Just thought about this question, see I haggled with a stall owner I see every time at a local comic con I go every year, lovely chap and we always have a little cheeky back and forth about certain figures or collectibles.
What about you? Did you ever haggle once for a particular thing you liked? Or are you the straight person who buys it up front?
I’d like to know!
I’ve traveled a bit and so appreciate the culture of haggling. One time while in Panamá I needed an SD card. The Baroness is from there, so we were out with a few cousins going to the mall and big box stores. Of course everywhere was charging like 3x what it would cost in the US. So at the last shop I just laid it out that I could get the $45 card for $15 in the US so asked if they’d take like $25 or something. She was a little confused as haggling isn’t super common, at least in the modern shops. So she went to go check with the manager. He came out from the back. Indian guy. He just looked at me, the only white guy around, and was just like “yeah we can do that.” Had a look to him like he appreciated the encounter. On the way out one of the cousins was gobsmacked that it worked, like he had just witnessed real life magic.
I do sometimes at yard sales or craft markets, like if I’ve found a big pile of stuff I want, I’ll offer a reasonable round number for all of it. If I’m only interested in 1 thing, I won’t haggle unless it’s priced a little too high.
When I hold my own yard sales, jeebus, nearly everyone wants to do it and it wears me out. But I’m looking to unload my clutter so I wheel & deal.
And then there’s car buying…
No. Haggling has zero appeal and makes me feel like an asshole. I want a set price that is predefined, and I want the purchase process to have minimal friction. I don’t want to have to argue with someone when I buy things.
No. If something is too expensive I simply move on. I get anxious simply conducting commerce in a regular environment, like my desire to buy this thing is an intrusion on the shopkeepers day.
I also refuse to buy from places, usually burger vans, where the prices are so small as to be hidden until you get to the front of the queue. If you’re going to say “what do you want” at the exact moment I’m weighing up the price/object ratio, I’m out.
Not until I visited Vietnam. We hit it off with our hotel manager, hung out a bunch. He told us it’s part of the culture, you’re supposed to do it. You’re going to get offered the price that’s three times what’s considered reasonable. The third offer should get it where it’s supposed to be and that’s where a reasonable person stops haggling. He said some very unpleasant people always take it too far and people don’t want to do business of any kind with people like that. He also said there’s a different price for foreigners than there is for locals. When we’d go out with him, he’d insist on paying, ostensibly because he’d get that local price. Of course, it’s more complicated because we eventually learned they get kickbacks for bringing customers in.
Well this explain my vietnamese neighbour’s behaviour, she’s always complaining about store prices and trying to get stuff discounted. Her day is made if something was on sale, even if it wasn’t something she needed. It feels like a win for her
A lot of this is old world vs. new world culture in general. Even South of the border, where cultures have been more preserved, there are more shops and carts and little family businesses where this stuff is an option which exists almost nowhere in America now.
Yes for sure, a farmer or artisan dealing in smaller volume knows their costs, and will deal for bulk buy etc. Modern corporate sellers know their fixed cost of procurement, warehousing, profit required, and logistics costs, so the price is the price…unless you can deal at the upper corp level for huge buys
Yes, and, in the case of a place like Vietnam, corporate goods are openly counterfeited so they become something available at small shops. This is true with clothes, books, music, etc. In the larger business models, sellers don’t have agency over their selling prices. They’re reduced to mere middlemen.
Nope. I hate it. Even in cases of negotiation it almost never works out unless the other person is like me because I will propose what I see as a fair offer and I find the hagglers will start at a point they know is unfair with the idea of meeeting somewhere between. The moment the ridiculous offer is made im out.
It’s like a relationship. Someone wants something, asks for a different thing, then you have to figure out what the real thing is.
another thing im not good at. my wife takes care of that stuff.
Once, in New York City, I haggled the opposite direction for fun, because I was annoyed about being harassed
Guy was trying to sell me a watch so I asked
“How much?”For you? $15
“Nah, too cheap” I replied
uhh… O-okay, $20!
“Hmm, how about $25?”
okay yes yes, $25!
“No. $40”
okayyy good deal $40 for you!!
“No way, that’s too expensive”- I turned around and started walking away
huh? Oh- no! $20! $15! Ten! F-five dollars for you!
Really depends on the object. If it’s a collectible item with a value that’s open to interpretation, I sometimes do, especially if I’m considering buying multiple things. (For example, CCG cards priced at $20, I might offer $70 for a playset of 4.) Those things don’t have firm market value (or that value fluctuates frequently) and there’s usually an easy way to look up a price range quickly to get a sense for what’s a fair or reasonable offer.
If it’s something someone made and is selling, it feels rude to me to haggle. The item has no real market value because it’s something they made; the price is what they’re willing to sell it for. I’ll either buy it for that price, or not buy it at all. I guess the exception would be if they’ve got a sign inviting haggling, which I’ve seen at convention spaces on rare occasion.
Only on expensives items or antiques. I don’t like it, but it seems to be expected on marketplace. I’m so used to people haggling I post everything 25% higher than the amount I actually want or expect.
That being said, I always think it’s funny when someone posts obo on their item. If the price is 700 obo, why the hell would I offer you 700?
When someone offers 100 and it ends up being the best offer
No. I’m not interested in interaction when I am buying or selling something. Nor playing games, or getting or giving social strokes or whatever. I will do that on separate occasions.
I will pay the price asked or I will look elsewhere.
No and I hate that its expected and I hate when people do it to me. I price my items at what I want for them, I am not playing head games where I price them above what I actually want so you can feel like you’re winning when you haggle me down, thats what everyone else in the resale space does and I find it stupid and manipulative. Just pay what it cost or find something cheaper, price what you want to get for it and stop pricing way above asking so you can have “wiggle room” to negotiate and make people feel like they are getting a good deal. Its like playing a game, when all I want is to exchange money for goods.
If someone posted a second-hand item a month or two ago and it’s still available I’ll make an offer. All they have to do is say no.
Some people don’t quite get pricing and that they seem to want to hang onto their junk (they are selling) rather than let it go for a reasonable price.
One guy had a B/G router on Craigslist for the price of a new AC/X router. I sent a helpful message “hey these sell for $5 because they are obsolete, at your price nobody will buy that except a grandma that knows nothing about WiFi.”
He replied with a tirade of nasty insults, that I ignored. Few days later he emails against asking if I want it for $10.
I replied that I don’t want it , it is obsolete, I was trying to help so you don’t sit on it without a sale. And he replied with more swearing and insults.
3 months later I see it still for sale, and still too high. So I could not resist a little “I told you so” message.
My wife buys and resells furniture a lot, and she haggles - usually for free delivery / pickup rather than price reduction. She always leaves a cushion she’s willing to drop when selling, in case the buyer wants to haggle.
I don’t need to try hard every single transaction in my life. Contact me when you are satisfied with your circle jerk haggle powers and you are ready to share the real price with me.
I’m bad at haggling but I try to do it when buying used items on online marketplaces.
