Negotiation Recently I began a negotiation with respect to buying some tickets on Craigslist -- sorry, I don't have one relating to work right now. The parties were myself and the seller. The goal was for me to get two tickets at the lowest possible price. I did not need to attend the sporting event; it was entirely optional, so that was one of the interests that I had. I also needed to contain the cost because I do not have the means to just pay any price. The seller's interest was to extract value from a perishable good. The seller has tickets for which money has been paid, and it was the desire of the seller to sell those tickets for more than was paid. There was a relatively limited supply of these tickets on Craigslist, but there was enough to create at least a somewhat competitive market.

I opened the negotiation by expressing interest in the product, and...

The seller came back with an offer, and I responded with a counteroffer. The counteroffer was accepted. The process took about an hour. Then, we worked out the final details. The negotiation was specifically about product and price, and then once agreement was made those other details like delivery. Ultimately, delivery was arranged and made, and the transaction was completed.
The initial offer was above my target point -- I wanted to pay face value -- and my counteroffer was for face value. There was no point of resistance from the seller, unless the seller was thinking about my counter for a while. There was a delay in response to that, but because the negotiation was electronic, there was no way of knowing whether the delay was about resistance or something else.

The best alternative to a negotiated agreement…