Is bartering ethical?

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IlCajetan

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I’ve recently taken an interest in going to flea markets, tag sales, and music stores in order to find old instruments. My brother had told me to act stupid, like I didn’t know what I was buying in order to get the lowest price. I know there is a certain art to bartering and I also know that much of the time it involves lying. I was wondering if this would be ethical or me to lie to try and get a low price on an old instrument and also curious as to how Christians should approach bartering (if they should even approach it at all)
 
If you act stupid like you don’t know what you are buying you will pay more. That’s a dumb strategy.
 
Not necessarily act stupid, but curious almost. If I walk up to a market and the guy’s got an archaic banjo With a busted head that he doesn’t have a clue how to fix and I’m a curious teenager who’s just like “woah that’s a cool banjo!” He might just be like “kid don’t got much cash on him and he likes it, eh I could sell it to him for 100 instead of 125
 
You make a very good point, thank you. So as long as I try to get it to a fair price and not one that only benefits me, whether by lying or not, it is good?
 
IlCajetan said:
I’ve recently taken an interest in going to flea markets, tag sales, and music stores in order to find old instruments. My brother had told me to act stupid, like I didn’t know what I was buying in order to get the lowest price. I know there is a certain art to bartering and I also know that much of the time it involves lying. I was wondering if this would be ethical or me to lie to try and get a low price on an old instrument and also curious as to how Christians should approach bartering (if they should even approach it at all
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I guess, I just dont understand what the point is in acting stupid. My husband knows how to barter.He grew up in a culture where this is common. He barters with people, and they barter back with us. When car shopping he is really good at getting us more money for our trade-ins. If you want to try to barter, there is nothing unethical about it. But, why deceive by acting stupid?
 
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I came to that conclusion, but thank you once again! You’ve been very helpful and I’m glad I could have some clarification. I won’t lie, but get the price me and the seller both need.
 
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