Why doesn't the average American understand the concept of haggling?

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by DuncanK
So you are going to help them out by offering to pay them for their goods a fraction of what it would cost you in your own country. That's real nice of you.

Stuff is cheaper there. For both us AND them. That $5 will go a long way for the person you buy off (especially as they know how to haggle ) and thus, you don't have a point.

Sure, I could afford to pay 5 times as much for an item. My boss could also afford to pay me 5 times as much for my work. Neither will happen.

[DuncanK]

Willem,

yeah, you are right.

MOBIUS,

Nice shock

[DuncanK]

SB,

So you think its OK for you to exploit some poor guy in the third world by paying him less than you know is fair, because your boss exploits you and pays you less than you know is fair, right?

[Willem]

Originally posted by DuncanK
Willem,

yeah, you are right.

See, I told you I was no longer a socialist!

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by DuncanK
SB,

So you think its OK for you to exploit some poor guy in the third world by paying him less than you know is fair, because your boss exploits you and pays you less than you know is fair, right?

I pay him what he feels is fair (otherwise he wouldn't agree to it) and my boss pays me what he feels is fair. That, or award rates. The point is, if its not fair, I wouldn't accept it either. Admire the beauty of capitalism in practice.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by MOBIUS


Thought not! American (and Japanese to a lesser degree) tourists upset the applecart. I have nothing against them wasting their money as it's theirs to waste, it's just the consequences of their actions...

I agree completely that people who don't haggle screw everything up, but the Japanese are worse then the Americans.

In Bali, the price would drop something like 25 per cent when I told the seller that I'm Canadian, not Japanese.

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns


I pay him what he feels is fair (otherwise he wouldn't agree to it) and my boss pays me what he feels is fair. That, or award rates. The point is, if its not fair, I wouldn't accept it either. Admire the beauty of capitalism in practice.

Hah! Just because you take a deal doesn't mean you agree that it's fair. You just agree that taking the deal is better than not taking the deal.

[DuncanK]

Originally posted by Willem


See, I told you I was no longer a socialist!

Greaaaaaat!

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by DuncanK


Hah! Just because you take a deal doesn't mean you agree that it's fair.

Why would someone take a deal that they didn't think was fair?

You just agree that taking the deal is better than not taking the deal.

Which is what 'fair' means. Nobody's got a gun to anyone's head, in this scenario.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
In Bali we were paying about 20,000 for sarongs down from about 75,000 in Kuta and Ubud,

On the last day of my first trip to Bali, I wanted to buy a cotton sweater so I went out to the stores first thing in the morning. The storekeeper first said 85,000 so I countered with 40,000 and we finally agreed on 65,000 (about US$3.25 at the time). I handed her a 50,000 bill and a 20,000 bill. She looked at me, and then gave me back the 20,000 and said I'll give it to you for 50,000. At first I thought what a deal. Then I realised that my haggling skills were so bad that she must have taken pity on me.

[DuncanK]

It's all about negotiating power. It's got nothing to do with fair. The only reason you think it's fair is if you have the upper hand in the deal.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by MOBIUS
Of course not, but then if the tourists didn't corrupt the locals by overpaying for everything, they would be able to increase their standard of living gradually whilst retaining their way of life.

Tourism doesn't corrupt the locals. It is an industry just like anything else. The problem for Bali is that it is pretty much a one industry economy.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by DuncanK
It's all about negotiating power. It's got nothing to do with fair. The only reason you think it's fair is if you have the upper hand in the deal.

Nonsense. If it wasn't worth selling at the agreed price, the vendor wouldn't sell at that price.

I was in Los Cabos, Mexico about 1991. My travelling partner and I were shopping at a souvenir market and having fun haggling. T-shirts, earrings, crafts, stuff like that. But when she tried to haggle on the silver earrings, that was a total non starter. The vendor told her the earrings were $15. She offered $7. The vendor shook his head and said $15. She offered $10.... and eventually walked away (they weren't that nice earrings, after all).

The vendor knows what it's worth, and what his acceptable margin is, and won't sell at a price less than that. Silver has a value by weight, so that price was pretty obvious.

Just because something is cheap by Western standards doesn't mean that the vendor can't get rich (by local standards) by selling it.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by DuncanK
It's all about negotiating power. It's got nothing to do with fair. The only reason you think it's fair is if you have the upper hand in the deal.

Besides, how do I have the upper hand? The vendor knows what the product cost him and what he needs to charge to make a profit. He probably knows what everyone else in the area charges. He certainly knows that I have no clue what the cost of living is where he lives, and no idea of the value of goods in the local currency. What advantage do I have in this transaction, other than the ability to pay far more than his bottom line demands?

[DuncanK]

Old Man,

When you haggle are you trying to establish a price that is fair, or are you trying to get the cheapest price possible? How about the other person? There is no basis to your argument. If both people are trying to get the best price the actual price has nothing to do with the fair price. There isn't even an attempt to reach a fair price, except if they pity you