Aggressive Bargaining Part 2: When to Ask for a Price and When to State a Price

Sorry for the poor title.  I couldn't think of anything better.

I would say that the three most difficult parts of bargaining are knowing what to pay, knowing where to start your bargaining, and knowing when to ask for a price and knowing when to state a price.  Indeed, these three topics were the most difficult for me when I started garage saling but I have since learned a few general rules I am going to discuss.  Today I am going to start discussing deciding whether to ask for a price or offer a price.  I will probably follow up on this topic shortly as it's fairly complex and I'll probably think of more things to say later.

As I have discussed before, you should always make an offer if prices are marked.  It's best not to ask the seller how much a marked item is because, in my experience, he or she will just tell you that the price is marked.  I've found that you can get a lower price by pretending you didn't see the marked price and making an offer.

The above situation is the only instance in which you will not have to profile your seller to decide how to start your bargaining.  At most garage sales (and all of the best ones), prices will not be marked.  You are forced to size up your seller.

If I'm interested in an item, I always look for clues to try to see how the seller will respond to me making an offer.  One of the easiest things to do is to simply eavesdrop to see how good of deals other people at the sale are getting.  If the seller is accepting pretty much whatever anybody offers, go ahead and make a lowball offer on whatever item interests you.  You can also try to see if people are walking away with stuff as you walk up; if many people are leaving with items, the seller is most likely selling stuff for pretty cheap so lowball away.

If clues don't help you it's time to profile your seller.  If you get offended by gender/age profiling don't read this paragraph or the following paragraph as you will probably be offended.  Over my years of garage saling, I have noticed two general trends.  The first regards age: the younger someone is, the more likely it is that he or she is willing to take lowball offers.  If you have a teenager running a sale, great; they'll probably take any offer, especially if it's their parents stuff they're selling.  On the other end of the spectrum, the elderly are the least likely to accept your offers and the most likely to be offended by your lowballs.  The second trend regards gender: men are more likely to accept lowball offers than women.  Remember, these are just trends and exceptions always exist.  

To be perfectly honest, these techniques really are not exceptionally important skills because if you offer a price and the seller scoffs you can always start bargaining from whatever value the seller wants. These techniques really exist to streamline the bargaining process.  While they may save you a little bit here and there, if you're good at bargaining, you can practically get the item for the same amount just by starting the bargaining at the seller's asking price.