Down here at the pawn shop

[glatt]

I read some trendy pop economics/psychology book a year or so ago. It may have been The Tipping Point, but it may also have been something else.

Anyway, in this book, they cited a study where negotiations occur, and in that study they found that the person who gives a number first in a negotiation has the greater power because that first number acts as an anchor. And the effect works, even if the people doing the negotiation are made aware of the phenomenon.

Now clearly, the first offer has to be within the ballpark of reality, or else it is dismissed outright. But supposedly science says it works.

My problem is that I didn't (and still don't) know what the player was worth.

The whole thing is kind of fascinating to me, because when there is virtually no established market value, the buyer and I are basically making this up as we go along. We just set the value of this thing for future transactions.