Freebies Are Welcome
Does it pay off to be shameless?
After a few years of selling second-hand items on the internet, my understanding of human psychology has increased tenfold.
But yesterday, my ego got a wake-up call.
I thought I had seen it all and that nothing could surprise me anymore.
I was wrong.
The beginning was a classic. No hello. Nothing but a single message with two words: “last price?”
If you’re not familiar with the online second-hand world, this is a message people send in the hope of getting a discount. It’s an OK message from a negotiation standpoint because you rarely get a discount if you don’t ask for one. But I prefer the more polite version, where hi or hello comes first and a (real) question follows.
“I’m interested, but it’s too expensive. Could you do something about the price?”
From my experience, people starting the negotiation with “last price” aren’t the best customers one could hope for. They buy sometimes, but the interaction isn’t pleasant.
And, in general, they don’t buy and only waste your time with silly questions.
