Aside from car purchases, a car boot sale, and via an estate agent, white Brits don’t seem to really like to haggle, in comparison with middle eastern cultures where it’s almost a sport.
Why is it this way? Have we always been this way?
Compared to many countries, Brits don’t like to haggle, why is this? Has it always been like this?
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It’s weird and creepy.
It induces unnecessary anxiety, which is rude and opposed to our social norms.
Post something for sale on Facebook marketplace and you’ll see people very much do haggle (and are piss poor at it).
Well, in general we find talking about money gauche in Britain, but also where most things we buy from are chains, and corporate owned, people don’t have the power or authority to knock money off.
If a shop buys something for £100 and makes 12% profit then sells it for £112 how can you haggle.
There’s an undercurrent of fairness. Haggling doesn’t really work with that fairness.
I think we mostly haggle where it’s appropriate. Most major shops don’t have much leeway with prices. You can haggle a bit at the likes of Curry’s (I used to work there), and other companies selling major furnishings if you’re spending A LOT of money, but even then the amount of money you’re able to get off is relatively minor and is more like a sweetener than an actual bargain.
The things you mentioned are more the things that have a lot of wiggle room baked into the price. Your general local shops or supermarkets don’t usually accept any haggling. Corner shops you can sometimes do it.
Although a lot of things are overpriced here in the UK, it’s not the same as, for example, Egypt. Where they’ll try and charge you 10× what it’s actually worth, and you end up haggling something from 200 equivalent down to just 20 quid. A shop/business that did that here in the UK would be shut down/shamed for overpriced/misleading prices. Watchdog was great at exposing them.
It’s not culturally acceptable for the most part so it just doesn’t happen day to day. The price is the price. What normally happens is we pay the price then moan about it in private and carry on with our day
It’s just a tedious process. The price is the price. If the price is too high I’ll look elsewhere or not bother at all.
I think it’s partly because we’ve been a developed nation for so long. Haggling does still occur in the U.K. in places where individuals are buying and selling to each other but very few are going to try and haggle in a highly organised chain of shops with fixed prices so people get out of the habit.
I actually quite like haggling.
I think this applies to all Western, Northern and Eastern European countries. I’m Eastern European and find haggling completely unnecessary and time wasting.
It’s not a race thing, it’s a cultural thing. Look at our shops and businesses. They’re designed as a set price with tax included. They’re not designed for haggling the way other countries are.
When we visit those other countries, we haggle no problem. It’s just how our system is set up.
Think that’s only true for millennials and under.
When I was a child , I recall plenty of haggling at the market or car boot sale.
I thinks it’s more with each passing generation, it’s just become a lot less common.
Unnecessary stress, if one has to haggle for everything to get it down to a realistic price just mark it at that price, otherwise you’re just wasting everyone’s time while also being a price gouging dickhead preying on people that can’t be assed to go through the whole song and dance.
If there is a stated price, haggling is a suggestion that the stated price was a lie and/or an effort to squeeze more money out of the customer than the product/service is worth. Accusing someone of lying/scamming is rude, so haggling is considered rude.
An exchange without haggling is also simply more efficient and civilised – no games and no arguments. If you don’t like the price, you go elsewhere, and nothing more needs to be said.
I used to work in retail selling fairly good quality goods. Haggling was mostly someone holding up their phone with a screenshot from the Internet and giving it the ‘can you do it at this price?’ chat.
My answer was always yes but my guarantee will cost you the difference.
Because the Uk is a high trust society. You can safely assume that the advertised price is a fair price. Other cultures are not high trust, so you can safely assume that the asking price is an absolute rip off and you need to demand a lower price.
That’s where haggling comes from in cultures where you haggle for everything. It’s the fact that everyone will exploit you if you allow them, sellers and buyers alike.
Hopefully you’ve seen The Life of Brian? His reaction to haggling for the beard and gourd is quite common here.
We also don’t pray 5 times a day, do arranged marriages, fast for a month, or base our wealth on how many goats we have. It’s just different cultures.
