Has haggling died?

[zzvyb6]

Sellers now are more savvy on what their stuff can bring, based on many indicators. Ebay's "sold" listing options included. Buyers are expected to also do their homework. A new class of buyer are "resellers". They need a lowball price to make a few bucks from the uninformed sellers. It's funny to me to see buyer ads with a recently bought item still on a trailer that is for sale. They don't even unload it. I'm amazed at how much stuff is going to "garage sales" that is just 1 micro-step above junk. Sellers won't even clean it up, straighten a bent part, or clean off the weeds. Around here "Barn Sales" get premium prices. City dwellers and suburbanites seem to believe that Country sellers are just hicks who don't know the current value of things.

 

[MoKelly]

City dwellers and suburbanites seem to believe that Country sellers are just hicks who don't know the current value of things.

Our place can’t be located via a phone GPS. Plus, part of the drive results in no cell reception.

So city dwellers and suburbanites can’t get here without my help. They get lost and scared.

MoKelly

 

[Cougsfan]

I read a article describing street markets in Morocco, where people buy the majority of their goods, and the phycology of their seemingly mandatory haggling. I was a humorous but thoughtful evaluation of haggling. Both vendor and purchaser have an idea of the value of the item before the haggling starts. The vendor asks a ridiculously inflated cost for the item and the purchaser responds with a ridiculously low price, and they haggle back and forth until the reach the true value. This happens on every single sale. A second customer could be waiting behind the first customer to buy an identical item. When it was their turn, they would spend 2 or more minutes doing the exact same haggling and it would end with the exact same result. For the European writing the article it was such a ridiculous waste of time, but for the Moroccans it was part of their culture and a form of social interfacing. I guess I wouldn't enjoy living in Morocco.

 

[Jstpssng]

The opening gambit "What's your best price?" immediately marks that person as a beginner haggler to me, and puts them in a weaker position in my mind. My response is always "Make me an offer". (not that it's a regular occurrence)

A motoring guru over here recommends that when buying a car (for example) from a dealer, make your opening offer 15% below asking, and if the salesman goes into full BS mode, be well prepared to leave your number and walk away. If the vehicle on their lot is costing them money, they'll get back to you!

If it's an online query I'll usually double my asking price in response, or just delete the text/email. It's one thing to ask questions about an item to determine if it's something you want and that he price is fair; but I have better things to do with my time than deal with an endless string of tire kickers and lowballers. I put a goos running snowsled on CL a few years ago for 1/2 what it was worth, just to get rid of it. Within 18 hours I had taken it back off because of all of the stupid offers I got for it. No, I don't want your ATV which "Just needs a tuneup".

When I bought my used Kubota in 2018 I had been looking at used and new for several months; they knew what they had and weren't even interested in talking. It was the same way last summer when I was truck shopping; it was the worst time to do so and just finding something new or used was a challenge. I"ve found that "Covid" is a good excuse to offer substandard service. I drove 170 miles to look at a new Colorado only to find it had been sold; I test drove the 2018 which I now own and he didn't care if he sold it to me or not. There was no negotiations, I put a deposit on it that day and when the Carfax indicated it had been in an accident he said they were wrong and just asked me if I wanted my deposit back. So far I haven't regretted it, hopefully that won't change..

 

[dnw64]

I hope haggling will never go out of style. It's the most enjoyable part of buying and selling. But then I come from a rural background where haggling is common.

And it doesn't always go like you expect.

My son bought an old M-F TLB. He used it a bit, but it ended up having a fairly significant leak from the rear main seal. And it was a huge job to replace (pull and split block). I don't remember the exact numbers, but roughly, he listed it for $4000. A guy came and looked at it and offered $6000. My son said "no, it's not worth more than $4k", and the guy capitulated.

 

[TCowner]

I was selling a material collection system for a John Deere X500 series tractor a few years ago on Craigslist and had a guy call and say he would take it for my asking price. He arrived the next day with a pickup and trailer and something wrapped in a blanket in the bed of the truck. He started unwrapping the item and I asked him what he was doing. His response was that he was trading a pinball machine on the collection system I had. I clarified with him that there was no discussion about any trade in for the collection system.

