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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

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1

GLOSSARY

vase – a ceramic or glass object with an open top, used for holding and
displaying cut flowers placed in water
* For their wedding anniversary, Kenji gave his wife a beautiful vase of a dozen
roses.

to talk (someone) down – to get someone to agree to accept a lower price for
something he or she is selling
* That’s incredible! How did you talk the salesman down to just $13,000 for that
car?

starting price – the initial selling price, especially when the buyer and seller
expect to agree on a lower price; the first price stated by the seller
* In this market, the starting price is usually about 20% higher than the final
selling price.

negotiable – a price or terms/conditions that can be discussed and changed until
they are acceptable to everyone involved
* The salary we offered is not negotiable, but we might be able to improve the
benefits package or give you more vacation time.

rock bottom price – the lowest possible price; the least amount of money
someone is willing to sell something for
* The store is closing next week, so it is selling all remaining items at rock bottom
prices.

not one penny less – minimum; without being willing to lower the price any
more
* I’ll sell it to you for $4.75, but not one penny less.

steal – a very good deal; something that is being sold at a very low price
* Heather loves going to garage sales, because she usually finds some great
steals.

to bargain – to negotiate; for a buyer and seller to discuss and change the price
of something until they reach agreement
* We were willing to bargain the price of almost everything at our garage sale,
except the price of the really nice table.

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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

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2

to give (something) away – to give something to someone for free, without
receiving any money or anything of value in return; to sell something at a price
that is much lower than what it is worth
* The company gives away the razors in the hopes that people will buy their
expensive razor blades.

to budge – to change one’s position; to move a little bit in some way
* He is very stubborn and his says his opinions will never budge.

to haggle – to negotiate or bargain to try to get a lower price
* It’s okay to haggle, but don’t start with such a low price that you offend the
seller.

good things come to those who wait – a phrase used to advise someone to be
patient and not expect immediate results
* Don’t be so impatient! It takes times for the tomato plants to grow, but good
things come to those who wait.

to walk away – to end a discussion and refuse to continue negotiating or
bargaining, usually because the other person is being unreasonable or cannot
meet one’s needs
* They were having a heated argument and Tanya became so rude that Tomasz
decided to just walk away.

cheap – wanting to have the lowest possible price and refusing to pay more, not
respecting the value of the goods or services being sold
* Yuki is so cheap that she refuses to buy fruit if it costs more than one dollar per
pound.

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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

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3

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. According to Connie, is the vase worth $50?
a) No, it isn’t worth $50.
b) Yes, $50 is a fair price for the vase.
c) Yes, $50 is less than the vase is really worth.

2. Why won’t the store owner sell to cheap Americans?
a) Because they aren’t willing to pay a fair price.
b) Because they don’t take the time to learn to speak McQuillanese.
c) Because they rarely pay the sales tax.

______________


WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

to talk (someone) down
The phrase “to talk (someone) down,” in this podcast, means to get someone to
agree to accept a lower price for something he or she is selling: “Do you think
you can talk the sellers down to $225,000 for the house?” The phrase “to talk
(someone/something) up” means to make someone or something seem more
impressive, interesting, or important than it really is: “At work, Sheila has been
talking her brother up, hoping her boss will hire her brother, too.” The phrase “to
talk down to (someone)” means to speak to someone as if that person were not
very intelligent: “Why do you let him talk down to you like that?” Finally, the
phrase “to talk (someone) into (something)” means to persuade someone to do
something, especially if he or she would prefer not to do it: “How were you able
to talk Hal into helping you move the piano?”

steal
In this podcast, the word “steal” means a very good deal or something that is
being sold at a very low price: “The food at this restaurant is a steal, especially
for a big family like ours!” As a verb, “to steal” means to take something that does
not belong to oneself without permission from the owner: “Did you hear that
someone stole Tim’s bike out of his garage yesterday afternoon?” The verb can
also refer to taking someone’s ideas or work and presenting them as one’s own:
“I couldn’t believe it when the boss stole our ideas and presented them to
management without giving us credit.” Finally, to “steal into (a place)” means to
enter a place very quietly, without being noticed by others: “They stole into the
movie theater when the ticket-taker wasn’t looking.”

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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

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4

CULTURE NOTE

Negotiating Prices

In the United States, most stores “post” (put up a sign with) the prices of the
goods and services they are selling. In general, these posted prices are “not
negotiable” (cannot be changed through bargaining). However, there are some
“notable” (worth noting and talking about) exceptions.

