What’s inconsistent? I set prices that were already really, really low. When I open the doors and I have something priced at, say, $5 and the first person walks in and demands that I sell it to them for 50¢, and pesters me about it for 20 minutes, as actually happened, then I for damn sure am going to refuse to give in to their harassment. My goal of having a garage sale was to have fun with friends and get rid of stuff; making a little $$ was not the primary point, and if it came down to it, I still cleared out enough stuff that even with things left over that I had refused to roll over and play dead for aggressive hagglers about, I could easily load the leftovers in my car to run down to a charitable organization that would happily take them. Losing $4.50 wouldn’t break me, but I just don’t like the attitude some people have that I should be so grateful for their business I should accept any offer they make. It doesn’t always work that way.
Of course, when people would come by, such as kids, who clearly had limited funds to spend and really wanted something, I would usually offer them a price break. My choice, not their demand. That’s the difference.
So why is it inconsistent to refuse to haggle when I feel I’ve already set prices as low as they can reasonably expect to find the items at any garage sale, and yet they insist on offering me 10¢ on the dollar anyway? The marked price would be a deep discount. Demanding that I virtually give it to them pisses me off. That’s why I’d rather freecycle stuff these days; at least then people ask nicely.