Haggling and Bargaining

I was on the phone the other day talking with a guy about purchasing one of those little spy cameras.
I needed it for some Grabtheapple.com video clips, showing stuff in places where (due to the questionable legal status of the merchandise being sold) video cameras aren’t always welcomed.
The thing is, I wanted the one I saw in his website, around 200 pesos.
He offered me a much nicer one for 450 but I really didn’t want to spend that much.
I explained to him that for what I had in mind the 200 pesos one would be more than enough, explaining it all in a calm slow tone of voice, but that hey, maybe if the price was right I could possibly use the better camera some other time, but not at that price of course.
A little back and forth and the guy wouldn’t lower the price.
Wearing him out a bit more, I offering him this great idea I had: I’ll buy the cheaper camera, and if its not working well for me, I’ll pay the difference for the nicer one. :-) Of course this wasn’t much of a deal for him, but I told him ok then, the 200 buck one will do fine.
After that he said he’d send me the nicer one for 300 bucks, said ok, done deal.
300 pesos is still a lot of money at a 1 dollar = 3,84 Pesos rate and I’m sure the camera is worth half in USA as almost any other electronic gadget but its still a good price locally and the camera sure is nicer than the cheaper one.

A little haggling and bargaining can go a long way if the circumstances permit, no matter if you’re trying to get a big contract or buying some smaller item on the streets.

FerFAL