You say Brits, really you mean most developed western nations, The US, Europe, Australia, Japan etc. Which in the main have rrp, which is indicator of how much something should be worth so you know your not getting ripped off.
We will still haggle a bit, when we buy things online or as you say at fairs, boot sales, car showrooms, houses.
I think in the west the onus has been placed on the seller. They can gift you, reduced the price to keep you as loyal costemer. Many places like building merchants will match the prices of their rivals if you come to them with a better price. Street vendors etc we may also push our luck.
I think the whole way purchasing has been done with a monetary system was embedded into the UK faster than the middle East where trading routes were still functioning for centuries after after Europe became a hgh street economy.
One place haggling still goes on is the metals and stock exchanges, where offers will be made and rejected until a compromise is found and everyone gets a slice of the pie. Also the buying out of businesses, sports player contacts and any type of negotiation based around someones services. Hell, TV companies used to haggle my services all the time, trying to get your day rate as low as possible.
The traveler community in the UK still haggle when it comes to buying horses etc, with quite specific traditional rules around offering and accepting prices.
For years we had a high trust society with strong laws governing trade going all the way back to the Anglo Saxons. This creates a culture where consumers accept that their commercial transactions are backed up by some form of government control.
This is just a developed world Vs Third world difference.
It’s a bit like saying "why do people not use candles to light their houses."
Many here obviously haven’t worked in second hand shops dealing with old people.
My husband bought a Scalextric from FB MP yesterday – the seller was only asking £25. Hubby didn’t think that was enough so tried to give the chap £30 and he wouldn’t accept it. Kind of anti-haggling 😂.
I think it is a cultural thing though. I’d rather stick walk barefoot on glass than haggle. I’d be too embarrassed to even try
Best way to haggle is to be willing to stand there, for hours if necessary, insisting on low price.
Probably like the rest of the developed world people are just too busy to spend ages doing this “haggling” for things like groceries.
I bought a pair of shoes off Vinted, they were asking for £50 I offered £20 and we finished at £25. Really nice pair of shoes that I’ve had years of use out of. Feel bad for swindling the guy
Let’s be honest, we can’t be arsed with the drama, we just buy the thing elsewhere for cheaper, for me that’s part of “going to town”
For me I don’t bother. If I sell something I price it with the expectation to haggle though, so I bake a bit extra into the advertised price so that the buyer can get a win if they do haggle.
But if I’m buying something, if the price isn’t reasonable, I don’t offer. I’m lazy and I just want the item.
It’s a red neck trying to haggle over the price of non essential items. Nobody is forcing you to buy it. If you can’t afford you can just leave
Just go on marketplace or a car boot sale. Brits can haggle.
Depends on context.
If you’re buying a used car and the price seems a bit high vs average for that model and year, or there’s something dodgy but not a deal breaker, you might ask for a bit off.
If you’re in a regular shop buying stuff with an advertised fixed price, then it’s not a thing because we’re civilised (ish).
The problem is that when you try to sell something that’s worth £80 and you put the listing price as £90 you get people who offer you £10 for it. It’s not that we’re against haggling it’s the people are fucking dumb.
That’s because those who sell stuffs like to respond with rude sarcasm if you haggle.
It’s definitely a cultural thing, or maybe one should say cultural-economic. And, as others are saying, it is a symptom of a kind of ‘mature’ economy where the market has kind of already set the price and there is no margin built in. The more the transaction
Your examples are good- in the case of cars, we all know that commission plays a part, giving the salesperson some leeway on the price. So the more something is individual, the more there is bargaining.
With properties, the sum is so large and the implications so big in the life of the person, that again, it is more an individual negotiation than simply a market-set one.
If you are someone with an agent, there is likewise negotiation as to what goes on.
But the more something is mass-produced and mass-sold, the less any individual in the chain can influence the price.
Where the bargaining is an expected part of the transaction, anthropologically it ‘binds’ buyer and seller together – it is a ritual.
brits in general dont like confrontation
Oh! BTW it’s Brits, not white Brits.
It’s not like a Brit of a different colour goes into Aldi and tries to get the instant noodle for 25p instead of 35p.
People do. It’s just they only really do it in two contexts. Excluding what you mentioned
The people involved are a nightmare and either a scalper trying to sell something way higher than it’s worth or a chancer offering you pennies for soemthing fairly priced. These people suck and while you do sometimes have the misfortune of crossing their path they are usually avoided as much as possible.
Much of our shopping isn’t at a market stall though. It’s in Tesco or B&Q. Places where the individual staff working the floor have 0 ability or authority to haggle with you over anything at all. Most they can do is let you use their staff discount and that might get them sacked so they just aren’t going too. The reward isn’t worth it.
I find it cringe
When my, very white English kids, were little, their father took them travelling. They spent three months in Morocco, and then some time in Egypt. On their return they used to haggle with the Middle Eastern shop owner at the end of their street. He loved it and always gave them a good deal, particularly on chocolate 🍫
It used to be something people did, but only in certain situations, and then not everyone did.
My uncle was notorious for haggling over the price of electronic goods when he shopped at Comet. He’s probably why they went bust.
Because why should the person who came before or after me get a lower price because they are a better haggler? You can fuck that sky high. It’s completely unfair.
Maybe we have more trust and patience in our retail industry/middlemen? I’m not sure…
Equality. If it’s the same price for everyone then no one can feel hard done
People do haggle for large purchases and services, or for cash purchases, the examples you give but other stuff too. People don’t haggle in highstreet shops or supermarkets where they are often paying with card and the person on the checkout has no authority to change prices. Car boots, car purchaes, estate ageents, markets, second hand shops, etc are all places it’s still very common to see haggling not becase Brits don’t like haggling anymore, but because haggling just doesn’t work if you do all your shopping at Tesco, Amazon and high-street chains which is what most Brits do.
It’s unjust.
Some people pay more because they’re not good at haggling, or they don’t know it’s an option? That’s rubbish and exploitative.
"I’m going to charge you more because I can, unless you argue back" has no redeeming features.
Some transactions there isn’t the flexibility to haggle.. for example, and I’ve had people actually do this, trying to haggle on something they’ve been quoted for (full breakdown of materials and other costs) which they themselves agreed to, usually 1/2 weeks in advance only after the work was completed.. those are twats
It’s annoying
I think this is down to a split in pricing ideology.
On one hand you’ve got "everything is worth what someone is willing to pay for it". So the price is determined from the purchaser side.
On the other hand you’ve got "I’ve calculated I can’t let this go for less than £x, factoring in business costs, my time etc." so the price is determined from the seller side.
If you are a purchaser and think like the first option, and assume the seller is also thinking like that, you’re going to haggle.
If both purchaser and seller think like the second option, you see the price and if you like, you buy, if you don’t you just walk away. Still fine.
Problem happens when you get
option one purchaser and option two seller, and risk causing insult to the seller by suggesting their idea of the worth is wrong and they should accept less.
I have haggled in the UK at some stalls in Camden market, but you’ve got to be really careful to ‘read the room’ on if it’s appropriate or not.
Depends on where you’re buying from. A regular store, off licence etc theirs no point. If you’re buying something second hand then haggling is sometimes okay. People will generally say if they’re open to it or not. Sometimes you can knock a few quid off by compromising for example "I’ll pay £10 less but I can pick it up today in person instead of you having to ship it in a few days.
Just don’t be a cunt & respect it when someone says no.
Because it’s just pointless and rude really.
Put a decent price on your goods to start with and you seem reasonable and trustworthy.
If I don’t like the price, I won’t buy it.
We respect that the price displayed is an acceptable rate, the exemptions being areas which haggling is pre-established such as markets/car boots
I haggle , a lot.
I find haggling very stressful…. I only do it abroad when it’s obvious that I will be fleeced if I don’t make an attempt! It’s so pleasant and simple to just have a price for something.
