That is good. I ask if they know what a like item costs at the grocery store.

i use it as an oppertunity to sell additional products. If they are buying 2 units @ $3 each for a total of $6, offer 3 units for $8. Up sells by offering to include slow moving or soon to parish goods at a bargin can be the key also. Coupons that will alow them buying cheaper on next visit or vists on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Group purchase offers are a win win for seller and buyer because customer is now selling your product to people you would never see otherwise. Invitation to hearvest their own at certain times.
Did I mention how much I injoy making deals? LOL

I have more people argue that they should pay me more money than argue to pay less. I often get into reverse negotiations, where I offer a low price, they ask to pay a higher one, and then we meet in the middle.

I will negotiate all prices, as long as the customer is willing to buy more product. That's the give and take of negotiation.

I have had a lot of sales jobs. For a customer to make any offer at all, that's good news. It's a buying sign. When they say, "I am interested in this product at a lower price," you should hear, "I am interested in this product!" That's more productive than being offended at a low offer. It pays to keep a positive attitude and not get offended.

Excellent advice by Cole. I'd rather someone try and haggle on price than to breeze right by me without even looking at my wares.

Well, the problem at my market is that there are a few people who are doing this part time, and they are members of a co-op, and they are getting things from other farms, and they really don't care what price they get out of things, they just want to sell out. Like this summer they were selling tomatoes for .69 per lb and jalapenos 12/$1. Prices that don't even make sense!
So of course, I'm not going to work for free and haul all that stuff to market for that price. So that's why we get the price hagglers...Why are your tomatoes $2 per lb when theirs are .69? That's when I explain that I'm doing this for a living, I don't have another job, and I feel that I should be paid for my time. Don't they get paid for their time at their jobs, and even if someone else is willing to do the job for 1/3 of what they're making, don't they want to keep working? that's what they understand. And once a dentist, and a plumber told me they WOULD give me a discount, and I gave them one! you never know when you might need a filling or a pipe repaired when hubby's at work...lol...
I've been at the market for 13 years now. I know most of these people well anyway, but come to think of it, it's the ones I don't know so well that are usually haggling with me.
I do have a few people that do buy from the cheapos and then they apologize to me and say that they needed to get a whole bushel of tomatoes to can when they stop at my booth to get onions or something else. That's when I tell them about my tomato list and would they like to be on the list for canning tomatoes if they need more?teachable moment.
Don't worry, I don't think I'm making anyone mad at the market with my attitude. We say this in a light joking type way, not snarl at them and say that....We are having good sales, and lots of friends there in the customers, too. Some of them even come out to the stand at the house, saying they don't have time on Saturday to make it to the market and this is just as good.
The only person I've really ran off is that one little guy that I never did like anyway, that always tried to get me to sell him a whole 1/2 bushel box of bell peppers for $3.Not all customers are good customers! Sorry this is so long. But some of the price hagglers just don't realize you're doing this for a living, you're not just some person with veggies to get rid of before they go bad.

Saw this thread in the list of most recent posts & thought I'd share how I regularly handle situations like the one you described.

"That's my best/lowest price. I would be less than honest If I was able to sell it for less, yet asked an inflated price for no reason other than someone whose nature it is to negotiate might happen by. Would you like it at the price marked?"

Al

i tell price hagglers to come back at the end of the market when i don't want to load the unsold back on the truck and then unload when i get home. or i point to a vendor who has it for less.

People around here don't tend to haggle - I guess they just go elsewhere. I've had a few people over the years comment that they could buy bigger bell peppers in the grocery store, so I tell them if they want big, nonorganic, waxed bell peppers they can buy them from the grocery store, if they want mine, well, the size is the size and they can just buy 2 instead of 1. Some bought, some didn't. I don't remember how much I was asking, maybe they were trying to talk me down. But I just stopped growing bells.

I do offer volume discounts, I round down on the price so I don't have to deal with pennies, and I'll discount a catfaced tomato or one with a big core. I'll also throw in a freebie (I can't call them samples) for people who have been very interested in my products or have bought a lot. I drop my prices overall if I see that something's not selling and a vendor has a similar product for less (even if they don't have heirloom tomatoes, I'll drop my price on all my tomatoes so that the heirlooms don't end up 2x the price of the hybrids). But I'm with Al - why should I post a high price and then just give a lower price to someone who wants to haggle? That's not fair to the other customers. I also try not to drop my prices near the end of market - that's not fair to the people who bought earlier. Though I will do it if the product is very perishable and/or is looking a little wilted by then. I also discount all my older jams, though they don't really expire, I'm required to date them so if I made something the previous summer or fall, I'll discount it when market starts up the following summer (though I don't sell anything past its "Best by" date) and tell people that it will keep past that. Though I think most people will open it fairly soon anyway.

I just said, if you don't them at price posted, I guess they will taste REAL good this coming winter, because I will can them. That sometimes opens another topic on how. Usually I ended up selling more BECAUSE I could and would tell them how to can them.

I never offered to sell at discounted price at end of market. I watched 1 vendor that did that and seen that they didn't much business until people knew he was discounting.

Best response I have ever heard is to offer the person an employee discount if they will work a day for you.