the fact that I don’t come in to work every day to re-negotiate. We agreed on terms when I was hired.
And for those who grow faint of heart at the thought of negotiating… how about starting salary/perks at a new job? Do you just take whatever the employer throws out?
That’s true, but that’s because the example is set up to represent someone working freelance, not someone getting hired permanently. We do in fact have customers that come in and asks for some little reduction, some little addition, some little change to the contract, even after it’s all been signed. And even if they don’t try and change an agreed upon contract, maybe they don’t try and haggle much the first time, but on the second contract they come back to us, “Oh, it worked so well last time but this time our budget is SO tight. I just can’t pay the same I did before”. The third time, “We know you gave us a discount on the last contract, but we found this competition website that gets us a hundred sample designs for $100. You can do better than that, right?” Or the oh-so-wonderful, “We can’t pay you this time, but it’s a great resume builder!” Fuck you, pay me.
It’s an endless spiral if you don’t put your foot down. A little negotiation on actual big ticket items, sure. But I’m not going to pay a haggle game for something worth so little. I get contracts for $8000 signs and you’re asking to pick and needle at a $150 job. Don’t waste my time by trying to whine and needle it to $80 and then try and get yourself 5 revisions after the fact when the contract clearly says 3. Those customers can just go elsewhere.
It’s very satisfying if they come back after going elsewhere, showing me the utter crap they got because they weren’t willing to pay for a decent designer. They start realizing you get what you pay for, and just because it’s a freelance service you can’t just keep haggling until one day it’s free. I then get to re-do the job at my normal price.
Just so you’re aware, agents are required by law to present all offers to their clients, no matter what. A simple no thank you would have been sufficient.
Yes, I’ve since learned that. At the time it was frustrating. She was horrible start to finish. I was having trouble fitting closing into my schedule. She told me I could sign everything ahead of time and give her power of attorney. She would then represent me at closing.
She was supposed to call me after closing, but it slipped her mind. I went to the office to pick up my $$, but it wasn’t there. The receptionist didn’t have it, it wasn’t in the safe. Her coworkers were uneasy about it when she didn’t answer her cellphone. She had my money and could have skipped with it.
Turned out it was in her purse and her phone’s battery had died.
Haggling has been part of human civilization for thousands of years (probably) and a culture that breeds socially deficient oafs who simply refuse to haggle or are unaware they can haggle is shortchanging its people.
Well, I hate haggling so much I try to avoid anybody that haggles. I got an excellent price quoted on my car, even though I was ready to try to haggle; so I didn’t even bother. I always price my Craigslist items well and HATE people who try to knock down the price. I usually won’t sell to them, unless they are the only ones who answer the ad.
When I go to India, haggling is expected in many places, so I bring along an Auntie who is experienced. Otherwise I go to the fixed price emporium.
I guess one of the reasons I make money is so I know what I can afford and I would rather spend a little extra money than haggle. The extra money - if I am paying extra, which is not always guaranteed, is more than worth my haggling time to me.
I feel like there’s a tacit condition of “and it’s a fair price” in that statement. I mean, presumably a person has done some looking around to see what’s reasonable market price for an item and isn’t stupid enough to pay more than that just because that’s the price someone is asking. Especially used stuff.
I’m not a fan of haggling–set a fair price and I’ll pay, and we can both go do something more enjoyable with the time we save. I don’t find it objectionable, really, just ridiculously tedious. Well, it’s not objectionable if it’s an amount worth negotiating about and a person can take no for an answer. I was in a San Juan gift shop a couple months ago with a guy who spent more than five minutes arguing with the owner about knocking down the price on a couple of items that totaled $15. That’s not a typo–one item was five bucks and the other was ten, and this guy who could afford a tropical vacation in November was trying to negotiate a two dollar discount because other shops sold a similar item for two dollars less than this place. As the shop assistant murmured to DoctorJ while I was standing at the counter watching the proceedings with my mouth hanging open, sometimes I’m just embarrassed for people.
I was thinking about this. The Internet is really what has made haggling pretty unneccessary where I live. I already know when I walk in the door for most major purchases what I should be spending. What the product is worth. Same with Craiglist, I can see. If the price is not worth it to me, I will just walk away. If you set the price high hoping for haggling I will never even contact you. Simple as that. Honestly, there’s lots of stuff I just don’t need.
It may be psychological, and partly social/cultural.
I’m highly goal-oriented. When someone spouts the fatuous platitude “it’s the journey, not the destination”, I have to try very hard not to snort in derision.
No, dumbass, it is the destination. If I could teleport there instantly, I would. Fuck all of that tedious journey stuff.
Haggling is the economic equivalent of the journey. As far as I’m concerned, it’s fly-over territory.
Don’t try to dicker with me. Cut to the chase. Quit the pointless dancing around. My time is worth more than that, and I’m not here to entertain you.
I claim the social/cultural angle because it seems to me that US culture is highly goal-oriented, concerned with squeezing out greater efficiency and attaining goals more profitably. Maybe the cost savings of a deeply negotiated price justify the time spent, but not in my experience, and not in a lot of quotidian settings.
I mean, who coined the phrase “fly-over territory?” It speaks a lot to the mindset that anything not central to goal accomplishment isn’t worth spending time or attention on.
Even in societies that expect haggling, I consider it context dependent. In Haiti, as in many other countries, haggling is an art. I was with my translator at a roadside stand looking at some souveniers. I picked up a hand carved, wooden globe and asked, through the translator, the price of the object. When he answered I looked it over, looked at the translator and said “That’s a fair price, I’m not going to haggle”. He replied “I agree, and she (the vendor) will be happy”.
Haggling should, IMHO, be used to beat down anyone.
We were in St Martin a few weeks ago. On Pinel Island, an American couple were arguing about the cost for two chairs and an umbrella right next to us. It was thirty euros, and they accepted thirty dollars (a bargain). The guy was arguing and the wife was beginning to get pissed off at him. I could see my gf getting unhappy. She asked me for $40, I handed her two twenties.
She got the beach attendants attention and asked (in French) if the setup next to us was taken. He grinned and said no. She handed him the money and told him to keep the change. He then turned to the other couple and explained that the chairs and umbrella were no longer available. The wife knew what had transpired, told her husband, and they trudged on down the beach, giving us the stink-eye.
A short while later a nice couple approached us and asked if the setup next to us was taken. My gf told them that our friends had to go back to the mainland, all was paid for, and they were welcome to join us. They bought two buckets of Caribs and we shared.
When I was younger I hated haggling but I now accept that it’s just how business is done. My first job I just took the salary offered, no questions asked, even though I thought I could do better. As I got older I got more comfortable with negotiating car prices, salaries, stuff on craigslist, you name it. Everything’s negotiable.
The first class I took in my MBA program was a negotiation class and it was immensely helpful.
In a situation where I am buying something, I do not view my counterpart as a seller, but as a vendor. As in vending machine. I don’t wish to sound like I dehumanize people, but in a commerce-based transaction, I am focused on obtaining the product, not a relationship with the person whom I obtained the product from.
Travelers to Thailand nowadays may not give a second thought about stepping into those metered taxis on Bangkok streets. But those meters were introduced less than 25 years ago. Before then, you had to bargain with the taxi driver for the fare each time you wanted to go anywhere!