The prices of cars are always almost always negotiable. “Dealerships”
(businesses that sell cars) post prices that are much higher than what they
actually expect to receive. Buyers go into dealerships prepared to negotiate. This
requires doing research about the “true” (actual; real) cost of the car and average
selling prices in similar cities. Dealerships try to get buyers to pay a higher price
by “throwing in” (including at no additional cost) “accessories” (things that are
sold with a product and make it work better or look better, but are not necessary),
an extended “warranty” (a period of time when repairs are paid for by the
manufacturer or dealership), or free “service” (automotive maintenance, like oil
changes).

The prices “quoted” (provided as an estimate before work begins) by
“contractors” (people who perform work on buildings, like plumbers, electricians,
and carpenters) are also sometimes negotiable, especially for larger projects.
Neighbors might negotiate for a lower price by having work done by a single
contractor at the same time. Or they might try to get the contractor to agree to a
lower price by offering to pay in cash instead of with a credit card, so that the
contractor does not have to pay the fees charged by the credit card company.

______________

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – a

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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

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5

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 849: Bargaining
with Store Owners

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 849. I’m your host, Dr.
Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in
beautiful Los Angeles, California.

Our website is eslpod.com. Go there, become a member, and support this
podcast.

This episode is a dialog between Connie and Ivan about bargaining, trying to get
a good price, at a store. Let’s get started.

[start of dialog]

Connie: You speak McQuillanese. Ask the store owner the price of this vase.

Ivan: All right. He says it’s $60.

Connie: That’s actually a great price, but let’s see if I can talk him down a little.
You should never accept the starting price and the prices in these stores are all
negotiable. Ask him what his rock bottom price is for the vase.

Ivan: He said that he’ll take $50, but not one penny less.

Connie: The vase is really a steal at $50, but maybe he’s still willing to bargain.
Tell him that I won’t pay a penny more than $40.

Ivan: I told him and he says that at that price, he’d be giving it away. I don’t think
he’s going to budge. I think you should just buy it. He doesn’t look like he’s willing
to haggle with you.

Connie: Don’t be impatient. Good things come to those who wait. Tell him that
I’m ready to walk away if he doesn’t take $42 for it. Hey, where’s he going?

Ivan: He says that he’s walking away because he doesn’t sell to cheap
Americans.

Connie: Hmph!

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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

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6

[end of dialog]

Our dialog begins with Connie saying to Ivan, “You speak McQuillanese.”
“McQuillanese,” like “McQuish,” is a very rare language. Actually, the ending -ese
is used in a couple of different ways. It can be used to describe a language, for
example, Japanese, or Chinese – those are languages spoken in Japan and
China, respectively. We also use that suffix -ese at the end when we are talking
about the particular kind of language, for example, for a certain type of work or
for a certain purpose. We used to talk about in linguistics something called
“motherese,” which is the kind of language that a mother uses with her child. I
think they call it “caretakerese,” nowadays. But the idea is that the -ese usually
indicates, or often indicates, that we’re talking about a language. And here, we’re
talking about McQuillanese as a language. Ivan speaks McQuillanese.

So Connie says, “Ask the storeowner the price of this vase.” A “vase” (vase) is a
ceramic or glass object, usually used for putting flowers into. Ivan says, “All
right.” And then, I guess, he speaks McQuillanese to the storeowner. Then he
says to Connie, “He says it’s $60.” Connie says, “That’s actually a great price” –
a very good price – “but let’s see if I can talk him down a little.” “To talk someone
down” means to get someone to agree to a lower price than he has offered you,
to get someone to lower the price on something they’re selling. That’s “to talk
someone down.” “The buyer talked down the seller $50 – he talked him down.”

Connie says, “You should never accept the starting price.” The “starting price” is
the price that the seller tells you first. “It’s a hundred dollars,” and you say, “Oh,
no. A hundred dollars? No, no, no. How about $50?” The starting price there
would be a hundred dollars, what the seller tells you initially, at first. Connie says,
“You should never accept the starting price and the prices in these stores are all
negotiable.” “Negotiable” (negotiable) means that they can be changed. When
you go into a typical American store, especially a large store such as a
department store that sells clothing and furniture, usually the prices are not
negotiable. You can’t take a shirt and go up and talk to one of the employees at
the store and say, “I’ll give you $10 for this shirt,” even though the price is $15.

However, in many countries, and in smaller stores perhaps in the U.S, prices are
negotiable, and you can say, “Well, that’s too high,” and then you give a different
price. Connie says, “Ask him what his rock bottom price is for the vase.” “Rock
bottom price” is the lowest possible price you will accept, the least amount of
money. This, of course, is a strategy, a technique in bargaining, in trying to get a
low price for something. You try to get the other person to give you the lowest
possible price that he is willing to give you, and so you may ask for his “rock

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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

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bottom price,” although, usually, that’s only something you might ask for after
you’ve already negotiated a little bit back and forth.

