adminToday, I bought a second-hand two-seat bench for our Mercedes Sprinter van. Maybe I overpaid.
So, we swapped a comfortable single passenger seat for a bench so that Ollie, Mandy, and I can travel together in the big van. Yesterday I found a guy on Marktplaats (an online place for second-hand stuff in the Netherlands). From the pictures, the bench looked as new. It had an extra cup holder and a swivel seat, so we have extra storage space underneath the seat. And it was only a 40-minute drive.
We had some email contact back and forth. If I wanted to trade in my current seat, the price would be around €350, depending on the condition of the seat. Not a bad price, I thought.
This morning, I went to his shed to swap the seat. First, he showed me what he got. Looked indeed very nice, just as new, with a few spots. Then, we went to inspect our seat. For 95%, the seat looked nice. It even had an armrest. But the trader could immediately see there was wear and tear from entering/exiting the vehicle. Of course, he trades in this stuff and could immediately spot the weak points.
When it was time to pay, I asked him what price he wanted. He said that if the seat was in mint condition, we could get the bench for €300 – €350. But for the seat in its current state, he would have to let it be fixed for around €150. Without swapping, the bench would cost €500. Now, he could offer me a price of €450. In these situations, my brain starts calculating in overdrive.
But at the same time, I’m also not at ease in these situations. When it comes to things I don’t know a lot about, I’m plain bad at negotiating. Although I always try to do my due diligence, I always feel like I’m some kind of imposter. He is experienced; I just found things on the internet. He knows all car seats inside and out. I just learned how to disassemble my seat. And probably, he negotiates prices all day. I don’t. So, I feel like I always have a disadvantage.
Anyhow, my brain is in berserk mode. Calculating whether the deal is okay, and feeling insecure at the same time. For the bench, I found other options for €150 to €350. But the ones on the lower end were incomplete or in bad condition. There were some nice options for €350, but those were over two hours’ driving. Then, there were the €500 ones. All in good condition. And what about the repair costs he mentioned?
Well, I happen to have information about the costs of reupholstering a couch. Let’s say that if you don’t have a designer couch, reupholstering is not worth it. So yeah, €150 for new foam, sewing, and some fabric doesn’t seem far-fetched. But the gap in my calculation was the value of a car seat like ours in good and not-so-good condition. I never looked to sell my seat on a marketplace or looked at the cost of a good second-hand car seat. That was my problem.
I think I might have bargained a bit. Maybe the price could be €400, maybe not. On the one hand, you could say: €50 extra saved for two minutes of negotiating. For some people, it’s what they naturally would do. I, on the other hand, don’t like bargaining. If I don’t have leverage, I feel like I don’t have a reason to bargain. If I don’t have the upper hand, I fold easily.
Instead of bargaining, I prefer to gather as much information as I can. Then, based on what I know, I can determine the price I want to pay. For the seat, I already had in mind that €450 was ok. Maybe saving €50 was nice, and a way to train my bargaining skills. For now, I will keep sucking at bargaining.