Subject came up on another board, what are your thoughts on price haggling with your friend when he has something for sale. My philosophy is that trying beat your good friend down on a price is bad form and bad manners. Friendship is worth more that the small amount of discount you might win. Either buy the item at his price or don't buy it .

Now, with a stranger or dealer, that's another story, I will and do haggle with the best of them, everyone expects it and if they don't they wont likely make a sale with me.

Friends are no different. Everyone should expect negotiating, especially on a gun sale. I'm sure my old Daddy started negotiating with Saint Peter when he made it to the Pearly Gate.

I always ask "How much do you want" , then. "How much will you take for it".

True friends often are not numerous - and are precious. I might ask one what an item is worth, but would give it to them rather than haggle over it. Some things are beyond price.

I agree, wouldn't haggle with a friend...if I'm a real friend he'd drop the price without asking, if he doesn't he must need the money pretty badly...so I'd get out of the way for him to get top dollar.

Friendships are too valuable to donate over money, and I always gift and never lend.

Good post - I would add that consideration needs to be given to the other end as well - if the person doing the selling is a friend, I would expect that he wouldn't ask for a price that is "top end" anymore than the buyer would expect a "low ball" price.

I've paid more than a friend asked because the gun was worth more

Depends on the friend. Some I wouldn't want to haggle with, one I'd try to beat him out of his last dollar, and he'd feel bad if I didn't try..

I don't haggle much with friends but I'm quick to tell them no if it doesn't seem like a 'friend' price to begin with.

Yeah, i don't haggle with my friends. I just ask 'em how much do they want for whatever it is and go get the cash.

We bought an elipitical machine for our son from the woman who works for my wife and they're kinda hurting for money.

She initially said a price that was too low for such a nice machine. We counter-offered a price that was in-line for units like it. She contested at first, but in the end her good sense prevailed. We got a great machine for our son and she got a more than fair price for her machine (her hubby can't use it anymore...sad story therein.)

Good friendships are worth more than a simple price difference.

Yup, friendship is worth more than money or things.

I'll pay the asking price, or a little more if it's too cheap.

No problem saying "no, thanks" if price is high.

there's friends and then there's friends, then there's kinfolks.

i've had friends offer me stuff above retail just to do me a favor. then, they'd put it on the open market if i refused. sometimes it was a favor, sometimes not so much.

kinfolks, well, there ain't much i can say about negotiating with them, other than to keep the knife sharp. maybe i've chosen the wrong kin, i don't know.

Sold a decent rifle/scope package to a young LT with a young family. I gave it to him at the price I had in it, about $500 less than what I could get for it here.

Told him if he didn't think it was a good deal I would unwrap the deal. He came back to me a week later bragging about how he thought he ripped me off.

Wasn't suprized when he got ran out of the Army for being a dumb ass.

A friend would offer it to me at a price that would negate haggling. If a "friend" offered it to me at full bore used retail it's quite likely that I don't need it that bad.

I've never haggled with a friend, or even offered a price. I always make my friends set the price..........even when they circle back and want me to make an offer.

"Stuff" is unlimited, but good friends are in short supply.

I never haggle with friends. With my group we usually just throw out a bottom dollar and take it or leave it. If someone needs money I will pay a little more then market value, if I like them enough. When selling I have never been negotiated with either.

That is just, sad.
But have heard about similar situations like that more than a few times.
It has also happened to me, once.
It made me wary about friends' 20something kids cozying up to me like I was their gramma. Woot woot red flags go up. I usually give stuff to people for really cheap anyways.

But I live in a "gimme" county.

I haggle very, very little with anyone. I know what I want and know what I will pay. If the two meet than a purchase is made.

I won't haggle with a friend. On the other hand, I expect a friend to give me a fair price or I'll turn it down.

I have given plenty of gear (fishing rods, hunting clothes, etc.)to friends over the years. I have never taken a dime for it. If I wanted top dollar for something that I intended to get rid of, I wouldn't sell it to a friend. It is not in my nature to try to take my friends' money.

This is me.

My buddy had an ATV for sale. He priced it to me at $3000. I then counter offered $3500. We split the difference and I paid him $3250.

This friendship/family stuff is supposed to be a 2 way street.

I don't haggle with friends or family. Lucky I have great ones of both.

Of course not many of both.

Want something of mine, I'll price it fair or ask you what you want to pay. No biggie. Friendship is far more important.

I bought a car from our best friends. He is a haggler by nature. Drove him nuts when I just said tell me what you want and i"ll write you a check... IT was funny actually. I"d have paid him probably 3000 more if he'd asked for it.

But we help each other out so much its a non issue.

True friends are hard to come by. Gear isn't.

I would never haggle with a friend.
I ask how much do you want for it? Then I decide do I want it for that price or not.
I have also paid more than the asking price when I thought the friend was giving me too much "friend discount".
The one friend I hesitate to trade with will never quote a price to me. When I ask how much he wants for it he will give it to me or he says "what ever you want to pay for it". I always feel uncomfortable buying from him.

I ain't going to haggle with a friend. If they got what I want, I'm paying full asking price.

I would pay his asking price or walk from it. Friends, real ones are hard to find. I won't mess around for a few bucks or a hundred.
Put on his shoes.

I hate the haggling process and for sure wouldn't do it with a friend. If a "friend" tried to haggle with me, every time he opened his mouth the price would go up!

