Make Me An Offer

You're entering a negotiation. Both parties are interested in a successful outcome. The other party asks you to name a price.

You decline to do so and rather:

Tell the other party to MakeMeAnOffer. Then you can name a price above theirs and negotiate them up. If you name a price they can name one below yours and negotiate you down.

This depends upon whether you are buyer or seller. The strategies are different. The example above is for you being the seller.

Problems: What if the other part wants to do the same? If no one backs down we have the first stalemate before the negotiation even begins.

Answer: This would fail to meet the conditions stated at the beginning of the page. If the other party wants to sell something, it is logical that they would want to act in the same way. If the other party is a buyer and requires before negotiations continue that the seller is to NameaPrice?, and the seller, still interested in reaching a SuccessfulOutcome?, does so, the price set should be above a price which would be accepted. In such negotiations, the seller negotiates downward and the buyer negotiates upward until an acceptablePrice is reached. Any other behavior would violate the successfulOutcome clause and results in a noSale.

Part of the NegotiatingPatternLanguage.

CategoryNegotiation