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!
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.
Do you negotiate your salary or the price of a car? Same thing to me
I don’t want to haggle those things either!
Then get shafted by someone that does.
Fine with me, if I can achieve a better salary/price.
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
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!
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.
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.
I find it frustrating and annoying. I am willing to pay extra just to not do it