I don't haggle.
If dealing with a friend, they would already have been given consideration by me and I would expect the same in return.
Take it or leave it.

Few friends that I have usually ask less than what it is worth and then we haggle trying to get him to take more money for it.

More than likely if he wants something or I do, we will give it to the other person, unless it is a high dollar item. I have very few true friends.The ones that I do,I regard as family.

I've given away as many guns as I've sold.

And been given as many as I've bought.

Granted, those statements aren't entirely true but they aren't far off.

I don't haggle with buds, my buds don't haggle with me, they already know when I give a price to them it's lower than what anyone else could buy it for.

I don't haggle, even with strangers.

In fact, I've gone the other way.

When I bought my boat, the guy was origionally asking $1500, but had lowered his Craigslist listing to $1200.

When we got down to price, he'd actually forgotten what his final asking price was. He looked me straight in the eye and said "Tell the truth, I'll let you have it for a thousand. I gotta get rid of it."

The rig was worth the $1200, so I said back, "I'm not the kind of guy that's going to low-ball a guy on his boat. I'll give you the $1200."

Another example:

I just bought a friend's Remington 1903A3. He told me the price he wanted, which was definitely the "friends and family plan". He and I argued quite a bit with my reply being, "are you SURE that's all you'll take for it?"

While I know there's a game being played at gun shows and the like, I don't like to haggle.

In fact, when I'm on the receiving end I don't like people trying to get me down.

Its a different situation, but Mrs. Aqualung hand-paints ceramics and we sell them in craft shows. We always have obnoxious people coming up and trying to haggle.

Kelly does absolutely fabulous work (professional, artistic-grade) and we price the pieces very fairly. I usually respectfully decline and state that her hard work is worth every penny we ask for a piece. We aren't profiteering on these things.

However, on some of the more obnoxious, I've been known to ask if they would be willing to get paid less for whetever they do for a job...do they take less per hour from 4:00-5:00 because "it's the end of the day"?

Again, I know they're different situations.

Aqualung

Depends on the friend, and the circumstances - I've paid more than asking price, several times -
but, if nobody's hurting, and it's not "business", - it's fun to haggle over a few dollars
I've made deals upon the inclusion of a beer!

money is easy to make. friends are not.

I have to feel sorry for those of you whose friendships are so weak that they would chance ruin due to making a fair offer. Very sad friendships indeed.

I don't, no one ever offers to sell me chit, buds and family are always after my stuff.

Friends get as good a deal as I got, if not better. If it's gun that I may be hesitant about selling, I might ask "if you ever decide to sell it, let me have first dibs".

I'll sell ya schit, what schit you looking for bro?

I don't haggle with friends. I just can't bet my buddy up over a little money. Friendships, at least to me, are more important than that. It means way more to me to be able to help out a friend. I've given more than one gun away to friends, one of them here on the fire, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Friends just gotta stick together like that some times.

with good friends if i have something they need and i don't, i just give it to them.

I only haggle with friends for fun. As far as I'm concerned, being a friend entitles me to pay extra.

My long time friend and hunting partner have sold each other things over the years. We've made it a point to price things on the low side but fairly and not haggle.

Haggling is bullshit.

Give me your bottom dollar and I'll take it or leave it.

People have been watching too much pickers or pawn stars.

Very few TRUE friends in my world. I'm not going to beat 'em down on price. If the price is reasonable, I accept it. If not, "Pass..."

Like TOAD and Idaho_Shooter, I have paid more than the asking price when a friend had significantly undervalued an item.

Amen...

Aqualung

Don't have financial dealings with any friend you want to remain friends with.

Agree.

For sale.

$XXX.00 FIRM !!!

It's a no brainer.

The kind that grows good tomatoes, got any?

Actually I generally try not to buy from a friend as it often ends up in a inverse haggling process which I hate.

Me how much.?
Friend. $100
Me no it's worth more than that how about $200
Friend No how about $150
And so on - I hate it so I avoid buying from friends .

My friend and I have a coupl,e of rifles that we have traded back and forth and not quite sure which of us it actually belongs to. Same with scopes and reloading dies. As an example I had a 250 savage years ago and sold my rifle. Friend bought a 250 a couple of years later and I gave him my dies I still had. He sold his rifle about 15 years ago and I recently trade for another 250 and he goes don't buy dies I have a set .

Dittos. If I want something and it's reasonably priced, I'll get the item. If it's priced too high, I'm not interested in doing business with the individual selling.

As far as dealing with friends, I never expect a special friend price and would consider haggling with a friend rude.

Just a couple of months ago a friend sent an email regarding the sale of his first issue 5" S&W M 610 in the box. He did so as I bought and sold it to him in NorCal for the $475 paid and advised if he ever sold it please include me. He suggested that I try to price it which I did. Between what little I could find on the Net and speaking with a knowledgeable forum member here I advised pricing of $1,600 to $2,000 and that I was not interested at that price. I suggested Gunbroker and he was not interested. He came back with $950 being happy to keep in a family of shooters, me and my three sons, and the deal was done, easy. He threw in 1800 rounds of ammo. He was happy,
I was happy. So, I have a thousand rounds of paper hulled 28 gauge ammo that I will hand off when we meet for breakfast. He, avid, sporting clays shooter.