<< <i>........but even then there is an unwritten protocol that should be followed. >>
Serious question---what is this protocol for haggling? >>
Take a trip to Hong Kong, Turkey or anywhere that isn't North America, Japan or Western Europe. Watch others do it and learn from them.
In a nutshell, start with a low offer then work your way up. You can always raise your offer but you can't decrease it. Establish potential method of payment before making an offer. Don't make a buy offer unless you're willing to actually buy that item. If your offer is accepted then you need to honor it. Most importantly, it's all a game so don't take things personally. Don't get angry, upset or physical and refrain from personal attacks. Simple enough isn't it? >>
Basically good rules, except that I feel that if the initial counter-offer is ridiculously low, such as well below melt on a precious metal coin, the seller is under no obligation to play the game and can blow the bidder off. Some people make ridiculously low initial offers and then expect the seller to meet them exactly in the middle. This shows bad faith, and is a waste of everybody's time. TD
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
I think the most important aspect of a successful coin transaction is mutual respect between the customer and the dealer. In future transactions the customer will seek out the dealer to give him his business and the dealer will give good deals to a repeat customer to keep him coming back. Definitely a win-win situation for both parties.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i>........but even then there is an unwritten protocol that should be followed. >>
Serious question---what is this protocol for haggling? >>
Take a trip to Hong Kong, Turkey or anywhere that isn't North America, Japan or Western Europe. Watch others do it and learn from them.
In a nutshell, start with a low offer then work your way up. You can always raise your offer but you can't decrease it. Establish potential method of payment before making an offer. Don't make a buy offer unless you're willing to actually buy that item. If your offer is accepted then you need to honor it. Most importantly, it's all a game so don't take things personally. Don't get angry, upset or physical and refrain from personal attacks. Simple enough isn't it? >>
Longacre has negotiated prices in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and various Markets around Beijing. Each has its high points and low points. It gets a little frustrating when it took me about 30 minutes to buy a chess set in China that cost me about $10. >>
Did your manservant handle the negotiations? I find it hard to picture Longacre hagging in the dirty streets of China like the great unwashed!!
I think the original poster accomplished his goal, this customer will not bother him again.
I am not a coin dealer, but do I believe this applie to all business. Good quality customers deserve good quality product and service.
It's sometimes better to end the relationship with bad customers before they waste to much of your time.
There is a certain group of people that no matter how good the price, product and service, they will never be happy. If a business owner is not careful they can wind up spending alot of time with these types of customers and not making any money.
Or even worse, the dealer could have gone out of his way to make this potential customer happy and as a reward the customer would refer all of his like minded friends.
<< <i>You should have raised the price by $5 each time he came back. >>
My first infantile response to the question "Is that your best price?" has occasionally been "No, my best price is $200, but maybe we can do business anyway". This will, I am sure, one day come close to working.
But, for a few brief moments leaving the Utopia where Truth, Justice and the American Way are all that rules, $145 was a wise decision. My only concern would be if the guy comes back. But you don't have to do business if you don't want to.
To those who don't like negotiation. So what! Welcome to the real-world of the marketplace. Ask yourself what is so threatened deep inside you that your feel compelled to reject this aspect of reality.
Before slabbing, a great great dealer offered me a coin (perhaps graded MS68) at a price that I considered to be "taking a shot at me". My response was, and it became a running joke in our many further transactions, "How about we just skip your quote and proceed directly to my ridiculous counter-offer".
I was in another dealer's store when a third dealer (Andy knows Brian S., he's local) came into the store with two commem gold dollars and quoted $4500. The owner passed and my remark was that this was the price for MS65's, the coins were 64's, and as such not worth more than $2000. His response "Well what about $2250?" and mine "Well, I might have paid $1750, but now I wouldn't consider over $1600". He frowned and passed.
Then I did something very unprofessional. I went to the Dunkin' next store and bought 3 coffees and 6 donuts.
In "Bang the Drum Slowly, a great movie that is perhaps DeNiro's first big role, they play a card game called TEGWAR. I'll leave it to another cineaste to reveal the components of the acronym.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - Geo. Orwell
<< <i>Later the first dealer, who is a friend, calls to say that the guy came back in with the coin yelling and screaming about how I had treated him. The guy in the suburbs told him he no longer wanted the coin.
>>
Numismatist Ordinaire See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
There is a difference between honest negotiations and just being a stupid, cheap pest. To me the difference between $150 and $100 is so great (1/3 of the price) that it is not worth haggling over. If I think that the coin is only worth $100, and the dealer wants $150, I’m out. Even if he offers it to me at $125, I shouldn’t buy it, unless I’m desperate, because that’s 25% more than I’m willing to pay.
When I was in business, I usually just blew the cheapskates off. My lines were:
“What do you do for a living?
They would give me an answer.
“Do you work for free or for 10 cents an hour?”
“No”
“Then why do you expect me to work for nothing?”
End of subject.
I worked hard to give my customers a fair value for their money, and if they couldn’t work with me under those circumstances they could shop elsewhere.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
Unfortunately, some people believe that making you an offer well below any reasonable valuation is the wise thing to do. I've even seen that negotiating technique recommended in writing.
Some people also believe that wearing you out with negotiating is the way to go on even inexpensive things.
Those two beliefs when acted upon, show me that the person values money more than relationships.
Anyone who values money more than relationships is stupid, ignorant or both.
Almost anyone you negotiate with is probably someone you will negotiate with again.
Nobody likes to deal with a jerk and people remember jerks.
I think your customer services skills are lacking and it is better for everyone that you no longer do shows. Handling difficult customers takes skill. The way you handled this guy only resulted in doing damage to your brand.
