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| Louise thought that listing the end tables as 'ninja equipment' would be sure to attract a buyer... |
In No Need to Say Goodbye, Louise Payne has to sell some furniture (heavy Victoriana, naturally) rather quickly and it was professionally interesting to see how she did it.
...an elderly couple thumped on the knocker. They had a daughter getting married, they explained, and the bed might do as a wedding present. Louise led them upstairs and watched patiently while they tried the springs, examined the mattress and, finally, offered her rather less than she had asked. She accepted without demur...
So, looking with my professional eye, the question is, 'Did she do it right?' Yes and no. They took it right away and that was a good thing but I managed to offload my old dining room table last week to a hipster in a Trans Am (which has an astonishingly decent amount of trunk space, btw) and was able to face down his hints ('So, you were asking $200?' which is totally code for, 'Are you going to make me pony up $200?' without risking a rebuff.) and offload it for a price I thought I was insane to ask. How little effort it would have taken for him to talk me down fifty dollars...
Conversely, a woman bought a fabulous ornate mirror from me last week. I asked $60. She countered with $40. I sallied with $55. She riposted with $50. We practically clapped our hands and spit on it.
My question to all of you is: Do you bargain, why or why not and do you realize how willing most people are to take a few bucks (at least) off?
My first experience with 'bargaining' was when I was about ten years old(circa 1970). Our family went to Southern California for our summer vacation. Besides Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm and the San Diego Zoo(just to name a few...), our parents drove us over the border to Tijuana, Mexico. My memories of it are pretty hazy - I don't think we were there more than a couple of hours - but Mom and Dad managed to pick up a few very breakable terra cotta pots (decoratively painted, of course) and a sombrero. I was amazed at how fluid the pricing was.
ReplyDeleteThose pots and the sombrero took up a lot of valuable real estate in our station wagon...which meant that some of the luggage ended up tied on top. We managed to lose our best suitcase as it blew off our car while crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.
I hate a barganing and I am miserable at it. My dad on the otherhand can get things marked down just by looking at someone. He is always reminding us to use the magic words. "Is that the best you can do?" I always fail despite the magic words.
ReplyDeleteBetty Sherri here: Depends on how much I like the person and first impressions are important! I off-loaded an old TV to a guy that works at NASA (wife had an affair, kids weren't really his, blah, blah) and I have received about 10 very cool space posters dropped on my porch from him for letting him have the TV for $50 instead of $60. Others I have stood firm and walked away on top.
ReplyDeleteI don't, actually, much like bargaining. It always seems to come down to what a person can get for an item, rather than what it's objective worth is. My goal is always to look at what fair is. If I think the same thing that the seller does about fair, then we can deal. If not, I'm usually happy to walk away. I'm not out to make the highest possible amount of money, or to pay the lowest, just to do what's just and equitable.
ReplyDeleteBetty Cyndi you are an admirable person. (In other words I share your opinion! LOL)
ReplyDeleteIt really fries my hide to see someone looking to make money off another person's ignorance. Betty Megan sometimes leaves the TV on those pawn broker shows. I've seen two types now. The one with the 3 gens of tacky women, and the family of creepy guys. They actually brag about giving some poor person or college student less than half what the item is worth.
My brain is screaming " Lady!! Kid!! List this thing on EBAY" Not that I've ever done that. I did once buy something from there, though.