How to negotiate in English: Vocabulary, expressions, and questions to save you $$$

I've always wanted to do that.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on:

"How to Negotiate Prices".

So, this is a business vocabulary lesson, and today we are going to look at how to ask

about the cost of something, how to comment about the cost being too high for you, and

then how to get someone to maybe lower the price of something.

Now, what situations can we do this in, you know, in the 21st century?

This is if you're trying to negotiate the cost of a car maybe, the cost of a house,

or it can be something in a local market or a garage sale.

So, first let's look at how to ask about the cost of something.

And I have-one, two, three, four, five-six different questions that you can use to ask

about cost, to ask about the price.

Number one:

"How much does this/that/it cost?"

For the sake of me not saying the words: "this", "that", "it" every time, I'm just going to

say "this", but know that you can say:

"How much does this cost?",

"How much does that cost?",

"How much does it cost?"

Okay?

So, next: "How much is this/that/it?"

Instead of: "How much does this cost?", "How much is this?"

Next: "How much is this/that/it going for?"

So, this is an expression.

Something goes for a certain amount of money.

For example, say: "Oh, this comic book is going for $20."

Maybe it's a rare collector's edition or something.

"It is going for...", "It costs..."

This is how much people are paying for it.

Okay.

"Hey. How much is it for this/that/it?"

So you're asking: "How much money, you know, is it...?

Does it cost for this?

How much is it for this?"

And if you want to be a little bit more specific, this one you can use in a more informal situation,

like a garage sale, for example, or at the market, like:

"Hey. How much do you want for this?"

Okay?

Or: "How much do you want for that or it?

How much do you want for it?"

And another one: "Is this/that the final price?"

So, you're kind of opening the door to say: "Mm, is this the final price?

I'm not sure I want to pay this price.

Is it the final price or can I talk about it with you?"

Sometimes the person you are talking to, you know, if you ask them this question:

"Is this the final price?"

and they'll say: "Well, you know, what are you thinking?

Like what do you have in mind?

What is another price we can talk about?"

Now, if you want to negotiate and you want to get the price down, you need to comment

and say: "It's a little..."

For example, this thing, whatever, you're looking at the price and this thing...

Imagine this is $500.

$500 for this amazing globe.

Now, you can say:

"$500. It's a little expensive.",

"It's a little pricey."

"Pricey" is an adjective.

You see the word "price", it's slang for expensive.

"It's a little pricey.",

"It's a little out of my price range."

So, for example, you have a range.

A range means kind of like from $0 to $200 is my range.

That's where I can go with the price, but $500, that is ridiculous.

Same with: "It's a little over my budget."

So, your budget is how much money you can spend or how much money you want to spend.

So, my budget to buy this globe was $300.

$500 is over my budget.

You can say:

"It's more than I have. I don't have $500. It's more than I have."

Or you can also say:

"It's more than I can pay." or:

"It's more than I can afford."

So now you've opened the door, you've started the discussion, saying:

"I'm interested in this globe, but it doesn't really, you know, match what I can pay you."

So let's see where the conversation can go from here.

Okay, now you've asked about the price, you've commented that it's a bit too expensive.

It's time to make an offer.

It's time to say what you can pay for it.

So, there are a couple of phrases that you can use.

You can say, for example: "Would you sell it for $200?"

That's really low.

You can also say: "Would you take $200?",

"How about $200?"

If you want to be very direct: "I'll give you $200."

Okay? So, very direct, saying: "I will give you $200."

Now, it's in their face.

Right? So they're like: "Oo, it's $200.

I want $500, but this man is offering me $200 right now."

Maybe this phrase will get you the result you want.

Maybe not.

Maybe they'll say:

"Uh, I'm still not comfortable with 200. Maybe you can meet my halfway.

Maybe you can give me 350."

Or something like that.

So, you heard me say: "Meet me halfway."

This is some extra vocabulary that I'm going to give you guys now.

So: "to meet someone halfway" or "to meet someone in the middle" is to basically take

the high cost, the high price, take the low offer of the person, and then compromise,

meet in the middle.

So, for example, the buyer wants to pay $200.

The seller wants the buyer to pay $500.

"Can you meet me in the middle?

Can you meet me halfway?"

Maybe between 200 and 500 is 350.

So, they'll say: "Okay. I can meet you halfway.

I can meet you in the middle, and we'll agree to pay $350."

Now, again, maybe the seller thinks that $200 is really low.

He thinks that is a terrible offer, so he might say:

"$200, that's a lowball figure."

So, imagine like when you're negotiating, you're kind of playing a game of baseball

in a way.

So "a lowball figure" is a low number that the seller...

Sorry.

The buyer knows is a low number because they expect the seller to give them, you know,

better than $500 still.

And the person selling might ask: "Do you have a ballpark?

Do you have...?

What's your price range?

What is your budget?

What is your ballpark?"

You can say: "My ballpark is between $200 and $300.

That's how much money I am looking to spend."

Which, again, the final question:

"I'm looking to spend between _______ and _______."

So, we've asked about the cost, we have commented about the cost and not liking it, we've made

an offer, we've maybe used some extra vocabulary to kind of make the exchange nice and social

and comfortable.

And hopefully at the end of all this, you are the proud owner of a black globe thing.

Yay.

That's it.

All right.

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