The art of dickering, and haggling. The good the bad The ugly.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was talking to a friend at work about experiences with people who like to dicker or haggle over price. I was never into it myself but after years in retail , especially independent stores, I’ve become more acustomed to it.

There are different styles and approaches, and different ways of dealing with them form either a buyers or sellers POV. I thought it might be entertaining to discuss different experiences, different cultures , and different methods.

I say cultures because I’ve noticed in the last ten years that I am dealing with a lot more customers who come from a culture where haggling over price is the norm. In the national chains I worked for it was unusual.

I have no problem with people who want to make an offer on something or ask for a better price. If we can make a deal great. If we can’t , no hard feelings, but please don’t waste my time with preposterous proposals. Please don’t take 40 minutes of my time asking me questions and then offer me half of the marked price.

My least favorite method is the nag who seems to think they can simply badger you into a deal , as if being somewhat obnoxious will get you a deal because the seller just wants to get rid of you. When I’ve said , That’s the best I can do , a couple of times, it’s true, and you can say yes or no thanks and we’re done.

I deal with them in a couple of ways. When I get the feeling I have someone who uses the nag method I will get to the best rice I can offer, repeat it , then say, That’s really my best price. You can think about it and let me know if that works for you," and then I turn and walk away rather than stand there and continue to haggle. That works most of the time.

The other method that I only resort to on more aggregious offenders is to start marking it back up. I got to $75 on a $100 dollar item , thinking 25% was a fairly generous discount,. When they said "How about $65, I said, “How about $85?”
One lady even told me she was going to follow me around and nag me for a better price, and I had to tell her to take the discount I offered because if she kept talking it was going back to full price.

I try to consider what may just be cultural differences but I hope people are aware that you are indeed in another country and your customs may not fly here.
For example, When I’ve rung up your ticket and give you a total at the register , that’s not the time to slide less money across the counter and say “Is good”

Also once we’ve made the deal and you’ve been given a discount and we’re at the register, don’t then claim you only have X amount in your pocket.
“Hey, I know we agreed on $1400 , but I only have $1300 on me. Let’s go with that.”

No , we agreed on a price. Go get the money or it’s no deal"
and please please please, learn when to stop haggling, pay your bill , and graciously say “Thanks” And please, don’t take it so personally that you get angry when you don’t get your way.

I realize some people take haggling as a personal challange and the money isn’t as important as thier ego and thier sense of victory. I’ve had a few nice men confess that it’s just a “thing” with them and could I please take $5 off just so they’re paying less than the tag. I find that kind of honesty refreshing, but seriously, you can cross the line from good customer to pain in the ass, if you get carried away.

So, I’d be interested in hearing people’s stories and experiences, and techniques. How much of it is cultural?

2

Great thread by the way!

It’s a cultural thing. I find it is very common in the East Indian culture and Asian cultures. It really annoys me when it gets to the point where they are pretty much begging you for a discount. It’s one of my major pet peeves. I especially hate it when they ask for something for free.
Have they no pride? It can be pathetic.

3

I am a haggler. I enjoy the interaction, and I also enjoy getting something for less than the posted price.

BUT

You are absolutely right about people needing to know when to stop and how to properly haggle. It’s not a war that you win, it’s a peace that you negotiate.

4

When I’ve traveled abroad to poorer countries, I always find it very tacky to see Americans try to get their souvenirs as cheaply as possible.

5

What kind of stuff do you sell? Do some items have more room for negotiating than others?

I’ve never dreamed of walking into a store and trying to haggle. I hate haggling.

6

It would never have occured to me either, and as a customer I would rarely haggle with anyone, although it might depend on the item.

I work at an independent music store and we sell a lot of used gear. From what I hear music stores started out as part of jewelry stores and haggling was expected. Then for years there were not major chain stores. Now , with new gear and map pricing most new gear is not up for haggling, although if it’s been hanging around and you want to move it you consider a reasonable offer. The used gear is fair game.
I also did a stinit as manager in a discount store. Our items were already discounted but as a new company, many mangagers were still making deals and customers got used to it. Once you start doing it it’s very hard to stop because our regulars get pissed.
Even when I worked in major national chains there were still customers who wanted to haggle and would use your competitor to try and get a discount.

7

The main thing is to know what something is worth and what you are willing to pay for it. If the price is right, I’m not haggling about it. If it’s overpriced and in a chain type store, there is little room for haggling anyway. I’d prefer to shop price on the Internet. If something is at a garage sale and priced more than I want to pay, I will wait for a private moment with the seller. I might point out the good and certainly the bad about the item. Obviously, it it’s mechanical and doesn’t work, I want the fire-sale price for my risk and go for it only if I can see a fix. Often, I will tell the seller, “Look, I realize this item is probably worth X amount and you might get X amount if you wait. I only have A value for it for Y reasons. I don’t want to embarrass anybody buy offering such a low price, but this is what I could afford for it.” Many times the seller will go for it or make a counter offer. The counter offer really has to be close though as I make the stretch in the first place. That price is my “walk away” price.

