Ethics in Negotiation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics in Negotiation - Essay Example It is usually an ‘anything that sells’ approach that is adopted by such sellers. Sellers tend to arbitrarily decide on prices since merchandise is acquired from a plethora of sources with no objective means of deciding on price (Kugel, 2013). They thus pitch a price according to the profile of the customer who visits, based on personal discernments about their willingness and ability to pay for the items. Most customers are however aware of this fact, and the more affluent ones quickly reject the initial price as it borders on exploitation. Hence, bargaining becomes necessary to avoid being taken advantage of by crafty retailers practicing price discrimination to maximize profits. With stalls set up very close to one another, a customer can look through the catalog of a number of vendors whilst standing in one of them. He can thus be aware of the quality of items offered by other vendors, which if greater, can be used as leverage against the current one. Vendors are typically reluctant to let go of customers once they start negotiations, and threats about opting to visit other stalls are extremely effective in getting them to reduce their asking price. They are aware that customers benefit from choice and selection, and if they do not comply with their reasonable wishes, another vendor will. A major factor behind the existence and prevalence of bargaining in flea markets is that of information asymmetry. In a normal market, a customer is aware about the details of merchandise such as the manufacturer, area of production, quality etc. This is not the case with flea markets, where customers are aware that they may be getting anything from a good quality reject of a top notch brand to a used up, ready for scrap item. Sellers in most cases know more about the products origins etc., and can thus often fool customers in believing that the product may be of higher quality than what