What ever happened to the art of haggling?

[Todd Black 88]

My grandfather always told me, whoever states a price first loses.

I've taken that to heart when negotiating pricing, it usually pays off. It's just stupid to list an asking price, then list a lower one when someone asks you to on the internet. Come here, to my face with cash in hand and we will discuss pricing.

My Grandpa always told me, when negotiating, if your first offer doesn't embarase you, you offered too much.( Scottish Jew:))

[Exodus_2pt0]

I use that approach frequently, however, I have cash in hand and I'm ready to jump if you name a price that I like.

Why is it so offensive to your delicate sensibilities? You know what your bottom dollar is, fucking tell them and get it sold.

Or go cry on the Internet like a cum guzzling bitch.

You don't seem to understand, I don't need to sell this bike. I want to make as much money asi can on it, so giving up my bottom line is not productive. If the goal was to "just get it sold" then I probably would have done as you suggested, but alas I'd rather wait patiently and get the most out of it.

I'm surprised your in sales with that attitude. I take that back, when you sell a large volume the bottom line works. Doing that with larger sums kills your profit margin.

[e30vert]

This is a barometer of our times. It indicates people want it now for the least amount possible and are no longer interested in the face to face negotiation of years past. In a much more simplified view it has become give it to me now for free without me having to interact with you at all.

So if you gave it away for free while delivering it to their front porch after ringing the bell and running away before they saw you it would suit them just fine.


It is a very sad reminder of the times that we live in.

What I sometimes do in my reply emails is I type out all the interaction that would happen in person.

Ex:

Seller- Im firm at 1000
Buyer - Well how about 900
Seller - No Im sorry thats too low
Buyer- How about 925?
Seller- Your getting warmer how about 995.00 picked up
Buyer - I was hoping not to pay more than 950 and I can pick it up in less than an hour
Seller- Well picking it up or meeting me in a public place nearby is a nice idea and since you have to spend money on fuel I will knock 20 dollars off. So 975. is the lowest I can accept.
Buyer - That sounds like a pretty good deal . where do you want to meet.
Seller- Im glad we could haggle some and come up with a fair price - I can meet you at (enter time) and how about meeting at (enter place). Thank you.


Feel free to copy and paste while altering values for item being sold.

Its a humorous way to spark additional interaction related to the sale and I can copy and paste this very fast!

[MF DOOM]

I put my e28 on craigslist for $1900. Got at least ten emails offering 500 bucks..

[defaultName]

I use that approach frequently, however, I have cash in hand and I'm ready to jump if you name a price that I like.

Why is it so offensive to your delicate sensibilities? You know what your bottom dollar is, fucking tell them and get it sold.

Or go cry on the Internet like a cum guzzling bitch.

This question bothers me because from my experience, buyers who ask this will always offer you less. If you're selling a car for $3,500 and you say your absolute lowest is $3,000, then they'll offer you $2,500.

Nobody should ever answer this question because all it does is get you (the seller) negotiating against yourself. If you use the example above you've just negotiated $500 off your price before the buyer has even made an offer. So you'll probably end up somewhere between your lowest price and his lowball offer.

[Dermeister3]

Heres how you really get what you want.

buyer Whats your lowest price?
seller 1200 (When its really 1000)
buyer Ok i can do 1100 but thats as high as ill go
seller Deal

tell them your lowest price is 20% above what you actually will take. that way it is not so high that they will just say no flat out, but not so low that you have no room to wiggle.

[z31maniac]

You don't seem to understand, I don't need to sell this bike. I want to make as much money asi can on it, so giving up my bottom line is not productive. If the goal was to "just get it sold" then I probably would have done as you suggested, but alas I'd rather wait patiently and get the most out of it.

I'm surprised your in sales with that attitude. I take that back, when you sell a large volume the bottom line works. Doing that with larger sums kills your profit margin.

I'm not in sales.

I prefer to get things sold quickly and have it out of my hair vs holding onto it for weeks to try to get an extra 10-15% out of it. So I'm not constantly answering, "How much will you take for it?"

This question bothers me because from my experience, buyers who ask this will always offer you less. If you're selling a car for $3,500 and you say your absolute lowest is $3,000, then they'll offer you $2,500.

Nobody should ever answer this question because all it does is get you (the seller) negotiating against yourself. If you use the example above you've just negotiated $500 off your price before the buyer has even made an offer. So you'll probably end up somewhere between your lowest price and his lowball offer.

If you go lower than price you stated, you didn't answer the question honestly.

If I tell you the lowest I'll take is $3k and you respond with $2500, I would tell you, "Thanks for your interest. Have a nice day."

[frankenbeemer]

Nothing happened to the art of haggling, but your typical Craigslist customer is not an artist. I've gotten used to the fact that a large fraction of them are working on trading a cell phone for a Porsche. It can be annoying. May I suggest trolling the most annoying ones occasionally? It's a great stress reliever.

[5ickride]

I dont like to lowball but I almost always start off low and take it from there. For example, if something is being sold for $3000, but i'm only willing to pay $2500 for it, i'll offer $2000 in hopes to end up close to $2500. It also depends on the item your buying and how rare it is, in that case i'll pay the full amount.

[Fusion]

If I'm buying something and I want the seller to go lower, I offer something in return (quick payment, driving to their place, even say you're from farther away etc.).
I just haggled a new set of front brake discs/pads priced $200 at the parts shop, down to $65 from the guy who had them. I don't really need them (DD), he doesn't need them at all (car died), but I know I wouldn't find them at that price when my brakes need replacement so I'll just install them anyways (my brakes are like 70% used).
But if its a custom made part etc. I don't haggle at all and respect it.
As a seller I base my haggling on how long I haven't sold the item, I'll wait for a couple offers and factor in the lowest price I want.

[Herr Faust Schinken]

I dont like to lowball but I almost always start off low and take it from there. For example, if something is being sold for $3000, but i'm only willing to pay $2500 for it, i'll offer $2000 in hopes to end up close to $2500. It also depends on the item your buying and how rare it is, in that case i'll pay the full amount.

thats what i did when i got my car, seller wanted 3500, i offered 2500, but we just meet in the middle at 3k, theres no point in haggling any more than that, the seller has gone down as much as I'm willing to go up. but then again the seller wasn't on crack like some I've seen on craigslist that want 5k for there POS, auto, eta. lowball the crap out of those guys

[defaultName]

If you go lower than price you stated, you didn't answer the question honestly.

If I tell you the lowest I'll take is $3k and you respond with $2500, I would tell you, "Thanks for your interest. Have a nice day."

I said I get offered less but I never said I accepted less :D

I've made the mistake of giving my lowest price a few times in the past but now I just tell people to make an offer, or I say the asking price is my lowest price.

[Exodus_2pt0]

I dont like to lowball but I almost always start off low and take it from there. For example, if something is being sold for $3000, but i'm only willing to pay $2500 for it, i'll offer $2000 in hopes to end up close to $2500. It also depends on the item your buying and how rare it is, in that case i'll pay the full amount.

No problem there, hell that IS haggling. My pet peeve here is that these guys aren't even making an offer. They just expect you to go straight for the lowest bid.

[agent]

just meet in the middle... theres no point in haggling any more than that, the seller has gone down as much as I'm willing to go up.

Exactly how it should work. Once you're well into four digit figures (and beyond), $500 is just an opinion anyway.

[Mr. Burns]

whenever I set a price on CL etc I tend to exercize "psychological pricing"

meaning, you can ask a "higher price" by utilizing lower numbers in which apeases the buyers mindset that these lower numbers represent a "good deal"

check it out...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing