Negotiating: You're doing it wrong

[shmike]

Troy’s truck thread made me think of this.

How skilled are you at negotiating?

I posted on a local board that I’d be willing to sell my spare set of tire warmers for $200 (a fair price). A young guy PM’s me saying he wants them.

The following conversation takes place…

Him: ill take that extra set of warmers off your hands . ive been looking for a set for PBIR this weekend. any chance your selling a front stand too?
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Me: Not selling a stand but you can borrow one of mine for the weekend.

Swing by and pick them up before Sunday. I'm not sure if I can make it this weekend, so I don't want you to be counting on me to bring them.
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Him: will they fit a 190? any burn marks or tears? can i have your number so i can come pick them up. thanks a lot shmike. hopefully you get a hall pass for sunday
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Me: Yes they'll fit a 190, that's what I use them on.

There are two small burn marks but no tears. It is the set I've been using since June, they work fine.

You should have my number: xxx-xxx-xxxx
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Him: new phone since i picked up the doggy door. ill come by tomorrow and pick them up if thats ok with you. if i could borrow a front stand for PBIR that would be awesome!!!! will you take $180 for the warmers?
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Me: No but I'll take $220 plus $15 to rent the stand.
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Him: what happened to $200 in the thread . how about $220 for the warmers and to rent the stand for the day

[tommymac]

I suck at negotiating, but I had a kid do a similar thing trying to buy my track bike. Apparently hes a strugglin gcollege student and funds are tight. Was asking 2k for the bike he first lowballs me at 1500 and asks if theres anything I can take off to lower the price. I tell him its 1800 and it sounds like we have a deal.

Calls me a few days later begging to sell it for 1500, I told him if moneys such an issue and 300 dollars will absolutley kill you, should you be out doing track days. Dont think he liked that one :lol:

[Sixxxxer]

I suck at negotiating, but I had a kid do a similar thing trying to buy my track bike. Apparently hes a strugglin gcollege student and funds are tight. Was asking 2k for the bike he first lowballs me at 1500 and asks if theres anything I can take off to lower the price. I tell him its 1800 and it sounds like we have a deal.

Calls me a few days later begging to sell it for 1500, I told him if moneys such an issue and 300 dollars will absolutley kill you, should you be out doing track days. Dont think he liked that one :lol:

While he didnt like it, Its the truth, Thing is...people cant handle the truth

[Hydrant]

My dad is the barganier of the family.

Dealing with salesmen all day for work, and having to buy chillers, boilers and air handling equipment sometimes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars a shot and 5 different vendors you can buy from give you a pretty good skill to get what we want down to the bottom dollar.

He has no problems walking out of a place if he doesn't get what he wants. I don't quite have the skill yet, but being in the business, I'm slowly working on it.

[azoomm]

I think your response was right on target. :lol: There is a bit of an art to negotiate. I mean, if you don't ask - you have no chance to get. But, how to do it without insulting is the TRUE skill.

[CasterTroy]

I mean, if you don't ask - you have no chance to get. But, how to do it without insulting is the TRUE skill.


BINGO

If you don't ask.....is key

Use too...when I'd list something on Craigslist I listed it for what I needed to have....then I'd get 100 calls wanting it for 20% less than what I listed it for.

Use to piss me off...now, I just play the game :idk: List it 20% high so people feel like they WON something when they talk you down 20% :skep:

If I'm going to buy I ask "is that your bottom dollar?" If they don't budge and it's a deal....I'll still buy it. But if it's not...I'll thank them and walk away. 9 times out of 10 if they were bluffing they'll stop me, and tell me to make an offer.

[Leon]

I insult right off the bat, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I did pick up a '07 zx6r that needed a little work for $1200 using my method.

[shmike]

BINGO

If you don't ask.....is key

Use too...when I'd list something on Craigslist I listed it for what I needed to have....then I'd get 100 calls wanting it for 20% less than what I listed it for.

Use to piss me off...now, I just play the game :idk: List it 20% high so people feel like they WON something when they talk you down 20% :skep:

If I'm going to buy I ask "is that your bottom dollar?" If they don't budge and it's a deal....I'll still buy it. But if it's not...I'll thank them and walk away. 9 times out of 10 if they were bluffing they'll stop me, and tell me to make an offer.


I usually do the same.

When it comes to certain forums (this one and my local one) I offer up a fair price to start to rule out the need for negotiating. If you like the price great, if not that's fine too, someone else will.

I just got a kick out of the fact that this young keyboard hero negotiated himself into paying $20 more than I asked. :lol:

[wildchild]

I insult right off the bat, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I did pick up a '07 zx6r that needed a little work for $1200 using my method.

yep. I've gotten a lot of stuff for half what they asked orig.
everything is a game and usually fun to me. i keep an old vehicle around to drive to the sellers house, crap clothes etc. (depending on what I'm looking at of course)
my best line is "it's not that it's not worth it but man, all I have today is $$$" you'd be amazed how many people think they are doing a good deed and will sell it to you.
i never ever buy from friends.

[Porkchop]

yep. I've gotten a lot of stuff for half what they asked orig.
everything is a game and usually fun to me. i keep an old vehicle around to drive to the sellers house, crap clothes etc. (depending on what I'm looking at of course)
my best line is "it's not that it's not worth it but man, all I have today is $$$" you'd be amazed how many people think they are doing a good deed and will sell it to you.
i never ever buy from friends.

:lol Now you're using props. Awsome.