I find it really odd. I’m British but grew up and lived around Africa and the middle east for most of the last 50 years so haggling is second nature to me.
This morning I went into a local builders merchant I dont normally use on the off chance. Got a price for £200 worth of wood. Asked for a discount and got 15%. Cheekily asked for a free delivery sometime next week if they are passing and they said they will chuck it on the lorry on Wednesday. All done with a smile and they got the sale. Everyone is happy.
With that kind of discount and service I’ll go out of my way to use them again.
I find it never hurts to ask, but I’m also never offended by a refusal. I’ll also add here that I’ll never haggle over services because if you do you will get a lesser job as corners are cut, and I don’t quibble over low cost items. Anything else I think is fair game.
I like the offer system on eBay, that’s probably as far as I’ll go.
There would be no scope for haggling in everyday life, a scanner gun says it’s priced at £9 which is what an ai has predicted is the optimal price for this product at this time of year, that’s just the price.
It’s rooted in the traditions of Puritanism, that a person should not seek to be deceptive nor to offer an unfair price. This is of course idealistic but that is a big part of the root of it.
We just don’t have that market culture anymore. Can’t really haggle down tescos or on amazon.
If I tried to haggle with the cashere in a Middle Eastern carrefour I can’t imagine I’d have much luck either
Because there’s better things to do in life than talk to some random to save some cash you know you’ll spend on some shite you don’t need tomorrow.
I consider haggling to be rude. The price listed is the price I am after.
In shops retail staff are already too over worked and underpaid to deal with haggling. Also it’s not the cashier that is setting the price. They can’t knock it down cause you asked nicely.
If you are buying something from another person outside the retail business then haggling is quite common. Usually they will have ONO or “price negotiable” in the listing.
I cant walk into a supermarket and start haggling it doesn’t work like that.
I can however do it if I go to a car boot sale.
Haggling is situational dependent.
I just don’t see the point. Someone posts something for the price they want, well that’s the price then.
Tell me you’ve never worked in a UK charity shop without telling me you’ve never worked in a UK charity shop.
I can tell you don’t work in a call centre. People may not haggle so much in person but when not face to face the passive aggressiveness can be off the charts. The UK also tends to have a lot of internet users per head so they already know what alternatives are available online.
What annoys me most is people who try to haggle for services. Years ago I was briefly self-employed as a language teacher in London. I charged £20 an hour. After a few months, I stopped bothering with enquiries from Arabic speakers because I couldnt stand the attempts to haggle down my price, and/or try to stiff me on payments later on. I once had a guy try to refuse to pay after his private 1-to-1 lesson saying he didnt realise it wasnt free and had no money on him. Had to frogmarch him to a cash machine.
Number of times I have been asked to give something for free or silly prices on gumtree or Facebook marketplace is insane
I come from the middle east and am no fan of haggling or tipping cultures for that matter, so I’m glad neither is big here in the UK. I tend to overthink things enough without introducing these elements to it. No worker’s income should have to rely on tips to get by.
I was on holiday in Morocco and my wife wanted a bag. The conversation went like this (I forget the specific amounts)
"How much is this?"
"500"
"Oh great, I’ll take it"
"Hah you are supposed to haggle! How much will you like to pay?"
"500?"
"No, make me an offer!"
"Ok, 5?"
"What?! No make me a higher offer"
"5000?"
"What are you doing?"
"I don’t know…."
We are too polite to haggle. We might inadvertently offend someone.
I went to Vietnam and before I went was told I need to haggle for everything
On one of the first days there we ended up without water and it was bloody hot and humid and we’re at this tourist location and the only place I could see was this little shop along the street
I went in and I thought the water was expensive and so offered half and the woman scoffed at me and just shooed me away with her hand and I was so fucking embarrassed that I just left without anything. Just went back to my wife tail between my legs and we had to go thirsty for another 40 minutes.
And that’s why I don’t like haggling, and why I’d never go to Morocco. They’d fucking eat me alive.