Negotiation Tips

[pizzaelhut]

Hello all concerned Tenno,

This is written here because many need this.  Negotiation should not be approached as a mystery guessing game and yet many approach the situations as just that.  First a few tips about negotiation and then a couple examples of how playing "the mystery game" makes things unnecessarily difficult.

::PREPARE::

1.  Determine what you want. 

Do a little research on nexus stats or warframe market.  Also, click the magnifying glass icon in the trade chat window to set a text filter.  If you are looking for Rhino prime parts, set a filter for "Rhino" without the quotation marks.  This will filter your trade chat to show you only lines that have the word Rhino in them.  Between these sources, you can probably get a good feel for the value of what you seek within moments.

2.  Know what you CAN'T accept. 

This could also be stated as "know when to say no" or "know when to walk away.  Decide what offer would be too low to entertain and be prepared to simply say "no thank you" if someone is firm at a price above/below what you're seeking.

3.  Be reasonable, not emotional.

You may have dreams of turning a Growing Power mod, for example, into a Volt Prime *AND* a riven, but in all likelihood you're not going to find that trade or make enough plat from the sale of one Growing Power mod.  Its OK to shoot for the stars and ask for the price you want, but realize that an unreasonable starting point makes any progress more difficult.

::TRADE::

1.  Ask for what you want. 

If you want 50 plat, just say you want 50 plat.  If someone reacts poorly with lols and jackassery that is on them and you can simply move on.  If you are firm on 50 plat, you can simply say "no thank you" to counter offers.  Spell out what you want in clear terms WTT X for Y can be taken two ways, that you want X or that you want Y.  WTT my X for your Y is clear.

2.  Shut up and listen.

Seriously.  SHUT UP!  Your item is the same as every other item in the game with the same name.  You are not fooling anyone with gigantic, graphical, nonsense trade barks that say things like "GET RID OF YOUR WIDGETS HERE" or "BUYING IN BULKBULKBULKBULK".  The other person also has a goal to achieve and knowing what that goal is helps you make a trade that benefits you.  If they are asking for something weird, find out what they are trying to accomplish.  As an example, someone saying "I want to buy filled anasas" my be trying to flip anasas for a profit, though they may also just want endo and a riven ranked to a particular level could accomplish the goal of obtaining endo just the same.

3.  Adjust.

Based on what the other person says, adjust your offer to suit the situation.  Maybe you asked for 50, they offered 45, but that still gets you the two warframe slots you wanted.  Adjusting to 45 plat isn't a bad idea in that context as they get what they want, you get your warframe slots.

4.  Agree and follow-through.

Once a trade is agreed, complete it.  Trying to alter terms at the last second or coming up with a surprise bidding war are the hallmarks of a scam.  If someone does that to you, cancel the trade and move on, deal is entirely off with no further negotiation.  Walk away, do not feed the trolls.  If you do that to other people, you are acting like a scammer and there's a good chance you are one.

 

::MISCELLANEOUS::

1.  Bulk doesn't mean anything.

In the real world, bulk transactions are favorable because logistics is a thing.  In a virtual world, no one is actually lifting crates full of Banshee Prime Neuroptics to make a sale complete.  Bulk does not merit a lowering of an item's price.  In this game, because trade's are limited, being able to sell full trades of a thing actually merits a higher price because it saves the other player's trading opportunities and is a convenience.  Obtaining 5 items individually means consuming, in the absolute best case of a rank 25 player, 20% of a player's trades.

2.  Offer?

If you've said what you want then any such response of this kind is the mark of an idiot.  You are dealing with someone who has no clue what they want outside of "all things for all time".  

3.  Plz?

If the answer was no then make a different offer or move on.  Just asking "plz" is begging.

 

::Exchanges I've had recently::

Me in trade chat: WTS [Blind Rage] for 25p    <-I know what I'm after... four weapon slots.

Player: Would you accept mods in trade?       <- did not listen, the offer was stated as platinum

Me: Maybe.  I want to buy weapon slots so I'm not really inclined to trade mod for mod.  I will want a favorable trade. <- Stated what I want.

Player: What mods would you accept?     <- Which ones do you have?!?!  

Me: What do you have that you're willing to trade?

Player: IDK... I wasn't expecting to get this far  <- There is nothing that can be done with this, I walked away.

 

Player: WTS junk  <- Does not state what is wanted

Me: Hi!  I buy junk 5 pieces for 10 plat.  <- Stated what I want, clarified the terms of the exchange

Player: I have someone else offering 13 plat.  Can you beat it?  

Me: No thank you.  I'm firm at 5:10p.  <-  No LOL'ing or assery is needed.  No thank you is sufficient and I'm fully prepared to leave Player to their better trade.

Player responding immediately: He fell through 5 for 10 is OK.   <- If 5:13 was wanted, just say that.  Theatrics just make me think I'm dealing with a dishonest twit.

Me: *invites to dojo, enters trade, puts up 10 plat*

Player: *enters dojo, puts up 3 items, clicks accept*     <- terms were agreed its time to follow through, but maybe this is a mistake....

Me: 5 items for 10plat

Player: LOL oops. *Adds 2 more items to make 5, changes prior items around for no reason, removes 1 item, clicks accept*   <- Trying to change the terms and in a rather dishonest way to boot.

Me: 5 items for 10 plat was agreed.  Shuffling things around doesn't fool anyone.  Deal's off.

