Do you barter on price?!

[Fr0thandBubble]

With builders, for instance? We're having a new carpet fitted and also getting the outside of our house painted. I'm not sure if the quote they give you is a fixed price or if it is generally accepted as a starting point from which to negotiate?!

I don't want to pay over the odds but equally don't want to offend anyone by asking if there is any wiggle room on price...

YABU - You should pay the price asked.
YANBU - It's fine to try to negotiate the price.

We're having a shower stall replaced and have asked if they'll do a couple of small plumbing tasks (snake out a drain and replace some faucet washers) for the same price. We'll see what they say.

I think if you really want to ask for a better price it helps if you have a lower bid from someone else. We got three bids when we had our driveway repaved. It was shocking how different the quotes were for exactly the same work. The CF who had the highest bid (almost double the low bid) was deeply offended that we'd gotten prices from his competitors.

We just recently renovated our house (inherited, hadn’t been updated for decades!) and the only thing we negotiated on was the price of the kitchen. The joiner said he would deal with it, came back with a ridiculous price and we went back and forth for weeks. Finally we called Howdens ourselves and got the kitchen for almost £3000 less than the joiner said - I’m assuming he was hoping to skim the profit off for himself.

My husband is a decorator and the price he quotes is what he will do the job for. If someone bartered he would probably expect them to be troublesome and turn down their work.

My other half is a self employed builder and he won’t budge on price. He is very reasonable in his quotes so very rarely does anyone ask

Yes! Always try to ‘review’ a quote.

Not going to question my milk in the supermarket but certainly do with a service provider. Whether it’s a training course, dress maker or carpenter.
You don’t know if you don’t try. They can say either Yes or No.

No. I'm self employed and the price I quote is the price I'll accept. If you're not happy to pay that, you're more than welcome to take your business elsewhere. I don't give discounts.

DH is self-employed and follows the same rules.

Absolutely. If a trades person etc isn’t willing to budge on price, plenty more options out there. People who think they have some sort of superior quality/standard that no one else could offer and therefore will not negotiate are just giving business away.

Nothing to do with thinking we're superior.

People can price jobs at whatever you like - feel free to attempt to barter if you want, but they're under no obligation to accept. In my experience people who attempt to ask for discounts are cheeky buggers and not people I'd want to take on anyway I know what my time is worth and I won't accept being paid any less. I'd rather stay home than work for less than my hourly rate.

If you think it's okay to ask for a discount off a job or service, why don't you do the same for your food shop?

I don’t think I’d ask if there’s wiggle room but I would get a few quotes so you can see which is best value.

Personally I find older semi retired workers are cheaper as they have no mortar or kids to subsidise

Everyone else wants to earn a living

You cannot barter with tradesmen! No way! They will tell you where to go and quite rightly.

Entirely depends on the circumstances.

We’ve just moved into a new house and had the whole place carpeted. We asked for a discount of about 15% on the price and settled for 10% off and free fitting.

@vanillandhoney

If you think it's okay to ask for a discount off a job or service, why don't you do the same for your food shop?

Who said I don’t 😂
Some people do shopping in Waitrose, I love my local Tesco and Lidl. I get my discount on food shopping.
The same when I rather buy items online from Amazon/ eBay then going to the high street.

@vanillandhoney

Nothing to do with thinking we're superior.

People can price jobs at whatever you like - feel free to attempt to barter if you want, but they're under no obligation to accept. In my experience people who attempt to ask for discounts are cheeky buggers and not people I'd want to take on anyway I know what my time is worth and I won't accept being paid any less. I'd rather stay home than work for less than my hourly rate.

If you think it's okay to ask for a discount off a job or service, why don't you do the same for your food shop?

Because the price of my food shop is set by a huge national retailer with uniform pricing policies and the person at the till has no leeway to alter it, whereas a self-employed tradesperson sets their own prices and has the autonomy to change them.

I don't often barter, but I will haggle if I think there is a deal to be done.

My husband is a tradesman and the price he gives is the price he expects. He is so in demand that it wouldn’t matter to him if you didn’t accept it.

Some people do shopping in Waitrose, I love my local Tesco and Lidl. I get my discount on food shopping. The same when I rather buy items online from Amazon/ eBay then going to the high street.

Yes, but that's shopping around, not bartering. Not the same thing. You're free to turn down a tradesman if you think their work is too expensive - of course you are. But that's not the same as asking them to lower their prices.

Problem is if everyone started bartering then people will put their prices up. I work in an industry where it’s the norm. And guess what. I put all my prices up by 30% to factor in bartering
And so does everyone else.
So if you think you’re getting a bargain you’re probably not

Because the price of my food shop is set by a huge national retailer with uniform pricing policies and the person at the till has no leeway to alter it, whereas a self-employed tradesperson sets their own prices and has the autonomy to change them.

Yes, but they're also fully reliant on that money to pay the bills and to keep their business afloat. I personally find it incredibly disrespectful the someone asks me for a discount, and I always say there's no negotiation on price.

For example, I'm a dog walker. I charge £10 an hour. Another walker near here charges £7 an hour. I'm first aid trained, DBS checked and fully insured. She is not - as you don't have to be. By all means choose the cheaper option, but you're going to get the same level of service or care.

I ask whether this is their best offer. (They might say yes, and I go with them)
Have several quotes if possible
Whether anything else could be included.

Certainly not in a my way or the highway manner.
Course providers give me a package deal
Carpenter included a bed side table for FOC in the bedroom suit
Dress maker gave me the fifth skirt for free ☺️☺️☺️

I thought there was nothing to lose in asking. But I can be polite.

Do you really mean barter OP?

barter

verb

To exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money.

To take offence at haggling is very weird. As someone offering a service or product, of course you will get people who don’t haggle and that may be easier for you. But by shutting out anyone who asks for a cheaper price or a price match etc, you are closing yourself to a section of the market. If that’s your business model, fair enough. That’s your choice, if a little shoot in the foot.

When we have work done , we generally get three quotes , but never barter with them, they quote for the job,

@sst1234

To take offence at haggling is very weird. As someone offering a service or product, of course you will get people who don’t haggle and that may be easier for you. But by shutting out anyone who asks for a cheaper price or a price match etc, you are closing yourself to a section of the market. If that’s your business model, fair enough. That’s your choice, if a little shoot in the foot.

It's not weird at all - would you like it if someone asked to pay you less for your job? After all, I have people willing to pay my rates, so why would I take people on for less? That would just be stupid.

I also think giving out random discounts takes the piss out of your loyal customers who pay you your going rates. I live in a small area - if word got out that Joe Bloggs got a 10% discount, my other clients would be pissed off - and rightfully so.

I charge per hour, and if someone thinks I should end up earning less than minimum wage (once you deduct tax, NI, pension and money to cover my annual leave and sick days) then I don't want them as a client anyway.

I invite contractors to view the job and have a chat. That's when any negotiation takes place , verbally face to face , before they send their written quotation.

I always require a written quotation and accept it in writing.