yeah. as an American, I think haggle culture is annoying as hell. it’s completely unnecessary. they’ll tell you the price is really high, and then you’ll ask for something really low, and then they’ll meet you in the middle where the price is supposed to be. what the hell was the point?
it’s partly an ego thing. if you’re selling something, and you don’t give them at least some inconsequential discount, they’re going to feel like they got ripped off. even if you’re giving them an honest price that they won’t find anywhere else, they need to buy it at a price that’s lower than what is offered. The buyer and seller both need to feel that they are smart because they moved the price from what the other person wanted.
selling your motorbike or camera gear on Facebook is absolute hell. 90% of the messages you get will be wasting your time. “hello, I would like to buy your motorcycle for $40”. haggle spam, basically. oftentimes they will agree to some price and then actually show up to your place, stare at the bike for an hour, and then change their bid to something so low that it is not sensible.
I mean this is just a cultural difference. Of course as an American, where haggling is uncommon and not a part of societal norms, you will find it annoying.
In other countries, where retail sectors are not as standardized, haggling is seen as a form of social interaction and networking. It is, by all means, less efficient. But not every culture romanticizes productivity to the point of working / chasing a bag until you’re frail, incontinent and need to be put in a ‘home’.
The lack of efficiency is also antithetical to consumerism which is a cultural norm in many parts of the world where haggling is uncommon. You can buy 15 pieces of junk on Amazon in the amount of time it takes to haggle one peice of junk at a market. Which is more ‘normal’ depends on which part of the world you’re from.
Haggling in person is a completely different experience from online. You can fake your identity online, disappear randomly, and spam for the sake of spamming. It’s much harder to do that when you show up with your real face in a relatively close knit community.
Not in any way trying to dismiss your experience. I find it very uncomfortable as well but having South asian parents means that I’ve seen my fair share of such transactions and how they can have the interesting effect of bringing people together.
yea, the key to doing business offline here is to make friends. the service quality and prices you get are entirely dependent on it. i usually enjoy this aspect of the culture more than i am annoyed by it, but it depends on what I’m trying to get done. what you are saying is accurate of my experiences as well.
Guh. All that sucks. I have some friends who were born in India, and they have told me the worst thing about being from that culture while living in the US is random Indians asking them to do things or give them a discount or even free stuff. Not all Indians do this of course, but it’s enough to complain about.
yeah, I’m sure that being an Indian immigrant gives you access to a business community. probably nice for finding clients and partners, etc. the business culture within that community would be some mix of American and Indian.
yeah. as an American, I think haggle culture is annoying as hell. it’s completely unnecessary. they’ll tell you the price is really high, and then you’ll ask for something really low, and then they’ll meet you in the middle where the price is supposed to be. what the hell was the point?
it’s partly an ego thing. if you’re selling something, and you don’t give them at least some inconsequential discount, they’re going to feel like they got ripped off. even if you’re giving them an honest price that they won’t find anywhere else, they need to buy it at a price that’s lower than what is offered. The buyer and seller both need to feel that they are smart because they moved the price from what the other person wanted.
selling your motorbike or camera gear on Facebook is absolute hell. 90% of the messages you get will be wasting your time. “hello, I would like to buy your motorcycle for $40”. haggle spam, basically. oftentimes they will agree to some price and then actually show up to your place, stare at the bike for an hour, and then change their bid to something so low that it is not sensible.
I could list examples for hours.
I mean this is just a cultural difference. Of course as an American, where haggling is uncommon and not a part of societal norms, you will find it annoying.
In other countries, where retail sectors are not as standardized, haggling is seen as a form of social interaction and networking. It is, by all means, less efficient. But not every culture romanticizes productivity to the point of working / chasing a bag until you’re frail, incontinent and need to be put in a ‘home’.
The lack of efficiency is also antithetical to consumerism which is a cultural norm in many parts of the world where haggling is uncommon. You can buy 15 pieces of junk on Amazon in the amount of time it takes to haggle one peice of junk at a market. Which is more ‘normal’ depends on which part of the world you’re from.
Haggling in person is a completely different experience from online. You can fake your identity online, disappear randomly, and spam for the sake of spamming. It’s much harder to do that when you show up with your real face in a relatively close knit community.
Not in any way trying to dismiss your experience. I find it very uncomfortable as well but having South asian parents means that I’ve seen my fair share of such transactions and how they can have the interesting effect of bringing people together.
yea, the key to doing business offline here is to make friends. the service quality and prices you get are entirely dependent on it. i usually enjoy this aspect of the culture more than i am annoyed by it, but it depends on what I’m trying to get done. what you are saying is accurate of my experiences as well.
Guh. All that sucks. I have some friends who were born in India, and they have told me the worst thing about being from that culture while living in the US is random Indians asking them to do things or give them a discount or even free stuff. Not all Indians do this of course, but it’s enough to complain about.
yeah, I’m sure that being an Indian immigrant gives you access to a business community. probably nice for finding clients and partners, etc. the business culture within that community would be some mix of American and Indian.