# Was this request reasonable? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368 "2012-09-21T08:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/1 "2012-09-21T08:57:35Z")
I was at a flea market type store and they were selling used dvd’s. Their marked price was two dollars each or you could buy ten for fifteen dollars (which is $1.50 per dvd if you don’t want to do the math). I found a bunch I liked and I ended up buying fourteen dvd’s. Obviously, I expected to get ten of them for fifteen dollars. The issue was the price of the remaining four. I made what I felt was a reasonable request - that I pay the $1.50 apiece that I was charged for the other ten, for a total of twenty-one dollars. The clerk was reluctant - he felt I should pay fifteen dollars for ten of the dvds and then pay two dollars apiece for the remaining four, for a total of twenty-three dollars. Admittedly, while he was reluctant, he did ultimately accept my price. And obviously, I was free to make any offer I wanted to and he was free to reject any offer I made. And I realize a difference of only two dollars is not a big deal. But I felt my request was completely reasonable and I was surprised at his reluctance. I felt that what I was asking for was in keeping with the price they had already set and I wasn’t asking for any special discount. Was I, in effect, asking for a special discount by asking them to extend their ten dvd price to more than ten dvd’s? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/2 "2012-09-21T09:52:06Z")
I bought some new work clothes the other day. It was £20 per shirt £35 for 2 or £45 for 3. I bought 4. They gave me the 4th shirt at the £15 increment, rather than asking for £20. So I would think your request was reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/3 "2012-09-21T10:05:23Z")
Your request was reasonable, barter is expected. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/4 "2012-09-21T10:39:30Z")
I agree that it was a reasonable request, but I also don’t think it would have been unreasonable for them to decline it. They could have held that you need to buy another 10 (so, 20 total) in order to get the special “Buy 10” price a second time. That wouldn’t have been **un** reasonable, but maybe less reasonable, since it’s better to just keep customers happy than to risk upsetting them over such a small technicality. > [@grude](#): > > barter I don’t think that word means what you think it means. Did you mean “bargaining” maybe? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/5 "2012-09-21T10:44:31Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > I don’t think that word means what you think it means. Did you mean “bargaining” maybe? Yea I did, all nighters are good for the brain! ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/6 "2012-09-21T11:54:11Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > I bought some new work clothes the other day. It was £20 per shirt £35 for 2 or £45 for 3. I bought 4. They gave me the 4th shirt at the £15 increment, rather than asking for £20. So I would think your request was reasonable. With this one, unless a typo crept in they met you in the middle, as it were, which seems reasonable and good for business. Others may have expected to get the 4th shirt at the £10 increment. I think that would be less reasonable due to the cost of the item and the amount of money involved. If someone came in wanting to buy 100 shirts, it wouldn’t seem fair for them to get the first 3 for £45 and the other 97 at £10 each. As to the OP, your request was quite reasonable - the clerk was probably just taken aback as it had not occurred to them someone might want 14 DVDs, so they went for the “default” option first. Then they saw the sense of your suggestion and agreed. I would have probably done the same if I were you. I might even have been cheeky and asked if they would call it a round $20! ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/7 "2012-09-21T12:02:51Z")
Yeah typo, mebbe it was £20, £38 and £45 or something of that ilk ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/8 "2012-09-21T13:48:59Z")
You were asking for a discount, but that’s a reasonable thing to do at a flea market. If you were doing this at a supermarket, it’d be unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/9 "2012-09-21T14:36:12Z")
I think it was reasonable. You weren’t asking to pay the discounted price on just a few DVDs, you were buying quite a few of them. Or at least, what I regard as quite a few. The seller could have turned you down, but the point of selling at a flea market is to get rid of low value items in a timely manner, not to make the biggest profit. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/10 "2012-09-21T14:41:29Z")
It was reasonable. There could be an argument that $1.50 is a “ten pack” price but, since their goal was to sell DVDs in bulk and refusing could have meant you putting 4 back, it was best to just let you keep the discounted rate. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/11 "2012-09-21T14:44:01Z")
Also, I’ll guess that the clerk wasn’t the one in charge and, being unsure, would have rather erred on the side of profit than explaining to his boss why he let the extra DVDs go cheaper than they should have been. Which would explain his uncertainty. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/12 "2012-09-21T14:49:24Z")
It’s expected at a flea market. I’m suddenly reminded of the haggling scene in “The Life of Brian.” “Ten for that? You must be mad!” ---