After about 5 minutes of trying to convince me that a used pinball machine was the latest rage and that I would be able to sell at a huge profit in the future he left. Some Craigslist sales go fine but not all.

 

[kantuckid]

I'm a senior and made many, many deals. I can attest that there have always been cheats and crooks. Modern online dealing often sucks in my opinion! Sellers are what I'll call flightly, thin-skinned or testy as I see often when I try to bargain in a polite, respectful manner. I've come to greatly dislike younger buyer/lookers who hit a button on their cellphone asking if it's "still for sale? then I say yes, then they ask will you take this?" I'll ask if thats an offer or them posing a question and then I get LOL until I'm sick of LOL!!!
My point is that many modern potential buyer/sellers haggle/deal the same way they drive vehicles. Road rage abounds as does selfish me first driving. Remember when running a red light was a rarity-not now! And there lies the issue, we have a "Me First Society" and it's reflected in sales senarios often. Not to mention all the website hassles what with bogus websites, web thefts, so on.
It can still be done the right way though. Yesterday, I drove 110 miles to pickup an old wagon running gear bought from a young guy in his early 20's. he was respectful, helpful and honest. Farm people tend that direction more often than not. I might be showing cultural bias-> but it is what it is. Your odds are better on the farm!!!
The exception: I had a nice $21K late model Cadillac for sale about 10 yrs ago. Guy who farmed in OH called and we agreed for him to come about a 100 miles to buy it. I told him cash, no checks of any kind and deal at a local bank. He shows up with half the purchase price in cash and remainder he's writing a check from his farms 3-ring checkbook. I told him no check and sent him home no deal which he should have expected. My stories could go on and on really...
Carfax is not the all knowing fact center that it's purported to be.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

For new items I find haggling to be 99% dead.

On common used items especially 200+ miles away unless a rare must have item I will only offer 50-70% of what I might pay a local established seller just because of unknowable risks.

 

[two_bit_score]

Haggling or Not Haggling?

It all depends on if you Need to Sell or Need to Buy. And timing.

An old friend in the real estate business told me many years ago: No matter what the market is like, Someone Needs to sell and Someone Needs to buy.
I might not Need to sell today but I may Need to later.

I had tried for over three years to get a price from a guy who owned the lot next to a place I have. He wouldn’t even talk to me about it.

I found out that he had a Need for some cash and contacted him to see if he would consider selling me the lot. This time he called me back and we made a deal.

I taking RE listings years ago I never asked a seller what they Wanted for their property. I always asked them what they Needed to get for it. Then we would talk about what I could show them the Market would support based on several scenarios so they were prepared for offers in different ranges.

Sometimes the Sellers Needs changed over the course of several weeks or months. So timing came into play.

 

[CalG]

Haggling to me is always weired.

MONEY has no real worth, it only represents something.

The ITEM only has worth to someone who values it.

So why does "haggling" always imply that the price in money should go DOWN?
Shouldn't haggling also allow the seller to better his situation?

Shuch would be the case in the case of barter. I'll give you two eggs for that tomato.

I once had a gal offer me three ostriches for a 1941 Dodge fire truck is wanted to sell before moving out of California.

Ostritches would be hard to move to New Hampshire in winter.... So I didn't make the deal.

 

[MoKelly]

People haggle - but maybe differently than in the past.

I have folks come to the tennis club desk and say - I want a beer. Ok - that’ll be $3.00. Oh, I only have $2.00.

Really?

Well, guess what? You still have $2.00 and no beer!

MoKelly

 

[YanmarFever]

People ARE crazy, 14 yrs ago I had a guy that wanted to trade a legal machine gun for my tractor, I told him to please leave my property.
I have no use for one, although it would be kinda fun at the gun range..

 

[Septemberwheat]

in the past couple years, im noticing a trend with used stuff, where the seller refuses to budge even a dollar, I bought a van over 21k used, that the sales guy even said they couldn't move for 2 years, yet only after showing up and walking out door, got 200 dollars off.

I am now actively trying to buy a tractor. this is now the 3rd tractor where the seller, doesn't even counter, its simply a NO. 14,250 on a 15k tractor was my offer.

I don't know if this is a new thing, but i have always in the past at least saw some attempt at haggling. Am i a relic?

