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

146,878 views ・ 2017-02-07

English with Alex


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I've always wanted to do that.
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Hey, everyone.
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I'm Alex.
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Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on:
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"How to Negotiate Prices".
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So, this is a business vocabulary lesson, and today we are going to look at how to ask
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about the cost of something, how to comment about the cost being too high for you, and
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then how to get someone to maybe lower the price of something.
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Now, what situations can we do this in, you know, in the 21st century?
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This is if you're trying to negotiate the cost of a car maybe, the cost of a house,
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or it can be something in a local market or a garage sale.
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So, first let's look at how to ask about the cost of something.
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And I have-one, two, three, four, five-six different questions that you can use to ask
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about cost, to ask about the price.
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Number one:
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"How much does this/that/it cost?"
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For the sake of me not saying the words: "this", "that", "it" every time, I'm just going to
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say "this", but know that you can say:
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"How much does this cost?",
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"How much does that cost?",
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"How much does it cost?"
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Okay?
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So, next: "How much is this/that/it?"
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Instead of: "How much does this cost?", "How much is this?"
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Next: "How much is this/that/it going for?"
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So, this is an expression.
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Something goes for a certain amount of money.
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For example, say: "Oh, this comic book is going for $20."
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Maybe it's a rare collector's edition or something.
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"It is going for...", "It costs..."
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This is how much people are paying for it.
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Okay.
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"Hey. How much is it for this/that/it?"
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So you're asking: "How much money, you know, is it...?
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Does it cost for this?
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How much is it for this?"
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And if you want to be a little bit more specific, this one you can use in a more informal situation,
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like a garage sale, for example, or at the market, like:
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"Hey. How much do you want for this?"
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Okay?
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Or: "How much do you want for that or it?
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How much do you want for it?"
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And another one: "Is this/that the final price?"
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So, you're kind of opening the door to say: "Mm, is this the final price?
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I'm not sure I want to pay this price.
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Is it the final price or can I talk about it with you?"
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Sometimes the person you are talking to, you know, if you ask them this question:
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"Is this the final price?"
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and they'll say: "Well, you know, what are you thinking?
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Like what do you have in mind?
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What is another price we can talk about?"
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Now, if you want to negotiate and you want to get the price down, you need to comment
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and say: "It's a little..."
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For example, this thing, whatever, you're looking at the price and this thing...
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Imagine this is $500.
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$500 for this amazing globe.
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Now, you can say:
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"$500. It's a little expensive.",
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"It's a little pricey."
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"Pricey" is an adjective.
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You see the word "price", it's slang for expensive.
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"It's a little pricey.",
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"It's a little out of my price range."
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So, for example, you have a range.
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A range means kind of like from $0 to $200 is my range.
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That's where I can go with the price, but $500, that is ridiculous.
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Same with: "It's a little over my budget."
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So, your budget is how much money you can spend or how much money you want to spend.
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So, my budget to buy this globe was $300.
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$500 is over my budget.
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You can say:
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"It's more than I have. I don't have $500. It's more than I have."
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Or you can also say:
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"It's more than I can pay." or:
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"It's more than I can afford."
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So now you've opened the door, you've started the discussion, saying:
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"I'm interested in this globe, but it doesn't really, you know, match what I can pay you."
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So let's see where the conversation can go from here.
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Okay, now you've asked about the price, you've commented that it's a bit too expensive.
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It's time to make an offer.
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It's time to say what you can pay for it.
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So, there are a couple of phrases that you can use.
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You can say, for example: "Would you sell it for $200?"
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That's really low.
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You can also say: "Would you take $200?",
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"How about $200?"
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If you want to be very direct: "I'll give you $200."
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Okay? So, very direct, saying: "I will give you $200."
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Now, it's in their face.
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Right? So they're like: "Oo, it's $200.
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I want $500, but this man is offering me $200 right now."
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Maybe this phrase will get you the result you want.
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Maybe not.
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Maybe they'll say:
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"Uh, I'm still not comfortable with 200. Maybe you can meet my halfway.
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Maybe you can give me 350."
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Or something like that.
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So, you heard me say: "Meet me halfway."
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This is some extra vocabulary that I'm going to give you guys now.
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So: "to meet someone halfway" or "to meet someone in the middle" is to basically take
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the high cost, the high price, take the low offer of the person, and then compromise,
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meet in the middle.
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So, for example, the buyer wants to pay $200.
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The seller wants the buyer to pay $500.
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"Can you meet me in the middle?
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Can you meet me halfway?"
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Maybe between 200 and 500 is 350.
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So, they'll say: "Okay. I can meet you halfway.
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I can meet you in the middle, and we'll agree to pay $350."
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Now, again, maybe the seller thinks that $200 is really low.
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He thinks that is a terrible offer, so he might say:
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"$200, that's a lowball figure."
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So, imagine like when you're negotiating, you're kind of playing a game of baseball
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in a way.
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So "a lowball figure" is a low number that the seller...
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Sorry.
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The buyer knows is a low number because they expect the seller to give them, you know,
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better than $500 still.
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And the person selling might ask: "Do you have a ballpark?
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Do you have...?
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What's your price range?
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What is your budget?
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What is your ballpark?"
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You can say: "My ballpark is between $200 and $300.
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That's how much money I am looking to spend."
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Which, again, the final question:
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"I'm looking to spend between _______ and _______."
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So, we've asked about the cost, we have commented about the cost and not liking it, we've made
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an offer, we've maybe used some extra vocabulary to kind of make the exchange nice and social
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and comfortable.
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And hopefully at the end of all this, you are the proud owner of a black globe thing.
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Yay.
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That's it.
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All right.
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