My sense of life is to always put yourself in a win-win position. This is why you need to establish a “walk away” price for most things purchased like cars or major used items. This way you always win. If the price is in your zone, you buy it. If the price is over and you have done your homework, walking away from a high price is also a plus. There is always another elephant around the corner.

8

I’ve come to appreciate the interaction as well and enjoy it when it’s fair and in good humor. That said, some people are ridiculous. When cross the threshold from good natured haggling to being mad or, stupid , or dishonest I have to bite my lip.

I’ve dealt with more than a few folks from the middle east and most are okay, but a few seem to make it such a personal pride issue that they don’t know when to stop or they talk down to you. That doesn’t fly with me.
I told one young man who had already gotten a discount and was trying to renegotiate at the register that he needed to pay for it and say thank you, or just get out.

I don’t know about you but haggling over minor low cost itens also bugs the hell out of me.
“How much are these?”
$5
“How much if I buy two?”
That would be $10.

One lady brought up a plastic trash can that was $3.
How much is this?
$3
She kinda scowls at it , and says “I’ll give yiou $1”
It’s $3
I know you will bargian price here,…
It’s $3
She stomped of pissed.

9

That makes sense to me. And the seller lmows what is invested in whatever the item is and gets to accept or reject and offer so it’s a win for them as well. It really helps to know the going price.
I have heard a few horror stories on about yard sale bargain hunters. :slight_smile:

In a retail place like ours we make good profit on some items and little or none on others. Customers normally have no clue.
We also buy used gear to resell. I tell people up front that the only reason we want it is to resell it, so we have to offer a price that allows a decent profit margin for us. One customer selling some items didn’t like my offer and said " Well at least be fair"
I told him,
“I make and offer , you can say No thanks, That’s what makes it fair”

10

Oh, and bargain hunters. Two weeks ago when you got a discount because you bought a dozen of something, doesn’t mean that item is now that lower price for you forever.

aand, while we appreciate that major purchase you made two weeks , or a month ago, {which was discounteed btw} that doesn’t mean you now get a discount on everything you buy.

11

Yeah, there’s no point in haggling over a dollar or two. I generally negotiate only on fairly large purchases, or when I know the wholesale cost vs. the posted retail price.

For instance, if I’m buying a new guitar that costs more than, say, $600, I’ll try and get a hardshell case thrown in for free. I know that case cost Sam Ash or Guitar Center about $30 wholesale, so they aren’t giving up the store to me, but at the same time, they’d want $80-100 retail for it, so I’m saving myself a good bit of money. And the store then has a more favorable demeanor in my eyes, because they showed they value my business enough to comp me something that is more valuable to me than it is to them.

But to haggle over the price of a guitar pick? Nah. That’s a waste of everyone’s time. Now, if I was buying 1000 guitar picks, yeah, I’d haggle.

Once, in Ketchikan, Alaska, I bought a handful of pieces at an art gallery. I spent a decent amount of money, so I asked them to cover the shipping and throw in a small stone carving of a grizzly bear. The manager had no problem paying the $80 shipping charge for a $800 purchase, and let me have the $25 (retail) bear as well. Win-win.

Again, I go into it not as a battle to be won, but as a peace to be negotiated. People who go into it as a war to be waged, IMO, have severely dysfunctional views and attitudes. They aren’t there to engage in a mutual exchange of goods and/or services (which civilized people call “commerce”), but to basically engage in a barely-legal form of robbery (“the felonious taking of the property of another from his or her person or in his or her immediate presence, against his or her will, by violence or intimidation”).

12

There was a high end guitar hanging at another shop that had been there too long and was marked at a close out price, which was well below cost.

Even at a blowout it was $700

So a bargian hunter comes in and looks it over and offers $500.

No sorry, that’s our final blowout price.
He asks a few more times, and is given the same answer “FINAL blowout price.”

Over the next couple of weeks the guy keeps coming back in and being a pain in the ass, asking to get the guitar for less, even though it’s obviously a great deal at the marked price.
If you really want that guitar, it’s a fantastic price. If you don’t really want it, okay, but stop the sport haggling. How many times do you have to be told?
Finally the owner had had enough and handed the customer the guitar. He walked a few paces away and said," toss it to me"

What?

Just toss me the guitar.

The customer tosses the guitar and the owner steps aside and lets it crash to the cement floor, a few pieces flying off.

OKay, now it’s a $500 guitar.

