The Art of the Deal

No, not the autobiography by Donald Trump. Haggling is an age old art-form. It has been described as polite arguing. The trick in haggling is for the seller to learn just how desperate the buyer is and the trick for the buyer is to determine just how much the seller wants to make money.

A starving man may sell his soul for a crust of bread, but a starving man with a crust of bread might not want to sell it at all. A baker wants to sell his bread when it is fresh so that people will know what kind of artisan he is but if he can’t sell it quickly, he can still sell it the next day at a reduced rate enough to cover his time and expense. But if he can’t sell it the third day, he must toss it out, toast it for croutons, or crumble it for bird feed and lose money.

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