Haggling, without being the worst person at the market

The skill is knowing when it applies at all.

First, work out whether it applies

Getting this wrong in either direction is the main mistake. Accepting a first price where everyone negotiates marks you out; haggling in a shop with printed prices is simply rude.

How to do it

1. Know roughly what it should cost first. Negotiating without a reference is theatre — you can talk someone down 40% and still pay triple.
2. Decide your number before you start, and be willing to pay it cheerfully.
3. Be pleasant. It is a social exchange, not a confrontation. Humour works better than firmness almost everywhere.
4. Make one counter-offer, not five. Endless grinding is tedious and reads as bad faith.
5. Be genuinely willing to walk, politely. It is the only real leverage, and it works precisely because it is not a tactic.
6. Once you agree, buy. Walking after agreeing a price is the one move that is actually rude.

Keep it in proportion

Convert before you dig in. A gap that feels like a matter of principle is frequently the price of a coffee at home, and there is a version of the traveller who wins a ten-minute negotiation over an amount they would not bend down to pick up in their own street. Do not be that person.

Being able to convert instantly, one-handed, mid-conversation, is genuinely useful here — as is having the rule of thumb in your head so you are not looking at a screen while someone is talking to you.