1)
Q: Is it appropriate to haggle over prices in a Waterdhavian shop?
Elminster: It really doth depend on the shop, but in general, Waterdhavians want to do business and are used to competition, so unless the shop is haughty…#AskElminster— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 3, 2019
2)
…(and such establishments are to be found in Sea Ward and a few mainstreet frontages in North Ward and Castle Ward), it hurts not to try. However, if this angers the proprietor, or he or she saith “The cobbles are firm”… 3)
…(short for: “I stand by this price, and the cobbles are firm beneath my feet,” which really means: I can’t go lower and make ANY profit at all), then NO, haggle not. Yet if ye make a habit of this, don’t expect to get… #AskElminster— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 3, 2019
4)
…waited on before a customer who’s an unknown, or looks to be an outlander, or who rushes to pay full price for something spotted in the shop window. The Deep is an expensive city to live in, so although competition is the… 5)
…great leveler, there ARE “floor minimums.” And if shop staff seem to enjoy haggling, but then say something like “The day DOES draw on,” or “My, but the sun races across the sky,” they are signalling that their patience…#AskElminster— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 3, 2019
7)
6)
…for the bargaining game is drawing to an end.
And unless ye’re ordering something by the thousands, haggle not in a guild headquarters, unless ye’re TRYING to be insulting.
Get too ripe a reputation for haggling, and ye’ll……earn the rebuff: a hard stare whilst a single copper coin (often tarnished, bent or battered, or of an outland minting) is dropped into a bowl, then retrieved and dropped again, repeatedly.#AskElminster— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 3, 2019