Ivan says, “He said he’ll take $50 but not one penny less.” The expression “not
one penny (penny) less” means that this is the absolute minimum or lowest price,
that the person is not going to lower the price anymore beyond that point. A
“penny” is one cent, one American cent. One dollar is a hundred cents, or a
hundred pennies equals one dollar. Connie says, “The vase is a real steal at
$50.” A “steal” (steal) here means a very good deal, something that is sold at a
very low price, something expensive sold very cheaply. “Steal” has some other
meanings in English, however. Make sure you look at the Learning Guide for
those. You don’t want to use the wrong meaning of steal. Here “steal” means a
very good bargain.

Connie says, “Maybe he’s still willing to bargain” - “he’s still willing” meaning
even though he said that is his lowest price, maybe he’ll go a little lower. “To
bargain,” as we said before, means to negotiate, means to get a lower price by
talking to someone. Then Connie says, “Tell him” – the seller – “that I won’t pay a
penny more than $40.” So, the seller said he wouldn’t accept anything lower than
$50. “Not one penny less,” he said. Connie is now saying that she won’t pay a
penny more than $40, meaning $40 is the maximum, the most she will pay.

Ivan then, of course, talks to the store owner in McQuillanese. We don’t get to
hear that part. He says, “I told him and he says that at that price, he’d be giving it
away. “At that price” – meaning at $40 – “he would be giving it away.” Of course,
to give something away is a phrasal verb, meaning to give something for free.
You’re not even asking for any money for it. Of course, the shop owner is not
giving it away, but he’s using that expression to say that he can’t possibly sell this
vase at $40. It’s too cheap. He won’t make any money. Ivan says “I don’t think
he’s going to budge.” “To budge” (budge) means to move a small amount or to
change your position. If someone says, “Well, this is my price and I’m not going
to budge,” here he means that they’re not going to change their position. They’re
not going to change the price.

Ivan says, “I think you should just buy it. He doesn’t look like he’s willing to
haggle with you.” “To haggle” (haggle) or “to haggle” – same word – my
pronunciation is a little different – means to negotiate, to bargain, to try to get a
lower price. So, it’s the same as to bargain. Connie says, “Don’t be impatient.
Good things come to those who wait.” This is an old expression, “Good things
come to those who wait” – if you wait enough, if you wait a long time, eventually
you will have some good things coming to you. The idea is that even though

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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

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8

there are difficulties in waiting, it may not be very pleasant. When you wait, you
get good things after that waiting period.

Connie says, “Tell him that I’m ready to walk away if he doesn’t take $42 for it.”
“To walk away” means, in this case, to end the discussion, to stop the
negotiation, to say, “Okay, I’m not going to buy it all. Goodbye.” Connie says,
“Hey, where’s he going?” Where is he going? Ivan says, “He” – the storeowner –
“says that he’s walking away because he doesn’t sell to cheap Americans.”
“Cheap” (cheap) is a low price. But here it’s used as an insult. It means someone
who doesn’t want to pay very much money for anything even though that thing is
worth the money. Someone who is cheap is someone who doesn’t like to spend
money and will often sacrifice rather than spend more money, will often say,
“Okay, I’m not going to do anything because I don’t want to spend any money.”

It’s usually an insulting term to call someone “cheap.” If you ask a girl out on a
date, and then at the end of the date you say, “Oh, why don’t we each pay our
own bill,” if you’re a man, the girl might think you are cheap. And she’d probably
be right.

Now let’s listen to the dialog this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialog]

Connie: You speak McQuillanese. Ask the store owner the price of this vase.

Ivan: All right. He says it’s $60.

Connie: That’s actually a great price, but let’s see if I can talk him down a little.
You should never accept the starting price and the prices in these stores are all
negotiable. Ask him what his rock bottom price is for the vase.

Ivan: He said that he’ll take $50, but not one penny less.

Connie: The vase is really a steal at $50, but maybe he’s still willing to bargain.
Tell him that I won’t pay a penny more than $40.

Ivan: I told him and he says that at that price, he’d be giving it away. I don’t think
he’s going to budge. I think you should just buy it. He doesn’t look like he’s willing
to haggle with you.

Connie: Don’t be impatient. Good things come to those who wait. Tell him that
I’m ready to walk away if he doesn’t take $42 for it. Hey, where’s he going?

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ESL Podcast 849 – Bargaining With Store Owners

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2012). Posting of
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9

Ivan: He says that he’s walking away because he doesn’t sell to cheap
Americans.

Connie: Hmph!

[end of dialog]

Good things come to those who wait each week for the next amazing episode of
ESL Podcast, with the amazing scripts by our own, Dr. Lucy Tse.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come
back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,
hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational
Development.