I know to folks who haven’t been in retail this won’t be funny or make much sense. but there does come a time when telling a customer off is worth as much as the merhchandise.

13

I think this is a pretty healthy attitude. You recognize that it should be a win for the merchant as well , and make a reasonable request that has some value for you.

You’d be amazed at how many people ask for something for free when they’re spending very little. Just the other day a guy looked at Ukeleles He pased over the $40 one, the $60 and the $100 one, and bought the $25 dollar one I got from the back. Then he asked if I could throw in a free gig bag.
Had I been quicker I’d had put it in a plastic bag and said “Sure , there ya go” but you never know how some folks will take that kind of humor.

You make a good point though. I think the ones who get angry and carried away have made it all about thier win with little or no consideration for the merchant.
It creates an unpleasent vibe in the interaction that evokes the “just get out” in me.
I have to say after years in major chains where shitty customers get away with far to much , it’s nice working for small independents who stand by thier employees.

14

Don’t get mad, just laugh. It will totally piss them off.

Or make a cheap excuse, like your wife is a horrible shrew and she’ll kill you if you cut the price. You have two children in uni, both your daughters are being married this year! That’s more how the game is played in haggle cultures.

Never let them see that they are getting to you, it’s like a shark seeing blood in the water.

Truly, just smile your best ‘eat shit’ grin and remain silent. That’s all it takes, truly.

15

When I was self employed I gave an estimate to a couple for work to be done at their property…the wife, a small asian woman (husband was a big burly white guy) asked for a discount after I had given a very rough estimate. I even told them, “this is not a price, it is an approximate guess of how long the work will take based off my hourly rate”.

The husband had to calm her down and basically say, “that’s what it costs dear, let’s wait until we get a bill to try and take his money away”.

That was funny :slight_smile:

16

I think this post is full of bad advice, especially “never let them see they are getting to you”. This isn’t a game of equals, and the merchant gives up no advantage by showing his frustration.

If anything, your advice should be to the haggler: Never piss off the merchant so that he decides he doesn’t want your money as much as he wants you out of his store.

17

If someone is a good sport I’ll joke around with with stuff like that and after doing this a long time, I find just giving the bottom price and walking away keeps me from getting mad. Still, it’s hard to deal with the public and not get mad every now and then. If they’re the shark at that point I’m the guy with a shotgun shell on the end of a stick. Not much chance they’ll get a deal at that point.

The manger is smarter than I am. He uses the fake manager ploy to avoid a hassle. “Well, Gee I’d sure like to but let me go ask my boss”

He walks to the back and waits a couple of minutes then comes back out.
“Man, I tried but he just won’t do it ,sorry man”

Sunday night a guy drove up after we had locked the door and were getting in our cars. He wanted to buy a PA on a deal I had agreed to earlier through another salesperson.

Okay, fine 'well unlock the door and do the deal. Then he tried to renegotiate and I told he’d have to stick to the deal he had already agreed to or I wasn’t going to unlock the door. I turned and walked about 5 steps and he said okay.
Then when we got inside and we were loading out heavy speakers he grabbed some cables and put them on top of a speaker he was carrying.

“Hey, why do you have those cables?”

“Oh that other guy said I could have them”
Now I’m getting a irritated because of the lying.
“No he didn’t, I approved the deal and I know what it was”
Then he found some flimsy excuse to cancel the deal and we had to bring all the speakers back in.

Oh yeah, I was pissed. But there’s retail karma. If you’re a royal pain in the ass, you’re a lot less likley to get a sweetheart deal the next time you want something.

18

Well they sure have no shark advantage after they’ve pissed me off. I treat people with respect and I expect to be treated that way and other employees as well. Fair good faith dickering is respectful. Jerking us around and wasting our time is not.

Nothing wrong with making an offer as long as you can accept a polite no thanks.

19

Oh yes, The asians can haggle to the bitter end. I have to hand it to another salesman who haggled with a very aggresive asiain lady and they both wound up laughing about it. He kept cracking jokes about her haggling.

One asian couple were just horrible trying to trade a used item, that was thrown in on a deal for a brand new one.
After several explanations of why I wouldn’t do that she made some inference that her salesperson had lied to her. Yeah, we don’t call people liars here and still continue to talk. If you say that again you have to leave, understand?

20

And another thing hagglers. Don’t tell me a long sob story about why I should give you a discount. I’m sorry someone stole your guitar, or broke it, or it’s your daughter’s birthday and you can’t afford what she really wants. That has nothing at all to do with my business.
and Christians, don’t ask for a discount for the Lord. Jesus wants my kids to eat regular and have a roof over thier heads. You’ll just have to render unto Ceaser what is Ceasers, {my most effective response to the “do it for the Lord” routine.}