Jaroslav

@DWnyc, calling it haggling allows you to discount it. 

@dwnyc

Speaking of Best Buy they are laying off thousands of store employees. But how will the customer even know since the employees were never around when needed anyway?

Some people here talk like they were savvy adventurous travelers who have experienced it all but they actually never left their privileged neighborhood. 

Delta and United also are competing with each other and other airlines with clearly posted prices. And please – give me a more UNregulated market than an illegal one, such as escorting. 

I’ve been thinking on that too. For some reason, some clients here seem to enjoy paying exorbitant prices for escorts. That’s a function of so-called luxury goods. A Lexus, for example. For a Mercedes. Jewelry. People will brag about much they spent on these things for two reasons: 1) they have acquired the status of Lexus owner by buying a Lexus and 2) they have the means to purchase something at a crazy price without it impacting them negatively and that also puts them in a “tier.” This is all part of the experience. And it’s a class thing as well. “I don’t negotiate with escorts because I don’t have to. I can throw money around like a toddler splashing in the pool.” That’s the nature of luxury goods. And escorts, for some, fall into that category.
Now, some escorts want to think they’re a 2024 Mercedes GLE when in fact they’re a 1999 Ford Fiesta! 😆 

They can’t, legally, in the US
And it’s not uncommon for premium products (using your framework) to be marketed as “ask for further details …” both as discussing $ around such products can be seen as distasteful and precisely because there is no set price.

In the words of Joan Rivers:  Ya don't know, if ya don't ask!

You’re comparing an oligopoly led by a few multibillion dollar companies with individual escorts?
 

If there is any scenario that you have experienced or are aware of where negotiations (the word “haggling” inserts unnecessary bias) result in a lower price accepted by a provider, and if there was perfect information and everyone knew about it, one would expect more negotiation across comparable offerings. It would be irrational behavior for this not to be the case in a capitalist market. Can’t get more unregulated and capitalist than the industry we’re discussing here. 
It’s not necessarily accurate to characterize negotiation time (for providers) as uncompensated. That’s part of the “marketing and biz dev” time they have to put in to generate the actual dollars that come in (along with eg responding to client queries and changing the bedsheets after a client visit during hours that are not directly paid for). I assume the rate that I agree to pay a provider includes a pro rated allocation for those types of items. 

Well, yes and no. My mother was a great haggler and I learned things from her. She was Scottish so no further explanation is required if you know a Scot.
But even she realized there was a place and a time for haggling but not in every situation. That's where the tacky comes in.
With escorts I don't haggle generally but when I see an opportunity to strike a bargain that will benefit both of us I will venture a price for a multihour engagement, based on the escort's fees. Thus I will put forward a fee say for an hour and a half. Or three hours with dinner thrown in. 
I take into account if I am hosting in a nice hotel, the kind of dinner and convenience to the escort in getting there. I usually find we can agree quickly to what I propose. 

Yet no professional in this forum has agreed with you about whether negotiating a standard fee is the rule rather than the exception.
Your simplistic conclusions are not backed up by real-world experiences.

I would venture to suggest that in business where there is negotiation it is about the terms of the entire arrangement not just for the price element of it. Negotiation about price would generally be on the basis that what was to be delivered would be subject to change in order to arrive at the customer's preferred price. In this, and some other businesses, what's being offered is a defined product that neither party is much interested in changing. Here, time is the central element of what is on offer, so understandably most providers are reluctant to vary the price for their time (and what they do with the client in that time isn't part of their price structure). For longer engagements there are things within the time involved that are amenable to negotiation, such as private time for the provider, degree of exclusivity, the cost of incidental activities and meals, and the like, many of which should be agreed in advance so both parties are clear on expectations, irrespective of whether they will affect the price.

And 50% of my day job is negotiating with my company’s service providers. My compensation and continued employment is tied to how successful I am doing that. My negotiating counterparty’s are also, I presume. 

I'm assuming that many of you guys are professionals in your field who deal with money a lot. That's my assumption. And as such, you are in business with potential clients etc. You understand the nature of doing business in a market, especially one where prices aren't fixed. You haggle. It's what businessmen do. That's why it's so crazy to me that in this area some would suggest that the gay escort market is somehow immune to haggling. As some like to say in some instances here, an escort isn't a dentist or a doctor and so should be treated differently. Okay. Well, then since I don't haggle with the dentist, maybe it's okay and even expected to haggle with an escort. Why not? What puts them in the category of dentist for this business transaction? If we're to treat escorts like businessmen, then let's treat them like businessmen. 
I for myself don't much like haggling, but I'm not going to fault someone who does – particularly in this kind of unregulated market. It might be seen by some as distasteful, but okay. There are loads of things that I see as distasteful, so I just don't do them. Or I say my piece and move on. But to suggest that it violates some rule is ludicrous. There are no rules for the gay escort market. Whatever works. Less rules than in the boardroom. If you can broker the deal, great. If not, better luck next time. 
It just baffles me that businessmen, or men who live and work in such areas, would think that doing business with a professional escort is somehow exempted from that – especially when we all know there aren't any set rules of the trade precisely because its extra-legal.