<< <i> Those two beliefs when acted upon, show me that the person values money more than relationships.
Anyone who values money more than relationships is stupid, ignorant or both.
Nobody likes to deal with a jerk and people remember jerks. >>
If you take the the statement "Those two beliefs when acted upon, show me that the person values money more than relationships", one could extrapolate the inverse that the person not accepting the low offer also values money more than relationships by not giving in. Then one most question if the rest of the comments that proceeded that one originated from an introspective point of view?
Comments
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>........but even then there is an unwritten protocol that should be followed. >>
Serious question---what is this protocol for haggling? >>
Take a trip to Hong Kong, Turkey or anywhere that isn't North America, Japan or Western Europe. Watch others do it and learn from them.
In a nutshell, start with a low offer then work your way up. You can always raise your offer but you can't decrease it. Establish potential method of payment before making an offer. Don't make a buy offer unless you're willing to actually buy that item. If your offer is accepted then you need to honor it. Most importantly, it's all a game so don't take things personally. Don't get angry, upset or physical and refrain from personal attacks. Simple enough isn't it? >>
Basically good rules, except that I feel that if the initial counter-offer is ridiculously low, such as well below melt on a precious metal coin, the seller is under no obligation to play the game and can blow the bidder off. Some people make ridiculously low initial offers and then expect the seller to meet them exactly in the middle. This shows bad faith, and is a waste of everybody's time.
TD
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>........but even then there is an unwritten protocol that should be followed. >>
Serious question---what is this protocol for haggling? >>
Take a trip to Hong Kong, Turkey or anywhere that isn't North America, Japan or Western Europe. Watch others do it and learn from them.
In a nutshell, start with a low offer then work your way up. You can always raise your offer but you can't decrease it. Establish potential method of payment before making an offer. Don't make a buy offer unless you're willing to actually buy that item. If your offer is accepted then you need to honor it. Most importantly, it's all a game so don't take things personally. Don't get angry, upset or physical and refrain from personal attacks. Simple enough isn't it? >>
Longacre has negotiated prices in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and various Markets around Beijing. Each has its high points and low points. It gets a little frustrating when it took me about 30 minutes to buy a chess set in China that cost me about $10. >>
Did your manservant handle the negotiations? I find it hard to picture Longacre hagging in the dirty streets of China like the great unwashed!!
GO STEELERS!
I am not a coin dealer, but do I believe this applie to all business. Good quality customers deserve good quality product and service.
It's sometimes better to end the relationship with bad customers before they waste to much of your time.
There is a certain group of people that no matter how good the price, product and service, they will never be happy. If a business owner is not careful they can wind up spending alot of time with these types of customers and not making any money.
Or even worse, the dealer could have gone out of his way to make this potential customer happy and as a reward the customer would refer all of his like minded friends.
<< <i>You should have raised the price by $5 each time he came back. >>
My first infantile response to the question "Is that your best price?" has occasionally been "No, my best price is $200, but maybe we can do business anyway". This will, I am sure, one day come close to working.
But, for a few brief moments leaving the Utopia where Truth, Justice and the American Way are all that rules, $145 was a wise decision. My only concern would be if the guy comes back. But you don't have to do business if you don't want to.
To those who don't like negotiation. So what! Welcome to the real-world of the marketplace. Ask yourself what is so threatened deep inside you that your feel compelled to reject this aspect of reality.
Before slabbing, a great great dealer offered me a coin (perhaps graded MS68) at a price that I considered to be "taking a shot at me". My response was, and it became a running joke in our many further transactions, "How about we just skip your quote and proceed directly to my ridiculous counter-offer".
I was in another dealer's store when a third dealer (Andy knows Brian S., he's local) came into the store with two commem gold dollars and quoted $4500. The owner passed and my remark was that this was the price for MS65's, the coins were 64's, and as such not worth more than $2000. His response "Well what about $2250?" and mine "Well, I might have paid $1750, but now I wouldn't consider over $1600". He frowned and passed.
Then I did something very unprofessional. I went to the Dunkin' next store and bought 3 coffees and 6 donuts.
In "Bang the Drum Slowly, a great movie that is perhaps DeNiro's first big role, they play a card game called TEGWAR. I'll leave it to another cineaste to reveal the components of the acronym.
<< <i>Later the first dealer, who is a friend, calls to say that the guy came back in with the coin yelling and screaming about how I had treated him. The guy in the suburbs told him he no longer wanted the coin.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
When I was in business, I usually just blew the cheapskates off. My lines were:
“What do you do for a living?
They would give me an answer.
“Do you work for free or for 10 cents an hour?”
“No”
“Then why do you expect me to work for nothing?”
End of subject.
I worked hard to give my customers a fair value for their money, and if they couldn’t work with me under those circumstances they could shop elsewhere.
Some people also believe that wearing you out with negotiating is the way to go on even inexpensive things.
Those two beliefs when acted upon, show me that the person values money more than relationships.
Anyone who values money more than relationships is stupid, ignorant or both.
Almost anyone you negotiate with is probably someone you will negotiate with again.
Nobody likes to deal with a jerk and people remember jerks.
<< <i>
Those two beliefs when acted upon, show me that the person values money more than relationships.
Anyone who values money more than relationships is stupid, ignorant or both.
Nobody likes to deal with a jerk and people remember jerks. >>
If you take the the statement "Those two beliefs when acted upon, show me that the person values money more than relationships", one could extrapolate the inverse that the person not accepting the low offer also values money more than relationships by not giving in. Then one most question if the rest of the comments that proceeded that one originated from an introspective point of view?