Are you a haggler?

Only if the item is damaged. My mom got a $250 astro-lathe for $50 bucks because a piece is missing.

My Mom was queen of the hagglers. She could talk down anyone on anything.
She also would return merchandise, despite how long she had it, how damaged it had been, or even if she bought it at a different store.
As for me, I find it vulgar and embarrassing. I would never do that.

I demand 5000 lurve for this post

I never haggle, because I know I’ll always be the loser. I’m not good at arguing.

@Michael_Huntington From Dr. Jelly: Due to the technical nature of Fluther, everyone can only give you 1 lurve. And everyone demands you to either lurve them back or be on-topic. And I, Dr. Jelly, can’t give lurve. So no lurve for you, sorry :’(

@filmfann Your mom is exactly like my sister in law. She embarrasses me by the things she takes back. She took a blow up swimming pool back at the end of the season because it had a pin hole in it. It had it from the beginning of the season. I would never do that either.

I used to haggle at a farmer’s market I would go to every weekend. The one here in Tampa is much different, so I don’t haggle. Plus, $1 for 5 tangerines is already a steal.

I love to argue, but not over the price of something. I even paid sticker price for my car. Stupid? Probably. But I don’t haggle.

I hate haggling! Something like a yard sale I might ask if they would take a lesser amount but I do not haggle. I find it distasteful most of the time.
I also traveled with a woman in asia a few years ago that haggled every poor little person selling goods and it drove me insane.

She totally got off on it, seriously the woman got some twisted rabid high from haggling over goods already incredibly cheap. I though it very rude, insulting to the vendors and unattractive.

@Coloma An Asian who loves haggle? Haha! The same situation here! Many people love haggle, no matter what they buy. They seem to think haggling is “an art of buying” or something. People who don’t haggle are considered “naive” and “lack of common sense”.

Maybe if I could argue a bit better I would haggle too :p

@Mimishu1995 No, an american woman haggling asians. I just wanted to slap her. haha
It was insulting to the sellers in my opinion.

@Coloma You took my answer. I hate haggling. If it is too much I skip it. I do not go back an forth. I was in Korea with a coworker in the dead of winter – cold night, wind howling down the street of Itaewon. He was haggling with an old lady over a pair of leather gloves for $5.
You cheap F..! Give her the dollar! She, you, and I are freezing out here. You are wasting time! That $1 meant so little to him and so much more to her. Cheap bastard.
I never went with him again. I also refused to work for him later when he offered me a position.

@Coloma Sorry, misinterpreting…
But seriously, many sellers here, especially the poor ones, are very mean and they would raise their price to the unbelievable. Many buyers just haggle as a way against those sellers, but many others just can’t seem to know when to haggle, so they haggle with almost every single seller. The only places no one can haggle are the supermarkets :)

Yes, I went with my wife many years ago to the Boston Aquarium, we were about a block away and I saw a parking lot with a sign ”$7 all day”. I drove in and offered the guy $5 he said yes, may wife almost had a cow.

I hate haggling! I do it when I know it is expected, but I hate it. I rarely shop in places that I have to haggle.

I was asking because I went to Goodwill with a friend and she started dickering over the price of a 3 dollar stuffed animal. She only wanted to pay a dollar. They told her that they no longer allow haggling in the store. She would not let it up. She demanded that she only pay a dollar. Her logic was “You got this stuff for free and you sell it for pure profit.” She held up the line and finally got the animal for a dollar.

I am never shopping with her again. EVER.

I know there are situations where I should and it is expected – like cars and jewelry – but it feels so awkward to me.

I sold fine art for a few years, and it was my experience that most galleries will mark up expecting the haggle, and the buyer feels good because they felt like they “won” or got a better deal when really they ended up paying the artist/publisher’s suggested retail. The game is lame.
My gallery refused to negotiate on unframed art because we sold it for what the publisher deemed the value. It was much easier to cultivate a trusting, ongoing relationship with a client than to have to negotiate and get weird.

@LuckyGuy OMG..we ought to hook those two up for a haggling relationship. lol
@keobooks I would have walked out, sounds like my ex- quasi friend. gah!
@Mimishu1995 You know your cultural haggling ins and outs well. :-)

I would haggle if it is second hand stuff. So I would haggle if it was a car boot sale (yard sale). I try to think of what I want to pay then I know when they name their price if it is within haggling distance. Too high and I would walk away, and as low or lower than my price I would just buy. I wouldn’t haggle if it was new stuff on a market stall or in a charity shop though. It’s for charity!

Last year I haggled in Emmaus – a charity shop in France – because my friend told me it was expected. They wanted 60 Euros for a table and I thought that if he reduced it to 50 that I would take that. He said 40, so that was great and we bought it. All this in French too! (“C’est un peu cher”)

So I guess my point is that I would try to find out it it was expected or not. I wouldn’t just have a go.

The haggling types are why we can’t have peace in the middle east in my opinion. Their culture has such a low opinion of giving in they won’t compromise within reason.

My FIL will haggle and will walk away even if he really really wanted the item. A lot of the time he gets his price, sometimes he loses, loses on foolish pride. He isn’t cheap, he just has some sort of pride thing if an item is up for haggling.

I hate it. I hate it because I want to live in my fantasy world where people treat others fairly. That includes asking a fair price.

@JLeslie Sound like I’m still lucky here…