Is It Bad Form To Bargain At

I wouldn’t haggle. Plus, I don’t think it is fair to do that to the employees who probably have no say on the pricing. If it was the owner, maybe asking if there is a discount for purchasing multiple items would be ok. But in general, I don’t haggle.

I probably wouldn’t, but I’m non confrontational to begin with so haggling with someone even in acceptable situations makes me cringe. About the only time I would ever even ask for a discount on something is if I’m in a store, see something I want, it’s the last one/last one my size and it has a stain or flaw of some kind. Maybe then I might ask if they are willing to come down a bit on the price.

How much was the painting? If it was a tad over $100, I see no harm in offering $200. If it were more than a tad, pay full price.

I am not sure on bad form or not but i absolutely hate to haggle or bargain.  Tell/show me the price and I will decide if I want it or not.  

It is why I hate and won’t have a garage sale.  It is why I hate car buying.  It was why I hated looking for and purchasing my condo.  So I would never willingly do it - if the price marked was one that I was willing to pay I would pay if not I would walk by it. 

Well instead of typing a reply I just coulda read further and said   
I love it when I have an excuse to use him. 

I am not one to haggle. I don’t know why I don’t like it though. Fear of rejection maybe? I don’t even like being haggled when I have a yard sale. I have given things away to people that I felt really needed it, like an armful of baby clothing to a teen pregnant girl. She cried, and then insisted she stay for a while and help me with my sale. I will offer lower prices for people buying multiple items without being asked to just because I am happy to be getting rid of more items, which is the point of a yard sale, right? I don’t think it is wrong when someone else does it politely though. Especially when they say “Would you consider taking X for both items” and not being rude and demanding a lower price.


I had one woman who came to all of my yard sales. My neighborhood had a yearly neighborhood sale. She would criticize things and tell me I should only be asking $1 instead of $2 and then make up a reason for it. I think it was a personal mission for her to never pay the asking price on anything. And she didn’t ask, she told you. I always dreaded seeing her car pull up. One time she brought up a sweater and I had it in the pile for of items for .50 each. She showed me a dirty spot on the sleeve and said she would give me .25 for it. Ordinarily, that would have been fine, but this woman just got under my skin. She acted as if the world owed her something.

I took the sweater from her, looked at the dirt mark that I swear she must have put on the sweater herself and I opened the door to my house and threw it inside. I told her I was going to wash it and that I might put it in a future yard sale or I might just go ahead and keep it. She got angry and took out .50 and put it on the table and told me to go get the sweater. I said oh no, I can’t possibly sell something that is dirty! She tried to argue with me, but I wasn’t going to budge. The more she argued with me, the more I was enjoying myself. I truly wanted her to get angry enough to never come to another yard sale at my house again.. She left in a huff, but it didn’t stop her from coming to the next year’s yard sale.

I will occasionally haggle on Marketplace, depending on how badly I want an item.

If it is a good price and I really want the item, I will gladly pay the full asking price, especially if it is something that will go quickly.

However, some people on our Marketplace price items barely under brand new. (Think $50 for a falling apart "project piece" dresser.)

Last year I saw a listing for some Ikea Billy bookcase toppers with glass doors, 2 double and 2 singles for $100. After a day or so, I messaged the seller offering $80 and crickets. I could see he read the message but just ignored it.

The next day, I was complaining in my college friend group chat about dude ghosting me and my friend in Atlanta asked to see the listing, so I posted it.

About an hour later, she came back to the chat and said he would take $75 and when I wanted to pick them up. HA!

Apparently, my $80 wasn't enough but $75 to set up a first apartment was fine.

DH went with me to pick them up at Dude's house on a Sundaymorning, and jerk was almost 45 minutes late getting back feom his "coffee run". We waited because it was over an hour drive to get there.

Long story longer, the bookcase tops are in place in my craft/sewing room, and I smile when I think about how I got them.

My daughter bought a ton off marketplace setting up her apartment. Most were willing to haggle.

I detest haggling, but my husband loves it. I swear he haggles EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE - places I wouldn't begin to think were open to negotiation, but low and behold they were. I used to go sit in the car while he haggled over a tv. It takes a certain kind of patience I just do not have.

I think that is part of the fun for some people.  I don’t think of it as necessarily lying, but more playing the haggling game.  I didn’t mind it, especially when it was obvious they were fibbing.  Sometimes I would play along and ask questions or make suggestions.  It felt like I was rewarding them for coming up with a creative story.  

I admit that I did have a lie that I would use as my fallback with certain items.  When I would get a pushy customer that wanted a deep discount on something and their offering price was insultingly low, I would say that the item wasn’t mine, that it belonged to my cousin or coworker or whoever, and that I didn’t have permission to accept less than she had written on it.

I found that instead of getting pushback and pressure to lower the price, they accepted that as being the bottom line and would either buy it at that price or walk away without harassing me.  It just removed me from the haggling game.  Yes, I was fibbing because it really was my item, but sometimes you just get tired of people chipping away at you. And had I just said no, I won’t bargain on that item, even if they bought it at my price, they felt a bit cranky about it.  I liked people to leave my yard sales with a happy feeling.  

iowgirl, I really like your idea “I generally say "are you firm on this price?". I don’t see me going to any yard sales in the near future since I am downsizing what I already have, but if I ever do and want a chance at a better price, I am using your suggestion.

My local charity shop tries to sell donated designer things for a hundred dollars. I wouldn’t give them $0.50 for the fake things they have. There are plenty of fake LVs at the store.