Share your uke haggling experience

Thats a good way to price sensibly. There’s also a lack of enough ukulele players as well at my side. I got this 1 in 1 out policy going on, so if I would have to sell the least play uke to make room for another.

If room for the uke is the issue, would donating it or gifting it count? If you play a $360 uke every day for 6 months (a cup of coffee a day), would that count as getting your money's worth so that you can just chock it up as cost of entertainment?
 
Most musical instrument buyers always try the low ball technique. The success rate of the technique keeps them coming back to it. The entire entertainment industry will boast about never paying full retail for anything.
Selling is never easy. I know we often make disparaging remarks about used car sales people and staff in music shops, but selling is not an easy thing to do. They have learned a lot about people and have put up with a lot of rejection to become successful sales people. When you want to sell something it can be worth while allowing the professional sales people a reasonable fee or commission for the work required to get the best price for you. If you choose to sell an item yourself you need to expect potential buyers to have sharp pencils and sharp tongues.

Bargaining in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia on EVERYTHING is an art form. A good friend was the best at this and typically started at 25% of the asking price. I'm nowhere as brave and go for 1/3. My ex always said "the price can ALWAYS move". He almost had me in tears when he made me walk out of the jeep dealership when his extremely low offer on a jeep with full custom bumpers wasn't accepted. They called out to us as we were almost completely off the lot - offer accepted. Bargaining is truly high art.
 
I did sort of inferred no haggle in the original listing but I have added explicitly “no haggle” to my ad yesterday. Well the platform I use have an indicator on my 100% response on queries. So would hate to see it drop due to not answering all the queries.

Would a 1 word response "no" suffice?
 
I didn't read all posts but the OP and first couple of responses mentioned the term "retail price" which is open to interpretation. The price that is charged by retailers and can fluctuate wildly. An astute buyer is patient and waits for a rock-bottom sale which already can be 50% off the "regular" long term price. On the other hand, if you are not in the US and have an instrument shipped from let's say the Ukulele Site, even a rock bottom price can easily inflate substantially with shipping, customs, and taxes.Someone who wants to buy a used uke may not be aware of the additional costs but only of the rock bottom price that may be posted elsewhere. So rather than referring to "retail prices" and trying to calculate % deductions, it may be a better exercise to set the price on something you find acceptable in you mind and then add a 20% (or whatever is customary in your area) haggling factor to the asking price. This way you can make sure that you get at least the price you really want and the haggler feels successful in lowering the asking price, as this is more about psychology than money.
 
I think when people say "retail" they are actually meaning MSRP, which always seems to be inflated.
 
I think when people say "retail" they are actually meaning MSRP, which always seems to be inflated.

Yes, the MSRP is not usually the selling price. On the other hand, I suspect that manufacturers limit how low dealers can price an item. If you go from one online dealer to another, you will see that the prices are virtually identical.
 
That.. I couldn’t answer. I can’t imagine selling my kamaka at $600 unless it has serious marks and dents on it. I guess it’s a different kind of evaluation for higher end ukes. I would price at $750 and see where it will take me.

Yes I can’t imagine a Moore Bettah would be expected to sell at such a steep discount. The same could be said for fine vintage instruments. For other instruments I think 1/3 less perhaps seems fair but depends on the instrument and the condition. I don’t mind a little haggle but I feel like going too low can be insulting to the other party. I guess it’s a cultural thing. Sometimes I don’t put in an offer because I think it might be too low and that offer amount is generally above the discussed amounts so far discussed in this thread. To each it’s own. :)
 
Yes, the MSRP is not usually the selling price. On the other hand, I suspect that manufacturers limit how low dealers can price an item. If you go from one online dealer to another, you will see that the prices are virtually identical.

I've noticed that too. I bought a guitar from musicians friend a while ago, new instrument but I called and was able to get more off just based on what they were allowed to list for the instrument vs what they'd actually take.
 
If room for the uke is the issue, would donating it or gifting it count? If you play a $360 uke every day for 6 months (a cup of coffee a day), would that count as getting your money's worth so that you can just chock it up as cost of entertainment?

That’s good thinking, guess I have to start playing it starting from today. :)

Bargaining in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia on EVERYTHING is an art form. A good friend was the best at this and typically started at 25% of the asking price. I'm nowhere as brave and go for 1/3. My ex always said "the price can ALWAYS move". He almost had me in tears when he made me walk out of the jeep dealership when his extremely low offer on a jeep with full custom bumpers wasn't accepted. They called out to us as we were almost completely off the lot - offer accepted. Bargaining is truly high art.

Brave move! Glad that it turned out well in the end for you. As a buyer, I would most probably haggle just a bit as I felt embarrassed to even bargain.

Would a 1 word response "no" suffice?
It would certainly do but my upbringing won’t let that happen.

That's a very good policy, but it doesn't seem to work for me. :(
I would like to have your buying style too.

Yes I can’t imagine a Moore Bettah would be expected to sell at such a steep discount. The same could be said for fine vintage instruments. For other instruments I think 1/3 less perhaps seems fair but depends on the instrument and the condition. I don’t mind a little haggle but I feel like going too low can be insulting to the other party. I guess it’s a cultural thing. Sometimes I don’t put in an offer because I think it might be too low and that offer amount is generally above the discussed amounts so far discussed in this thread. To each it’s own. :)

Same here. I would research the price for the particular model and if I find that it’s already a good deal, I wouldn’t even haggle and offer the price as stated.
 
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