Negotiation.....>>>

[habslover]

Sorry, not sure where to post this. Just voicing an opinion.

Have people forgotten or just dont know how to NEGOTIATE now a days??

People ask for a price on something and if youre not giving it away they just drop you.

Asking price is just that ASKING! negotiation is what happens next to communicate and find a middle ground
both parties are happy with.

If you dont have the intent of actually buying something with $ then dont waste peoples time!!

Thanks.

[30ranfordfan]

Yup.

It depends on why someone wants it.....

I have bought cards (or lots) in the past that I thought "great deal" and it would give me something to move (either sell or trade) later, and I'd come out ahead. If THAT was the reason I'm going to purchase a card..... well, I probably need the price to be low.

It's something I want for my collection? That's a different story. The price needs to be reasonable, but it doesn't have to be a "steal".

but, again, it depends on what we're talking about.... and what the price is. A PC cards recently showed up on eBay. I'm thinking it's worth $30-$50 (something in that range) and that's what I'd pay for it. If it was listed $75 BIN/BO - I can probably work with the selller. If it's listed for $100? Might still be able to come up with a price I'm okay with. If it's listed for $250 ?? We're not even in the same ballpark, so I have not bothered with an offer.

Having said that: If you're selling a card that I think I'd pay $50 for, and after I ask for a price you quote me at $250.... I'd at least tell you that. "Thanks for your time, but I'm not really interested even at a quarter of that price". Reply. Communicate. If I tell you that a quarter of the price is too high for me.... ball is still in your court. If you want to reply with "well, would you take $50 ??" you could.

[Drewk86a]

I tend to fall on the other side of this. I don't like bargaining, haggling, or wheeling & dealing. I'm just not comfortable with it. If I see a card with a price and that price is acceptable, I will buy it. If not, I will probably just keep walking. However, like Ranford said, if I feel a card is waaaaaaaay overpriced I will make a reasonable offer, and that's it. I don't do the "well how about..." back and forth. Just not my bag.

When I'm at a show, I prefer seller who have prices on the cards. I realize that unpriced cards beg the question "How much is it?" which opens a dialogue. The ultimate peeve for me is asking "how much is it?" only to get the response, "How much do you want to pay?" Probably just me, but that's a red flag indicating the seller wants to see if I make a higher opening offer than he expects.

The OP is right, the art of negotiation ha been lost. Reminds me of the bazaar scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian. " !"

[jim bradt]

When I post a card/cards for trade/sale and put a price on it/them I also always add that I am willing to negotiate and easy to deal with. Usually that works for me.

[canucksfan007]

I tend to fall on the other side of this. I don't like bargaining, haggling, or wheeling & dealing. I'm just not comfortable with it. If I see a card with a price and that price is acceptable, I will buy it. If not, I will probably just keep walking. However, like Ranford said, if I feel a card is waaaaaaaay overpriced I will make a reasonable offer, and that's it. I don't do the "well how about..." back and forth. Just not my bag.

When I'm at a show, I prefer seller who have prices on the cards. I realize that unpriced cards beg the question "How much is it?" which opens a dialogue. The ultimate peeve for me is asking "how much is it?" only to get the response, "How much do you want to pay?" Probably just me, but that's a red flag indicating the seller wants to see if I make a higher opening offer than he expects.

The OP is right, the art of negotiation ha been lost. Reminds me of the bazaar scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian. " !"

As someone who has set up at card shows for the last 10 or so years I have to say that pricing out cards, and keeping them up to date is a very long process. With how the market fluctuates all the times, prices may need to change on a month to month basis .... and if cards arnt your full time job, it can easily turn into one work wise.

I have my $1.00 boxes, 3 for $10 and so on, but singles I dont price anymore. Just couldnt keep up.

On the other hand, I will have some knowledge on what I have, and have an approx price in mind. It will be higher than you can get on ebay, not by a lot, but I do like the negotiations part of the game.

[Drewk86a]

I do like the negotiations part of the game.

This will sound weird coming from a "hate to haggle" person, but 80% of what I do at my job involves negotiating, bargaining, and trying to reach mutual agreements. I've learned that most times, both sides must be willing to compromise to reach an agreement. Rarely, does one side get everything they want. More importantly, neither side wants to walk away feeling like they got ripped off. When that happens the person will not want to do business with you anymore.

Like I said, it's funny for that a guy who dislikes negotiating spends a lot of time negotiating. More often than not, my opening offer represents what I believe to be the middle ground. Forget he back-and-forth. We know where we will end up, let's just get there. Conversely, there are people in my group who absolutely love the back and forth. It is a challenge to them and even if they can't make a deal, they enjoy the haggling.

Canucksfan, you mention one of the biggest parts of selling at shows, or online. Sure, you can price your cards, but even after that you are not done. You constantly have to keep up with today's pricing to make sure you have the best chance to sell. I have accumulated enough cards to open a small shop, and have thought about listing them online, or selling them in bulk, but the idea of pricing and constantly updating pricing on them is too daunting a task for me. Kudos to all of you who do that work!

[dafoefan34]

For most PC cards, I tend to lead with my best offer and if the seller doesn't except, I'm satisfied that I made a reasonable attempt to acquire the card. I have enough of a pulse on the hobby and the cards I'm chasing to know what they're realistically selling for (or should be).

Several months ago I saw a Byron Dafoe Leaf Pearl Stick Nameplate Card and the seller was asking $999.99. I offered $100, and he countered with $250. Basically, my response was that I paid $150 or less for each of the four Byron Dafoe Game Used sticks I own. With those I get the WHOLE stick - not just a three inch piece. IIRC, the card ended up for selling for $80, $20 less than my best offer.