What that suggests then is those escorts who have higher than average prices don’t want the work. If pricing is driven by how many clients are wanted, not needed.

Businesspeople negotiate. Haggling is what you call negotiation that you don’t like. Perspective is important.
There’s also a difference between services too. Giving a massage is different than escorting on a vacation. One lends itself to a set rate much more than the other.

One is ultimately responsible for oneself. We forget that. But I’m not going to disbelieve an escort who says he’s on PreP either. I’m on it so I’m not too concerned, at least about HIV. Monitoring your health and condition should be something you’re doing even if you haven’t been fucking escorts. If you develop a strange rash, see a doctor, regardless of sexual history. That seems self-evident to me.

I’m still looking for that person, in general, not as far as escorting goes.

The example of the plumber is interesting. 
Real life – my work recently replaced the entire sprinkler system to be up-to-code. We solicited bids from plumbers to do the work. Three come in to check it out. Three offer bids. We of course accept the bid for the lowest amount. The bid was $30k, to be done in 6 weeks time. As it turns out, because the plumber was done in less than 6 weeks, we were billed less. The bill came in at just over $24k due to rate for time (sound familiar?) The provider of the services didn't charge the $30k because he couldn't ethically and more importantly legally do. Escorting has no such stipulations. And I don't suppose that any providers are going to charge for an hour, get done in 45 minutes, and say "Hey, I'll give you 25% back." For the record, I wouldn't expect them to. But the point is that, that the comparison isn't apt because of that expectation. 
As to getting shortchanged, real life stories again – I've twice paid two different providers for full weekends when they were both hours late to arriving. The first the guy's flight was late getting in, and he was late by 6 hours. When you're having dinner out and looking forward to some fun beforehand, that cuts into the experience. He didn't do more than apologize and took the whole amount for the weekend. He's since out of the business, but he kept going for a while after me. The second example is a guy who I was paying for a weekend and he was arriving in the afternoon on a Saturday before a wedding he was my date for. His flight was late as well. He also did a piss-poor job communicating with me the day of other than telling me his flight was late. I ended up going to the wedding and reception alone and returning to the hotel to have him arrive there about 11:30 pm...He collected his whole fee as well. In neither instance did I get what I paid for – experientially, temporally, or financially. Pointing out the the shortfall once we were together would’ve made things even worse, but the “right” thing do would’ve been for the escorts to offer me back something for what panned out to be something less than agreed upon. If you’re late to work because of traffic, it’s at I’ll on you, not your employer. And for the record, I would have told the escorts to keep the full amount, but they didn’t even give that opportunity.

@Jamie21, you offered two different approaches to negotiation, but it’s the same thing. The second example simply reads to me more like a person who understands it’s business than looking to appeal to emotion or impulse. It’s strictly financial whereas the first example looks for sympathy or appeals to your lust, which in good business is likely going to fail. That’s the difference I perceive.
As @Unicorn pointed out, in other cultures haggling is the norm in most exchanges, goods or services. It’s expected. And it’s not one sided.
I’m still curious if in “testing the client’s limits” you’d tell a potential client he overshot the acceptable unspoken rate for an extended time like a weekend or vacation.

I think it helps to have an idea of what something is worth.  Sometimes you can ask a local what would be a reasonable price.
When I lived in India, bargaining was part of the dance.  If someone marked me as a Westerner and quoted me a price ten times too high, I'd just walk away.  I'd always get called back and we'd start somewhere more reasonable.  I didn't mind paying a little extra and I sure wouldn't grind someone down.  The idea was to buy at a fair price.  If you run into a similar situation, you might try a little bargaining, get the item for $17, and then give the guy an extra five bucks because you had a good time cutting a deal.  Everyone ends up with a smile.  😁 😁
With personal services, it's a whole different story.  For me anyway, it's all about the fantasy.  Ten seconds talking about price is ten seconds too many.  I want the best experience possible and I don't want someone feeling he's been shortchanged.  If I walk away because I can't afford the person's best, I just keep walking.  

Apparently it’s “always” tacky. So this entry on your blog is moot.
Of course, it’s not. But some want to act like it is. I appreciate accepting a thing for what it is. Some will call it haggling. Some will call it negotiating. It’s a matter of perspective. 

That’s true for every profession. Not just sex workers. Everyone knows how to do everyone else’s job better.
I’m not saying how to do the job. I’m saying be honest in talking about it. If you’re testing limits of the client’s willingness to pay, you’re negotiating. That’s what it is. And it’s fine. Just own that.

https://ilikepinga.com/2019/02/07/haggling/