Bargaining exchange predates fixed-price commerce in many regions

Evidence

Still today in the Orient and even in many parts of Italy one does not find the concept of the set price which establishes a fixed restraint on the subjective interests of both buyers and sellers. In those places everyone sells as dearly and buys as cheaply as he possibly can. Exchange there is exclusively a subjective transaction between two persons. Its outcome depends only on the cunning, greed, and tenacity of the parties, but not on the thing and its consensually grounded relation to price. Under these circumstances, as a Roman antique dealer explained to me, a business transaction consists of a process wherein the seller asks too much and the buyer offers too little and they only gradually approach one another to reach an acceptable point. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 265

Categorization

• CANDY: The image of the Roman antique dealer describing gradual bargaining convergence is a memorable, shareable anecdote.
• XREF: connects to: Commodification of labor predated American slavery in Europe; International trade led to the need for a global currency. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 1221

Broader Connections

• Commodification of labor predated American slavery in Europe #expands (0.60)
• International trade led to the need for a global currency. #corroborates (0.50) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 1221