Q1.
Often the buyers and sellers negotiate and bargain to arrive at an acceptable price. What type of negotiation and bargaining took place in your skit?
Answer
In the skit above the bargaining moved through five recognisable moves. Name them when you answer — that is what turns a description into an explanation.
- Anchoring. The seller opened high (₹60) so that even after coming down he would still earn a profit.
- Comparison bargaining. The buyer quoted a rival cart's price (₹45) — the commonest move in any Indian market.
- Quality bargaining. The seller answered not with a number but with an argument: his fruit is unspotted and freshly picked, so it is worth more.
- Quantity bargaining. The buyer offered to take two kilos instead of one. A bigger sale is worth a lower price per kilo to the seller.
- The cost floor. The seller revealed that he had paid ₹40 at the mandī. Below that he would make a loss, so that is the point past which he simply will not go.
The two then met at ₹50 — above the seller's floor of ₹40 and below the buyer's original ceiling. A small extra (“a couple for the child”) closed the deal without changing the price.
Why it happens: bargaining is really an exchange of information. Neither side knows the other's limit, so each reveals a little at a time — cost, quality, quantity, alternatives — until the two limits overlap. If they never overlap, “the transaction may not take place”, exactly as the chapter says.