Another consumer-related poll

[zzbottom]

Say you're in a shopping environment where negotiation is reasonable to anticipate (i.e. Used car dealership, flea market, antique shop, Craigslist, etc.) and you see something for sale that you might be interested in purchasing. You notice the price and it's significantly higher than you're willing to spend on the thing. What you're willing to

Comments

[koshmom]

I'm also in the "depends on the item" camp.

[derien]

This gives me some insight into why I'm no good at bargaining. I wasn't really sure at all, and I think I might have been the only person who chose 65. (OTOH, my memory is so bad that I might have chosen 60... I don't know for sure.)

[missionista]

So clearly I am the cheap/jerk customer...To me, the $45 offer would be better made in person, and if so, would be taken as a jumping off point for bargaining. This person is maybe willing to go up to $100 on the globe, but is starting low, so she/he has room to haggle. It's a hard thing to do over e-mail, but I wouldn't consider it insulting.

[zzbottom]

I have to say that if I received a 10% offer on anything of mine that would be a non-starter. Its ostensibly saying that I feel like my item has value, and the buyer thinks the item is basically valueless. It puts me in mind of this situation. I've certainly seen items priced at what I would consider to be ten times their actual value, but I can't imagine that there is an ability to bridge that divide.

[gipsieee]

Yes. This.

[beah]

I answered the poll, but that was sort of an average, because there are a lot of factors that go into it for me. What's the item - unique, hard-to-find, readily available, time-sensitive? How much do I know about its value? How bad do I want it? What do I know about the seller? How many rounds of negotiation do I expect? That sort of thing.

[gipsieee]

My answer was for an email or Facebook exchange. I could see starting at 50% for an in person haggling situation.