5 ms·

I let my girlfriend do it. The last time I bought a car, I decided what I wanted and shopped around the local dealers and got a good offer at $18,000. I told

by russell 14y ago

I let my girlfriend do it. The last time I bought a car, I decided what I wanted and shopped around the local dealers and got a good offer at $18,000. I told my girlfriend about the deal, and she said, "Way too expensive." She gets on the web and looks at all the dealer in Northern CA, and finds one of those lo-ball one-only offers in San Francisco. She calls the dealer and gets him to hold the car for her, since we would have to drive 240 miles to get there. Then she starts calling local dealers to find one that would match the offer. The nearest one wouldnt, but one an hour away would. She got me the car for $14,000. A few years earlier we bought a house and needed a new refrigerator and dishwasher. We go to Sears and find what we want. She then proceeds to negotiate several hundred dollars of the sticker price. I didnt even know you could bargain with Sears. The downside is that I cant make a simple purchase any longer. She makes me go for the best deal.

Centigonal 14y ago
Your girlfriend is a boss. Does her she work in a field where you especially need negotiation skills?
- russell 14y ago
  She's a mathematician and used to teach at Ohio State. A decade ago she switched to being an oil painter and a photographer. She's now teaching herself web development, because she thinks we could use a second income in this turbulent economy. On top of all that she is a very nice person. I consider myself to be a very fortunate guy.
  - hnriot 14y ago
    Why not use her negotiation skills to turn her photography hobby into a money making venture?
    - russell 14y ago
      She's building a web site to showcase both her web development skills and her photography. I'm not sure whether she is going to look for a job or go for freelancing, but I think her inclination is to go for the latter. Her photography is much more art than commercial. She will probably pursue that as well.
      - hnriot 14y ago
        Art photography, if she's any good, is much more likely to make her money. However, it takes a while to build her name in the art photography world. It's also very difficult because those days everyone's a photographer, and anyone who uses a filter is an art photographer. If she has a solid BFA background and has put in some serious years work then that would be much more rewarding. As HCB said "the first 10,000 photos are your worst". Freelancing in the art world is not easy, there a lot of brand building and making sure she's represented in the right places, obviously the next event that she should consider is Photo LA
  - chernevik 14y ago
    She combines a number of important skills that aren't often combined. She should do stuff she enjoys, but if she picks up some hard tech skills I think she'll find there is a market for putting all that together. Some accounting would be a nice add, as it would help her talk with the business types. If she goes that road I think you had better be able to cook.
rayiner 14y ago
I totally understand where you're coming from. My wife does all the negotiating for us. She negotiated the price for the diamond for her engagement ring. She almost walked away from the perfect one because the seller refused to go down another $200, even though she had already bargained down to a great price. I told her "honey, let me handle it, I'll get down another $200." I just gave the seller what she was asking for...
- jacquesm 14y ago
  > She negotiated the price for the diamond for her engagement ring. http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap20.htm http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap20.htm on HN before: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4535611 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4535611
  - makmanalp 14y ago
    The thing is even though diamonds are price-fixed and overpriced, this happens at the source and not the end-dealer mostly. So, it's difficult for you to negotiate with the dealer who has a low margin to begin with anyway.
  - rayiner 14y ago
    It wasn't clear in my post--we bought the diamond on the secondary market. Diamonds are like cars in that way--they depreciate tremendously the minute you drive them off the lot. On the other hand, the stuff about the DeBeers monopoly is quite inaccurate today. DeBeers has gotten in anti trust troubles, but hasn't been an actual monopoly for a long time.
    - wglb 14y ago
      I found the original story quite fascinating. Do you have a link for updated info about their current practices and market position?
      - rayiner 14y ago
beagle3 14y ago
In some cultures, you are expected to negotiate to the point that the first quote you get is not something the seller ever expects to get (even though they do get it from tourists or the occasional local patsy). The bizdev girl in my startup who grew up in such a culture usually gets 30% of supplier list prices on the first call, and then starts to work from there ... even in the US and the UK where it's not supposed to be that way.

by russell 14y ago

Centigonal 14y ago

Your girlfriend is a boss. Does her she work in a field where you especially need negotiation skills?

russell 14y ago
She's a mathematician and used to teach at Ohio State. A decade ago she switched to being an oil painter and a photographer. She's now teaching herself web development, because she thinks we could use a second income in this turbulent economy. On top of all that she is a very nice person. I consider myself to be a very fortunate guy.
- hnriot 14y ago
  Why not use her negotiation skills to turn her photography hobby into a money making venture?
  - russell 14y ago
    She's building a web site to showcase both her web development skills and her photography. I'm not sure whether she is going to look for a job or go for freelancing, but I think her inclination is to go for the latter. Her photography is much more art than commercial. She will probably pursue that as well.
    - hnriot 14y ago
      Art photography, if she's any good, is much more likely to make her money. However, it takes a while to build her name in the art photography world. It's also very difficult because those days everyone's a photographer, and anyone who uses a filter is an art photographer. If she has a solid BFA background and has put in some serious years work then that would be much more rewarding. As HCB said "the first 10,000 photos are your worst". Freelancing in the art world is not easy, there a lot of brand building and making sure she's represented in the right places, obviously the next event that she should consider is Photo LA
- chernevik 14y ago
  She combines a number of important skills that aren't often combined. She should do stuff she enjoys, but if she picks up some hard tech skills I think she'll find there is a market for putting all that together. Some accounting would be a nice add, as it would help her talk with the business types. If she goes that road I think you had better be able to cook.

rayiner 14y ago

I totally understand where you're coming from. My wife does all the negotiating for us. She negotiated the price for the diamond for her engagement ring. She almost walked away from the perfect one because the seller refused to go down another $200, even though she had already bargained down to a great price. I told her "honey, let me handle it, I'll get down another $200." I just gave the seller what she was asking for...

jacquesm 14y ago
> She negotiated the price for the diamond for her engagement ring. http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap20.htm http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap20.htm on HN before: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4535611 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4535611
- makmanalp 14y ago
  The thing is even though diamonds are price-fixed and overpriced, this happens at the source and not the end-dealer mostly. So, it's difficult for you to negotiate with the dealer who has a low margin to begin with anyway.
- rayiner 14y ago
  It wasn't clear in my post--we bought the diamond on the secondary market. Diamonds are like cars in that way--they depreciate tremendously the minute you drive them off the lot. On the other hand, the stuff about the DeBeers monopoly is quite inaccurate today. DeBeers has gotten in anti trust troubles, but hasn't been an actual monopoly for a long time.
  - wglb 14y ago
    I found the original story quite fascinating. Do you have a link for updated info about their current practices and market position?
    - rayiner 14y ago

beagle3 14y ago

In some cultures, you are expected to negotiate to the point that the first quote you get is not something the seller ever expects to get (even though they do get it from tourists or the occasional local patsy). The bizdev girl in my startup who grew up in such a culture usually gets 30% of supplier list prices on the first call, and then starts to work from there ... even in the US and the UK where it's not supposed to be that way.