Personal Negotiations

The week before Spring Break, my brother accidently sat on my sunglasses as he was taking a seat on my sofa. Being that I was going to sunny Mexico over break, I didn’t want to burn my retina’s and wanted to look good on the beach, so I hit the Free and For Sale UA page on Facebook to see if I could get a good deal on some used Ray Ban’s. I ended up finding the exact pair that my brother had broken, so I contacted the guy and he requested that we were to meet at his place off campus. I don’t have a car at school, but I probably could have used my roommate’s if I wanted. I told the man that I had no way of getting to him and suggested to meet at the Starbucks near the library. In my mind, I wanted to meet at a neutral location so he wouldn’t have the power to walk back inside his house if he didn’t like what I was to offer. He agreed and we established a time to meet.

As I was walking to meet him, I began to think of my strategy going into the negotiation. It was essential that I was to analyze the factors that were most important to me, which in this case was trying to get a pair of great sunglasses for the best price possible. Also, keeping in mind that it is important for me to be realistic with the price that I was offering him, because I was not interested in coming to a compromise where he could possibly walk away with the better end of the deal.

Once I arrived Starbucks I called the guy and found him sitting out on the patio. I arrived right on the time we agreed upon, but he said he immediately left his house after we got off the phone arranging the time and said he has been waiting for 20 minutes. After hearing him say this, I think to myself that he eagerly drove all the way to the library from his house off campus, paid to park his car at the garage, and spent 20 minutes waiting for me to walk over to sell these sunglasses. At this point, before we even start negotiating, I have the power seat because I have a lot less invested in this deal and could easily walk away.

The man hands me the glasses in the case. I