Negotiating Tactics: Please Add Your Thoughts & Experiances

I wondering what tactics members here used when negotiating in order to get the best price possible when buying items from garage sales, antique malls, flea markets, and other venues where haggling on price is permitted. Generally it is commonly accepted that the first person that throws out a dollar amount is in the weaker negotiating position since they have tipped their hand.

Personally when I have a good working relationship with the seller (have done a lot of business with them before) I always ask for the best price on the item(s) and then either pass or purchase the item. Note that once you have asked for their "best price" it would be inappropriate to attempt to haggle any further.

Sometimes when I don't know the seller I'll make the first offer and then expect them to counter. I try to not make the offer so low that it is insulting and generally don't offer below 70% of the marked price. If the seller wants too much and the gap is too wide I'll walk without making an offer rather than negotiate when the chances of compromise are slim to none.

As shown on American Pickers, grouping multiple items and then asking for a price on all of them may be advantageous since a seller might be willing to come down in price more for a large sale.

Personally I don't talk down an item I'm considering buying in order to get a better price, I've witnessed several buyers doing this and the sellers generally in my experience don't respond well to this type of negotiating tactic and may refuse to budge when buyers are insulting their wares by nitpicking every defect.

Looking forward to other members thoughts on negotiating tactics.

 

I spotted a pair of scones I liked. I went to the store about once a month for a year and got the price from 550€ down to 400€.
Another 6 months passed and I went back, pointed out some flaws and showcased the cash that I had, saying I didn't have any more and that I would go to another store if I didn't get the sconces for 350€. And they sold them for that.

I don't bargain always, but when I do, I play the "poor young student card" and "this items gets a good home" card and the good old "no one else these days would buy this item" -card

Sometimes I just stick around / come back so many times that unless the item has been sold to someone else, the seller just wants to get it over with and ends up selling it for the price I want.

My bargaining isn't too effective though, most of the time I'm happy to pay what I can.

 

I have one tactic I use every time I make somebody an offer. I say "You know, that piece is definitely worth what you're asking, but I just can only afford _____". That way, I'm not offending them or insulting their item, I'm just making a respectful offer. It's really hard for me to dicker... I just don't have the temperament for it, but THIS I can do! For those of you who do in fact know that an item is not worth what is asked, I can understand you might want to educate/inform the seller, but... I just can't!
Good idea for a thread!!!!!!!

 

Most of our sales are via Ebay and fixed price. We usually don't encourage offers.

Some sellers will block bidders who make offers they deem to be insulting (i.e. way below market value).

Normally we advise that our fixed price is just that, occasionally we will deal and occasionally we will block buyers.

This is not to criticize negotiating tactics in the right circumstances, just to reflect that sellers don't have to deal.

 

Sometimes when I've been selling something online I've lowered the original asking price a couple of times so that it's actually way below the value.. even then some people have the audacity to offer about 30% of that price.

There was a chandelier, a very unlucky one. I originally asked 300$ and later lowered it down to 200 and later a 100$. When the price was at 200$, someone offered 100. And way later when the price was 100$, some person offered 30$. It was a very beautiful french 19th century brass chandelier, timeless looking and all but it just wouldn't sell! I actually sold it twice but both buyers disappeared / cancelled.

 

Did a car boot last week for first time in a year.

Old lady wanted a Welsh carved love spoon, I'd had a good day and sold some big items so I thought I'd do a good deed and told her she could have it for just 50p. So she asked to have it for 30p!!!!!!!

I was so amazed I couldn't stop myself laughing, she walked off in a huff

 

If a (potential) customer's attitude seems overly "oh please let me have it for a pittance," the seller needs to adopt a mentally only, not spoken attitude of "and please don't let the doorknob hit you on the way out."

 

I am not a good negotiator. When I do it I normally will ask whether they will take an amount that is about 20-25% less than they have it marked. And this is only if I think that amount is a fair amount. If taking that amount off still makes it too high, I don't bother. Or sometimes I ask for their best price.

 

I sell on Ebay and do put the Best Offer on some items, but I always put in the automatic rejection price too along with the automatic acceptance. When buying, I ask about the best price or "what can we do on this". At tag sales the prices are often so low I don't even bother. At estate sales I do a bit, but I'm often there on the first day and some professionals won't go down then.

