Bargaining...
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The trigger now is a discussion I was witness to, involving two people bargaining the price for a Nokia handset. (I seem to be observing and complaining a lot these days... observing I've always done, but complaining...hum, that requires explanation in another post! :-))
Won't deny that I have engaged/continue to engage in the practice of bargaining, though very infrequently. It is generally either to understand the process/art of bargaining or to prevent getting fleeced completely (which happens often :-)).
But I still don't understand the justification of bargaining...
Doesn't the seller realise his/her worth or the worth of what he/she is trying to hawk, and if he/she does how can he/she settle at any other price?
And on the other side of the fence, by bargaining am I not distrusting the other person's assessment of his/her own worth and judgement...who am I to do that, that too in so short a transaction?
When the first interaction I have with somebody is characterised by distrust, how can I ever build a relationship with him/her? By bargaining, right from the beginning I'm doubting the individual's judgement and thus destroying the most important basis of engagement.
One thing I've tried many times and it works...it's something like this...I just say to the other guy that I trust you completely and I'll pay whatever you ask because you believe it is worth it; it's like I surrender myself completely to him/her (ok it's not always so dramatic but that's the gist)...and more often than not instead of taking advantage of this surrender, the other guy then just quotes the right price and that's not all, he tries to justify his earlier action of quoting the exorbitant price and sometimes asks pardon...
Have tried this at numerous places...autos, taxis, rickshaws street-side hawkers, big bargain stores abroad...and rarely has it failed.
If you can free a human from his/her circumstance, even momentarily, you'll rarely find him sticking to his/her reprobative qualities...
(but for this to happen, you have to be ready to be completely honest yourself first)
This is what my limited understanding and experience tells me, is there any other perspective which I might have overlooked?
The trigger now is a discussion I was witness to, involving two people bargaining the price for a Nokia handset. (I seem to be observing and complaining a lot these days... observing I've always done, but complaining...hum, that requires explanation in another post! :-))
Won't deny that I have engaged/continue to engage in the practice of bargaining, though very infrequently. It is generally either to understand the process/art of bargaining or to prevent getting fleeced completely (which happens often :-)).
But I still don't understand the justification of bargaining...
Doesn't the seller realise his/her worth or the worth of what he/she is trying to hawk, and if he/she does how can he/she settle at any other price?
And on the other side of the fence, by bargaining am I not distrusting the other person's assessment of his/her own worth and judgement...who am I to do that, that too in so short a transaction?
When the first interaction I have with somebody is characterised by distrust, how can I ever build a relationship with him/her? By bargaining, right from the beginning I'm doubting the individual's judgement and thus destroying the most important basis of engagement.
One thing I've tried many times and it works...it's something like this...I just say to the other guy that I trust you completely and I'll pay whatever you ask because you believe it is worth it; it's like I surrender myself completely to him/her (ok it's not always so dramatic but that's the gist)...and more often than not instead of taking advantage of this surrender, the other guy then just quotes the right price and that's not all, he tries to justify his earlier action of quoting the exorbitant price and sometimes asks pardon...
Have tried this at numerous places...autos, taxis, rickshaws street-side hawkers, big bargain stores abroad...and rarely has it failed.
If you can free a human from his/her circumstance, even momentarily, you'll rarely find him sticking to his/her reprobative qualities...
(but for this to happen, you have to be ready to be completely honest yourself first)
This is what my limited understanding and experience tells me, is there any other perspective which I might have overlooked?
posted by Ayan Bhattacharya @ 1:20 AM
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