Comments on: Another “Kick at the Can” in Negotiations

By: Thicken My Wallet » Blog Archive » Effective negotiating strategies: give some to get some

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:57:22 +0000

[...] when Four Pillars writes about negotiations, the comments to the posts often take a tone of a zero sum game: negotiations are only won if you [...]

By: fathersez

fathersez — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:01:36 +0000

I agree. THis is a really lowdown thing to do, but it happens all the time. Even when dealing with Government Agencies.

The key is whether we are ready to walk away from the deal. And we should always be ready to walk off.

By: jesse

jesse — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:29:31 +0000

So what is negotiation but extracting more money from the naive? Just know the price you want to pay and stick to it. All the rest is window dressing and there is nothing about “feelings being hurt” or anything like that. It’s the price and if it makes an adequate return for the seller they will give it to you.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:53:16 +0000

I am kind of with DGI with this one, although I think there is ethical and unethical practices, the bottom line is getting best deal you can. Specially with car dealerships anything goes.

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:51:16 +0000

Another interesting post Mr C, Mike should ask you to comment on The Ethicist every week too.

We actually do the “my spouse has to agree” all the time. Not for cars yet, but we’ve done it with reasonable success for furniture, renovations/repairs, gym memberships, hotel rooms and cab fares. All huckster trades, which lessens my guilt I suppose, but you’re right – I don’t like it done to me. I’ve also used it to get out of uncomfortable hard sells quickly by doing the “my husband holds the purse strings” thing (couldn’t be further from the truth!).

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:44:25 +0000

I’m with DGI – how do you define ‘ethics’ anyway?

Is it ethical to offer a price for something knowing full well that you are willing to pay more? Aren’t you lying a little bit? Shouldn’t you just make one offer?

Is “this is my best/final offer” the whole truth and nothing but?

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:15:04 +0000

Ethics-shmetics. Getting a bargain is all that matters. It’s also called “value investing”. The friendly investor next door, Warren Buffett comes to mind when it comes to getting deals at a discount.. (for example his preferred investments)

By: Rob Bennett

Rob Bennett — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:45:10 +0000

This is an interesting topic that I have not seen explored elsewhere.

I agree that it makes sense to fight fire with fire by giving your spouse final approval rights. I also agree that the strategy is in a general sense unethical.

It’s generally unethical because you are intentionally giving the impression that you are negotiating when your real intent is to retain only for yourself a back-door escape from any agreement reached. It’s not unethical if you make clear what you are doing (it would be best to even note that the reason you are doing it is that you don’t want to be burned by a car dealer who employs the same trick).

Life gets complicated when we have to spell these things out, of course. The better approach is to have a set of rules that all in the society respect and enforce and abide by.

A lot of marketing tricks of recent years violate old social norms as a means of generating profits. All telemarketing is rooted in one of these tricks. People from my parents’ day believe that when the telephone rings, you are obligated to answer it and to talk politely to the person calling.

Is the telemarketing trick unethical? I say “sometimes yes;” it depends on how hard the push is. Just to call is not unethical, in my view. To deliberately exploit a person’s respect for social niceties to make a profit is unethical, in my assessment. Those who push hard really are doing something wrong to make a buck.

Rob

By: ObliviousInvestor

ObliviousInvestor — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:44:14 +0000

Hehe. I’m with Four Pillars on this one. It doesn’t seem unethical to me given that it’s exactly what the dealership tries to do to you.

That said, I bet Mr Cheap is right: They’ll be onto your game right away.

By: Four Pillars

Four Pillars — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:30:26 +0000

I love the idea of having your spouse getting the “final say” in a car deal. I don’t see why it’s unethical – that’s exactly what the dealers do when you buy a car so why can’t the customer do it too?