[Sixxxxer]

I'm the same way, I've walked out plenty of places if I didnt get the price I wanted...Sometimes They stop me sometimes they dont.

[racedoll]

Took me a month to buy my car years ago because I knew how much I wanted to pay, where the payments needed to be, etc. Eventually the dealership caved and I got what I wanted.
The Subie also took about a month and eventually got to a price that I knew wasn't going to go much lower.

Erik is a pussy when it comes to negotiating anything. I try not to insult but if I can't get it for what I want, I walk away.

[OneSickPsycho]

I insult right off the bat, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I did pick up a '07 zx6r that needed a little work for $1200 using my method.

I'm not afraid of insulting... someone else will be selling the same or similar shit tomorrow anyway... It really all depends on how much I want/need the item. I'm not afraid to pay actual worth or sometimes a bit more if it's something I really want/need and may be hard to find. I always try to negotiate, but I don't ALWAYS have to be getting the most amazing deal in the world. However, it's quite rare that I cannot talk someone down from the asking price...

[G-Rex]

I hate negotiating. It's just not my game.

List what you are selling for a price. If I think it is fair, I'll take it. If it's not, I'll keep looking until I find what I want.

[azoomm]

It really all depends on how much I want/need the item.

That's the trick, though. Isn't it? I mean, I've had people get all butt-hurt with me when I'm selling an item and I don't like their lowball offer. :skep:

[z06boy]

BINGO

If you don't ask.....is key

Use too...when I'd list something on Craigslist I listed it for what I needed to have....then I'd get 100 calls wanting it for 20% less than what I listed it for.

Use to piss me off...now, I just play the game :idk: List it 20% high so people feel like they WON something when they talk you down 20% :skep:

If I'm going to buy I ask "is that your bottom dollar?" If they don't budge and it's a deal....I'll still buy it. But if it's not...I'll thank them and walk away. 9 times out of 10 if they were bluffing they'll stop me, and tell me to make an offer.

Yep that's been pretty much my experience as well. Advertise a car for .50 cents and I swear someone will ask..."would you take a quarter for it ?" :lol:

I just roll with it and have the amount that I'll buy or sale something for already in my head. :idk:

[Dave]

I hate negotiating. It's just not my game.

List what you are selling for a price. If I think it is fair, I'll take it. If it's not, I'll keep looking until I find what I want.

Yep. Its counter productive for me since I always want specific (and usually rare) things. I just look around until I find a deal I can accept.

Selling though ill play the game a bit.

[Dave]

Yep that's been pretty much my experience as well. Advertise a car for .50 cents and I swear someone will ask..."would you take a quarter for it ?" :lol:

I just roll with it and have the amount that I'll buy or sale something for already in my head. :idk:

I've taken to adding that I'm not in the least bit desperate in my ads :lol:

[Homeslice]

For Craigslist, I usually set a fair price and sit on it until someone wises up and accepts it. And that usually doesn't take very long. I don't even respond to "will you take less" or "how low will you go" type of emails.

And when someone tells me they're coming by, I tell them they need to be prepared to pay what is listed in the ad.

[goof2]

I've taken to adding that I'm not in the least bit desperate in my ads :lol:

It seems I see this more often in ads people post. Something like "If I don't get the right offer I'll just keep it" or "Don't need to sell, just testing the market". It can get funny when a couple months pass and desperation starts setting in to the posts from those who didn't really mean it.

[Mr Lefty]

I don't tend to negotiate... as I only look for prices in my range anyways... if it's a deal... great... if not... I'm out...

I don't care if someone got the same thing for less... if I think it's worth what I paid... perfect even if that's x2 what you paid... I'm not gonna insult anyone... just not my personality...

[Dave]

It seems I see this more often in ads people post. Something like "If I don't get the right offer I'll just keep it" or "Don't need to sell, just testing the market". It can get funny when a couple months pass and desperation starts setting in to the posts from those who didn't really mean it.

Yeah on the year plus buick ordeal some idiot kept thinking id cave to his $125 offer. I told him he couldn't get the blower for that

[the chi]

I hate negotiating. It's just not my game.

List what you are selling for a price. If I think it is fair, I'll take it. If it's not, I'll keep looking until I find what I want.


And this would be me as well. I like the trick of listing it higher than you actually want tho,I may try that next time I sell something.

[Tmall]

Anytime I've been lowballed, I tell the person to fuck off and not contact me again.

[wildchild]

:lol Now you're using props. Awsome.

i've had quite a few friends ask me to help them negotiate a deal.

look at all the posts above that say if you offend them they'll tell you to blow. don't offend, appeal to their kindness. never tell someone their stuff is worth less.

[Amber Lamps]

I love dealing with businesses but not people/personal sales. Oh I have no compunction with asking a company cut me a deal or to take something back! I just left Sears. I bought a set of rear tires for my Mustang from a buddy that got them wholesale for me, 285/35-18 Dunlop Supermaxx GT last Summer for $120 each. I had them installed by Colony Tire by another buddy for $20. Month ago I hit a pot hole and bulge the tire. I have no reciept. I go to Sears, who is a Dunlop dealer, call Dunlop while I'm there. Explain the situation, hand the phone to "James" at the counter and they replaced my $400 retail tire for FREE!:rockwoot: People don't understand that a lot of corporations will happily help you out. I've done it with gear, tires, electronics, etc. It never hurts to ask, you'd be surprised what you can get them to do!

[Tsunami]

I usually negotiate when I can. I don't wait to the end to do it though because its kind of douchey. Usually I get what I want. Being nice and smiling goes a long way.