 

Always love it when buyers insult your product and think that will make you sell it to them for a lower price.

 

I concur with all.

 

"Scones"??? Had to be stale by then...

 

I've done sales where I was pushed way too hard. When that has happened my next offer is higher than the first was.
This causes shock and confusion.
When they tell me what I just did I say that they went too far their way and now we're going the other.
At this point I've long forgotten about selling to them. Now I'm having fun at their cost.

 

I don't mind a customer asking for a better price. I try to do 15-20% if it has been around for awhile.
A lot depends on how long it has been on the shelf.

If I don't want to sell it for less than marked I simply tell them I can't on that item. However, if they want to pay cash, I will absorb the sales tax. Which in my area is 8%.

I have a mix of old and new. I go to the gift shows and buy from wholesalers.
So I really lost it one day when this man said he would only give 1/3 of what a new item was priced. I told him to get out of my store, told him the item wasn't even marked up double of what I paid, so why should I give it to him for less than what I paid.
Never done that before or since, but his attitude that he would only give me so much really made me mad.

 

I've managed to get amazing discounts on some stuff...

$160 from 200.
$180 from 250.
$70 from $100.

...and my best one:

$200 from $400!!

Mostly because I knew the people who I bought this stuff from. Well, not 'personally', but they were people who I'd spent a lot of time with at flea-markets and antiques fairs, and at antiques shops. They knew me because I was always hanging around. And being sweet, charming, polite, and having a sense of humor also helps to chip the prices off a lot.

The lady who sold me a pocketwatch for $160 down from $200 let me have the discount because the last person who handled the watch was a jerk, apparently, and she'd rather it go to someone who actually had manners.

...and it was a VERY good-quality pocketwatch. She could've sold it for twice what she did.

I still have it.

 

If the price is cheap or very reasonable for what the item is, I will pay the asking price. Rarely bargain at garage sales as a result. If at a sale, I usually ask "What can you do on this?" Usually accept or walk but occasionally counter if not too far off. I generally am hoping for 20% or better off. Rarely engage in bargaining on items where I would need, say, more than 30% to make it feasible. Not worth my time or the dealer's grief in these situations. I will occasionally just cut to the chase and make an offer if I am just a few dollars or less than 10% off the asking price.

As a dealer, it really bothers me when people make low-ball offers. I don't begrudge anyone some profit and would hope they can do the same for me. likewise, those that denigrate the merchandise will not be looked on favorably. I usually note defects and take them in to account in my pricing. How someone approaches the deal is important.

Bargaining is a way of life in this business. It need not be adversarial. I had one dealer friend smash an item to the ground rather than sell it to some witch who was getting testy with her. I always wish that I might have the opportunity to do the same some day.

 

SCONCES !

I hate typos !

 

I was gonna say...they must've been the world's most amazing scones...

Were they blueberry, or plain?

 

Hi,
Brad, you do will it some day. I had a cartoon glass worth about 6 bucks. I had it priced at a dollar. A nasty witchy woman picked it up and said "I'll take it for 25 cents.". I had a rather nasty day and the woman who was well known to me. I yelled that I would rather smash the glass than sell it to her. I threw it to the driveway and it smashed into 35 pieces. Then I started yelling at her "Get out of my
property." As she was running down the driveway about 10 to 12 people started clapping and yelling "Bravo.". It seems that they all knew her or of her.
greg

 

I had a similar incident with someone online. It got pretty bad.

Basically, I had a pair of binoculars for sale. This guy (let's call him Ted) didn't like the price, and offered me another, which was almost half what I paid for it.

I told him I couldn't do it, and offered him another price which I felt was more acceptable. It wasn't a great increase, and the profit I was making was negligible.

Oh boy.

Teddy exploded. He started swearing and yelling about how HE had been dealing in antiques and jewelry for THIRTY YEARS!! And how HE KNEW how much *X* was worth and I didn't and that I was ripping him off deliberately and how he was gonna come over here and beat me up (he lived a whole state away) and this, that and the other.

This guy was old enough to be my father.

I lost it. I cussed him out like a sailor and told him to bring it on if he was as ballsy as he claimed. He later started slandering my sales posts online. I screencapped everything and got him kicked off the site. Apparently I wasn't the first person who had problems with him, and the site administrators had just finally had enough and booted him.

...all over $40.