I agree. Negotiating has definitely changed over the years. Moreover, younger people just won’t move on their price. I think it has to do with Internet classified sales. When I was a kid, you put an ad in the penny saver and hoped you could find a buyer. Today you offer your product to the entire country. You can find a good “deal” on a tractor in one part of the country and uShip it to you in another part of the country...
It’s pretty wild, but yes, sadly, haggling is dead...

 

[two_bit_score]

So, having competition from more buyers kills haggling?

that doesn’t seem likely.

But a larger, wider pool of potential buyers Increases the chance that someone will pay asking price.

 

[kantuckid]

For new items I find haggling to be 99% dead.

On common used items especially 200+ miles away unless a rare must have item I will only offer 50-70% of what I might pay a local established seller just because of unknowable risks.

I choose to disagree. Buying a vehicle has changed during covid for certain but if you walk in with that mind set you have become the next victim. Vehicle dealers have variable sales patterns with contests and huge variances in sales practices. Even parts departments vary hugely on markups to both retail and the trade. The larger issue for now is supply & demand combined with government bucks that have been flowing freely. Many dealers of any type have signs up to buy your whatever-those combined with the ever present "hiring now" signs. I'm trying to keep this both polite and mostly non-political. Many, many buyer of both tractors and vehicles are upside down to the hilt these days. They must have financing and be able to make ridiculous trades that involve high msrp prices and inflated trade-ins & deeply extended credit (or no credit) to make deals.
Conservative, tightwad buyers like me-who know how to haggle but never over step their bounds by insulting private sale buyers-unless the sellers flat out ignorant or thin-skinned, which many are in a me-too world such as we live in.
I contacted a lady on FB Marketplace about a stack of milled log cabin wall logs she had for sale. It was for several thousand LF of them still wrapped in lumber wrappers on piles and priced at retail market price but being sold as an unused so-called bargain. I told her that I could buy the exact same thing in specific quantity I needed at a lower price and even closer to my home. She asked what I'd pay and I tried to not step on her toes saying there had to be a savings or a waste of my time to make an offer. As I waited for a change of her mentality to see that see was selling too high she proceeded to accuse me of scamming her and then taunted me with having sold the logs advertised at $7,000 for only $3,800 to another nicer man. I really doubt that would have happened not so many years ago? Also it would not have occurred had she known much of anything about how to make a deal.
The 50-70% of mentioned above is far to much of a generalization to work for me? Rare is a word best used in antiques or collectables in my world.
Last Thursday I bought a hay wagon running gear 110 miles from my house of FB Marketplace. The seller had begun at $500 and had a VG wagon gear but had come down to $400 already and ad showed several weeks on the market-which is a key aspect of dealing with private sellers or dealers too! I talked directly on the phone and we settled on $350 and a fast sale. I have no idea what that equals in percentages? but it was a very commonly made deal IMO.
Yeh, I've heard some really weird trade offers. In selling dozens of cars over the years the most common stupidity is the buyer who says they have cash in hand when it's a private sale and obviously cash is the only way to buy from a private seller who's already said NO TRADES.
Web information joke I heard yesterday (Nadine on Larry's Diner TV show) was that we used to say that "information made people smarter"-BUT the internet has proved that wrong...

 

[kantuckid]

People haggle - but maybe differently than in the past.

I have folks come to the tennis club desk and say - I want a beer. Ok - that’ll be $3.00. Oh, I only have $2.00.

Really?

Well, guess what? You still have $2.00 and no beer!

MoKelly

Money has a different meaning than once was. As a kid I'd look for an hour for a 50 cent piece I'd dropped in the weeds-now a $20 bill means zilch to many folks. Even the so-called well educated...

 

[Jchonline]

I am partial to arguments…haggling is kinda boring

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I am partial to arguments…haggling is kinda boring

Well that explains a lot.

 

[kantuckid]

I wasn't arguing, I was making discussion.

 

[Jstpssng]

Money has a different meaning than once was. As a kid I'd look for an hour for a 50 cent piece I'd dropped in the weeds-now a $20 bill means zilch to many folks. Even the so-called well educated...

Many convenience stores around here have a "take a penny, leave a penny cup. It's amazing how much change people will leave in those. If the bill is $4.14, they will leave 86 cents behind. I'm cheap, I save my change until I have enough to buy something that I want.