Sunday, August 22, 2010

Bartering?

A rough transcript of my first successful, and second overall, bargaining attempt:

"Hello, how much for these (cufflinks) with a discount?"

"For you sir, 40 (Qatari Riyal, ~3.6 riyal is 1 US dollar)."

"Can you do 35?"

"For you sir, I can do that."

A few things to note.  The list price was 65 QR.  I was hoping to get him down to 45, and his original offer undercut what I was hoping to work to.  This threw me off a little.

He was very polite and was not at all pushy.  The store was also in a mall and not out on the street.

Did I get a good deal?  Probably not what a local could have bargained for, but, in the end, I got cufflinks for less than $10.  I'll work on my skills as I go along.

2 comments:

  1. asking price was 9900, and i would have paid 10500, but i asked if there was any room to move, yes was the reply, i was gunna offer 9500, but mom said go lower, so i offered 9300, the first thing the seller said was "i thought you would come in at 9500", but will you do 9400 - deal! maybe two pairs for 40 would have worked :)

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  2. Go lower than you want. Then they can counteroffer around your target price. Sounds fun though.

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