So I don’t know why negotiating is so hard. Let me tell a little story. We have been wanting to get a piano for some time now. Unfortunately, because of the lifestyle decisions we have made (i.e being SITCOMs (or actually SIFCOMs at this point instead of DINKs), we aren’t really in the position to drop a couple of grand on a new piano, pardon the pun.

As a side note (again pardon the piano-related pun), one of my pet peeves is when people use “no pun intended” when writing something. YOU’RE WRITING SOMETHING! IF YOU DIDN’T INTEND TO MAKE A PUN, THEN JUST WRITE IT A DIFFERENT WAY!!! In speech, I have no problem with the phrase, since there are times when you could be talking and make a pun without realizing it. But in writing, you have no excuses. As you can see above, I much prefer “pardon the pun”

Annnnnnyways…. So, I have been monitoring Craigslist for pianos for quite some time now (several months). We’ve wanted to get a piano for the daughteral-unit who is taking piano lessons. Currently we have an organ that was given to us for free (like the majority of the things in our house). And that works out okay, but really a piano is definitely called for. The reason I’ve been monitoring for so long is that most of the things I see on Craigslist are either a) way too expensive, b) way too crappy or c) things like baby toys that get triggered by my “piano” search.

So back to negotiation. I found one a few weeks ago and emailed them for info. It’s a Baldwin spinet piano, and was listed for $400. I emailed them to confirm that it was still for sale, then I pulled out a classic negotiating line that I’ve read about. Let me see if I can drag up the exact quote. “If I could pick it up from your house and pay all cash, what’s the least you’d accept for it?” She wrote back and said $200.

So we made plans for me to come by and see it, which I just did today on my lunch break. So I get there and I’m checking it out and things look good, except a few of the very low keys are sticking. I’m sitting there trying to think if I want to buy this with these keys sticking. I ask the guy there if that stuff can be fixed, and he says that he’s pretty sure it can, but then he looks in there, feels around a bit, and pulls out a little kid toy that had fallen in there. After that, all the keys worked fine :-D.

So, the whole time I’ve been there, I’m trying to get up the nerve to try and negotiate the price lower. This is what I’m talking about it being so hard. I had taken $200 with me, but spread out – $150 in one pocket and $25 in each of 2 others. My plan had been to ask if they would take $150. But sitting there, for whatever reason it was hard to get the nerve to say it. I mean I know the worst they could say is “no”, but I don’t know if it was because they had already come down $200 or what – it was weird.

I wasn’t trying to spread any “sob stories” or anything (and I’ve got ’em baby!) and I didn’t try to blatantly point out all the flaws (except for the aforementioned sticky keys which got fixed anyways). I did mention how my daughter was taking lessons and how we have an organ and how there are some songs that she can’t play because she runs out of keys (true).

Anyway, I asked them if they would take $150 and they said yes. So, unless these folks are hucksters and skip town with my $150, we will soon be the owners of a “new” piano! Annoyingly enough, after calling a few piano movers, it will take more to actually MOVE the piano then I actually paid for it…