Player: Plz?  I only have a little and I want to rush my rhino     <- Nothing can be done with this, I walked away.

 

Additional note on the second example: Now I realize that many in the game are actual children and do not really have the same expertise as a working man in his 30's.  This disparity is why one always includes patience and courtesy in every transaction.  That player in the second example might have said "I don't have much, could you trade 4 items for 9 plat?" and I would have probably said yes at the time.  The scam-type behavior, however, is not something that should be forgiven because of age.  Its a poor approach and no second chance (let alone a renegotiation) is deserved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CupcakesMoo]

Thats cool and all but the megathread tag is not for you to use. 

[pizzaelhut]

1 minute ago, CupcakesMoo said:

Thats cool and all but the megathread tag is not for you to use. 

My bad.  Tags seemed to distinguish platform and this applies to any platform.  Switched it to PC, thanks for the tip.

[kuchn]

i have been trading a lot (e.g. using all 25 trades per day during a 6 months period and since then doing this only occasionally)
and you can not imagine how often i encountered what you call "bad behaviour".
i absolutely agree with everything you said, without exception.
However:
We must not forget that a lot of it also comes down to cultural differences between the players countries of origin. In many cultures a price is not a price but a base for negotiation. Changing the price in the last minute, in some cultures, is also a negotiation strategy which is more or less legit.
The "a deal is a deal is a deal"-mentality is a central/northern european/american thing. In the middle east, asia, africa and south america things are, more often than not, completely different. 
I dare you to closely check the names of those showing some of the mentioned behaviour and i am sure you will find strong correlations. (e.g.: MrBrown will be less likely to show such behaviour than azadahmid938 ). 
TLDR: we can have our personal opinions about such behaviour (and so do I). But we have to aknowledge that cultures differ and that we can not always make the people responsible because they might not know differently.

My advice: be patient, polite and firm (not patronizing)

Edit:
the names i gave as examples are purely fictional and not at all related to any players i encountered. if those names indeed exist it is pure coincidence.

Edited October 19, 2018 by kuchn

[Mr.SpookSpook]

I generally enjoy trading, but damn, the amount of trash people in trade chat is humongous. I hope my ignore list has no limit... 

[Tiltskillet]

6 hours ago, pizzaelhut said:

2.  Offer?

If you've said what you want then any such response of this kind is the mark of an idiot. 

Is asking what you mean by this also the mark of an idiot? 🙃

 

[pizzaelhut]

3 hours ago, Tiltskillet said:

Is asking what you mean by this also the mark of an idiot? 🙃

 

Not at all.  It means responding to people with a vague reply like "Offer?" doesn't help either party.  I've seen many people who seem to get the idea that withholding what they want is a good strategy.  This is probably because they think if they withhold that information they might get more, but then they aren't so much negotiating as they are fishing for people to take advantage of.  The excerpt from example one hits close but did not use the exact language of "Offer".  Note that I had clearly stated my offer and Player is asking me to make their counter-offer for them.

 

Me in trade chat: WTS [Blind Rage] for 25p    <-I know what I'm after... four weapon slots.

Player: Would you accept mods in trade?       <- did not listen, the offer was stated as platinum

Me: Maybe.  I want to buy weapon slots so I'm not really inclined to trade mod for mod.  I will want a favorable trade. <- Stated what I want.

Player: What mods would you accept?     <- Which ones do you have?!?!  

[pizzaelhut]

5 hours ago, kuchn said:

i have been trading a lot (e.g. using all 25 trades per day during a 6 months period and since then doing this only occasionally)
and you can not imagine how often i encountered what you call "bad behaviour".
i absolutely agree with everything you said, without exception.
However:
We must not forget that a lot of it also comes down to cultural differences between the players countries of origin. In many cultures a price is not a price but a base for negotiation. Changing the price in the last minute, in some cultures, is also a negotiation strategy which is more or less legit.
The "a deal is a deal is a deal"-mentality is a central/northern european/american thing. In the middle east, asia, africa and south america things are, more often than not, completely different. 
I dare you to closely check the names of those showing some of the mentioned behaviour and i am sure you will find strong correlations. (e.g.: MrBrown will be less likely to show such behaviour than azadahmid938 ). 
TLDR: we can have our personal opinions about such behaviour (and so do I). But we have to aknowledge that cultures differ and that we can not always make the people responsible because they might not know differently.

My advice: be patient, polite and firm (not patronizing)

Edit:
the names i gave as examples are purely fictional and not at all related to any players i encountered. if those names indeed exist it is pure coincidence.

I made note of patience and courtesy being part of every deal at the very bottom, but it really ought to be part of the list.  There is no reason to demean anyone.  Something I will point out is that our trade chat actually separates people by region.  If you go to Options>Gameplay you can set your chat region accordingly.  I would consider this the same as business travel and expect to adopt a "when in Rome, do as the Romans" when venturing into other regions.

 

I've noticed this comes up much more when using a market website as the listings are generic, so you will wind up crafting a dealing with a language barrier.  They are more complicated; language barriers are often frustrating because the simple is no longer simple.  As mentioned, patience and courtesy should be included in every negotiation.  Google Translate can sometimes make things easier as well.

[kuchn]

13 minutes ago, pizzaelhut said:

If you go to Options>Gameplay you can set your chat region accordingly.

thanks for pointing this out. some reader might not know this yet.