I'm a big fan of strategic pricing and negotiation in business, but I'm deeply and intensely opposed to sales tactics that are designed to manipulate an individual's emotions and cheat the buyer.

Here are the specific clues I noticed on the handwritten "estimate" they gave:

That weirdly specific price is to make it seem like "the price is the price" to an unsophisticated buyer.

The "instant 20%" discount is just good old fashioned price anchoring, but done super poorly.

I might have let those tactics slide, but I knew something was up when the NEXT NUMBER on the page was a monthly payment amount, followed by a pretty large down payment number.

But no term on the number of months.

This is a setup. It's brilliantly evil.

First, even with the big number at the top of the page, the rest of the sheet is designed to distract and confuse.

Sales guy WANTS you to get sucked into the details of the down payment and the monthly payment amount, since that's where most peoples' brains will jump to.

We see the down payment and go "hm that's high, I might need to wait and save up if we can't get it lower"

First foot stuck in the trap. That down payment was inflated on purpose to give sales guy head room to lower it.

But the real fuckery is the monthly payment. Even if it's reasonable, it doesn't have a length of term on it.

And many people see the monthly number and either think "I can fit that in my budget" or "I can't swing that" instead of "I'm gonna be paying that monthly for TEN YEARS"

And that's saying nothing of whatever the interest rate is on the financing. Which will probably add 50% or more of the original price to the entire cost.

All "hidden" in plain sight while your fiddling with the down payment and monthly payment amounts.

In a car salesroom, the sales person is doing all the work on the sheet. Scribbling stuff our, writing new numbers. Trying to get you to say "yes" to any of them even if the rest are a no.

Then they take the sheet to the "tower" where their sales manager is gonna make an offer.

This is part of the rouse.

The sales person wants you to think they're in your side and their boss in the tower is the "bad guy" calling the shots.

Surprise!

Home reno guy wants to call his boss about the numbers. He'll do his best to help us get the numbers where we want.

There's other little plays and tactics sprinkled throughout but you get the idea. Now you know how the game works.

How do you proceed?

Couple of options, both apply to car lots and I guess home renovation and any other negotiation where these shitty tactics are used:

1 - know these red flags, and trust yourself when you see them.

2 - if possible, don't go into these situations alone. Even better, share these tactics with your partner so they can spot them too and help you avoid getting gaslit and second guessing your judgement.

3 - the only time I'm ever comfortable lying is telling a sales person that I want to pay cash upfront even if you don't think I can afford it.

This takes away a ton of their power to manipulate and lets you focus on the price, and what's inside it.

4 - demand details. with the home reno, we got all of these numbers alongside some shiny Instagram photos of other projects.

But no details.

Get detailed line items of what's included. I don't need labor down to the hour, but def want to separate labor costs from products.

5 - "a negotiation isn't over until someone says yes"

You can be 100% sure that the sales person knows this. Their job is to turn your no's into yes's.

This can be done honestly, and dishonestly. But use your "yes's" wisely.

6 - lastly, and expert technique to be used very carefully: tell them you know what they are doing.

Don't accuse them. Actually show them that you know how it works.

When I do this, I do it from a stance of "I see your art" instead of "this isn't working on me."

That last one can go a bunch of ways. It's probably different for someone who isn't a white dude. Don't put yourself in a dangerous situation. Better to walk away and buy elsewhere.

But a few times it's turned the tables by them seeing me as a "peer" instead of a mark. Weird.