Shop counter
Haggling
The Bargain panel on the trade tablet. Each customer allows one price bargain on each side of the trade, plus one Blackmail and one Threaten. There is no patience meter: a customer leaves only on a walk-out roll, a failed Blackmail or Threaten, or when dismissed.
- 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%
- Bargain steps
- -3 reputation
- Walk-out
- 20% better prices
- Blackmail and Threaten
- Day 8
- Unlocked
Customer buying. Always accepted. Their budget grows by twice the discount: -10% gives +20% budget.
Customer buying. A roll. Accepted: your items +X% and their budget shrinks by 10%, 15%, 20% or 25%.
Customer selling. Always accepted. You pay X% more.
Customer selling. The same roll as Add Markup. Accepted: you pay X% less.
Once Offer Discount or Add Markup was tried, neither can be used again with that customer; the same goes for Offer Markup and Demand Discount. A bargain covers every item on the counter, and items added later.
The Mentor explains bargaining on day 8; skipping the intro unlocks it at once. The Awful Negotiator perk removes the Bargain button.
Add Markup and Demand Discount use one roll. The customer accepts with 100% minus twice the percent, and stays after a refusal with 100% minus 1.2 times the percent. Otherwise they walk out: -3 reputation with their faction.
Your reputation with their faction divided by 6 is added to both chances; a negative reputation counts double. Customers sent by a station event add 15.
An Aug always refuses, without walking out; the try is still used up. The Landlord's wholesale visit never accepts. Eleanor's sellers never walk out.
Works only on a criminal: a wanted person, or someone with serious contraband or a stolen item on the counter. They accept with 60% plus your faction reputation / 4. Accepted: you buy for 20% less and sell for 20% more, and every trade with them costs reputation.
A criminal who refuses: -5 reputation, they stay. Anyone else: 50% they leave with -10 reputation, otherwise -7 and they stay.
From day 12. Always works on an Aug: 20% better prices both ways and no reputation from the trades. On a human it fails like Blackmail on an innocent.
Offer Discount and Offer Markup are no longer possible, and the customer can no longer be reported.
Neither works on Security. The Threaten tooltip says "Always accepted." on every customer, but it only works on Augs.
Every trade gives faction reputation: 1,000 Credits traded gives +2.5 on Mark Up. A bargain changes the multiplier, not the Credits counted.
Reputation multiplier per trade side
- No bargain
- x1
- Offer Discount or Offer Markup 10% / 25% / 50% / 75%
- x1.65 / x2.2 / x3 / x3.9
- Accepted Add Markup or Demand Discount 10% / 25% / 50% / 75%
- x-0.5 / x-1.5 / x-3 / x-5
- Blackmail accepted
- x-6, or 6 below an accepted bargain's multiplier
- Threaten on an Aug
- x0
- Sold below value, budget ran out
- +1 to the multiplier
Lower Levels reputation counts x0.66 and Upper Levels x1.2; the Diplomatic perk adds x1.33 to gains. Example on Mark Up: 1,000 Credits gives 2.5 x 1.65 = +4.1 after Offer Discount 10%, and 2.5 x -1.5 = -3.75 after an accepted +25% markup.
An item priced above what is left of the budget is refused. Selling anyway gets only what is left.
When a buy-and-sell customer sells you something, half its price is added to their budget.
Reputation perk: every customer's budget +25%. The in-game text names only Upper Levels customers.
Reputation perk: every customer's budget +50%. The in-game text names only Security customers.
Starting perk: +10% budget for Upper Levels customers.
Some sellers offer Wholesale: everything on their counter at a 15% to 25% discount. The discount stacks with an accepted Demand Discount, Blackmail or Threaten. Accept Wholesale needs the full price in cash.
Customers who never haggle
Gun buyers ordering a gun, and Lou collecting her demand, do not haggle either.