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/13 "2012-09-21T14:56:49Z")
The local Kroger has 10 for $10 on some items from time to time, mix and match. Means I can buy all 2 liters that are included, or a mix of soda and crackers, if they’re included. But I think I have to buy increments of ten, and if I buy 16, the other six don’t get included. But that is a computer causing it to ring up like that. But if I were at a flea market, I would insist to the end that anything over ten should be at the lower price, since it is evident they want to move DVDs and anything over ten is helping them out. I would have got my price, whether by putting movies back (try it first as a bluff), or adding more to get to twenty, if I really wanted those I was threatening to put back. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/14 "2012-09-21T15:17:12Z")
It’s a reasonable thing to do anytime. They’re free to turn down your offer. If you don’t act in some other unreasonable manner there’s nothing wrong with asking for the items for free. Just expect to get turned down. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/15 "2012-09-21T15:34:32Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s a reasonable thing to do anytime. Please do not try to haggle if I’m standing behind you in the express lane at the grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/16 "2012-09-21T15:36:23Z")
When a quantity discount is offered for ten items, the default assumption is that the discount offer extends to ten items _or more_. (An exception might apply, obviously, if the items are packaged by tens, and a package would have to be broken down to fill your order, but that doesn’t apply here.) I was quite surprised that most of the responses so far treated OP’s request as haggling, rather than expecting this discount by default. Markets of various sorts in Thailand often offer such discounts and the vendor will almost always extend the discount as in OP, usually automatically without comment. Such a request is sometimes denied however; I’ve generally figured that was due to innumeracy or lack of common-sense. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/17 "2012-09-21T16:42:08Z")
Sometimes you can even get a bargain in a department store, if you are persistent enough! I had a friend visit me in Berlin - her German was pretty much non-existent and she went to the local department store and found a bin with great sweaters and tops, and the big sign above said, “Ab 10 DMark” (Ages ago, before the Euro became currency there…) She found a sweater she liked and handed the woman behind the counter 10 DMarks. With great difficulty, the German cashier tried to explain the sweater was really 18 DMarks. My friend was sure this was a bait and switch scam and stuck to her guns. Much arguing back and forth, and finally the cashier took the 10 DMark and just told my friend to get out of the store. I later had to explain to my friend that “Ab 10 DMark” means “_Starting from_ 10 DMark”, not “_All_ are 10 DMark”. The DVD prices could have gone either way. In a “regular” store, they will often have a sale where the cheaper price is only if you buy things in groups of 4 or 10 or whatever. Anything not in that “group” will cost full price. Then again, at a flea market, bargaining prices down is pretty much the norm so I think you were in your right to ask for (and get) that extra deal. If you had bought, say, 100 of them you probably could have gotten the price down to one dollar each… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/18 "2012-09-21T17:07:28Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > When a quantity discount is offered for ten items, the default assumption is that the discount offer extends to ten items _or more_. (An exception might apply, obviously, if the items are packaged by tens, and a package would have to be broken down to fill your order, but that doesn’t apply here.) > > I was quite surprised that most of the responses so far treated OP’s request as haggling, rather than expecting this discount by default. Yes, this is the point I was asking about. I didn’t feel I was haggling over the price. I felt I was just pointing out the price the store itself had set. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/19 "2012-09-21T17:11:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Yes, this is the point I was asking about. I didn’t feel I was haggling over the price. I felt I was just pointing out the price the store itself had set. Well it didn’t say 10 or more. So you and the clerk were haggling over what the sign meant, if not the price. It’s not always the case that ‘X for Y’ means any number greater than X. It’s a little silly at a flea market not to make that the case. They’d probably let them go for a lot less. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368/20 "2012-09-21T17:51:51Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Well it didn’t say 10 or more. So you and the clerk were haggling over what the sign meant, if not the price. It’s not always the case that ‘X for Y’ means any number greater than X. It’s a little silly at a flea market not to make that the case. They’d probably let them go for a lot less. Technically, they didn’t have any price for fourteen dvd’s. They only had a price for one dvd and a price of for ten dvd’s - which established there were two different prices in the store. Under the circumstances, I felt the ten dvd price was the one they should be using. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-request-reasonable/635368.md?page=2)