Is there ever a reason to turn down money?
I’ve always had too little money, I have never considered any reason to refuse it.
Having savings gives you the luxury of thinking what will come attached with that money.
There is a limited supply and one customer wants all of it
This reason isn’t intuitive at first. Let’s say you own a grocery store and someone has just walked into your store and offered to buy every item on every shelf at once. You should be happy right? You have sold every item.
Long term this is a terrible idea though. Think of how long it will take you to restock. Every customer that walks in afterwards will now have nothing to buy. They have now lost trust that you will have stock when they need it. They want to get their milk and leave as quickly as possible, not worry if you have any milk at all. Their first impression is that you may not have the things when they need them.
Will that first customer ever come back? All the others one behind them in line certainly won’t now.
You can sell it easier for to someone else
If you have a limited supply, and this customer is trying to haggle. You could just say no and sell it for the proper price to the next guy.
It’s not always about cost. Sometimes it is the length of time or how you will be paid.
We had a large purchase order from the American Club in Hong Kong. The American Club is one of the most expensive and prestigious clubs in Hong Kong. Their annual membership fee is over $50,000 USD per year. They tried to dangle their brand name to only pay us on delivery after we took all the risk on the transportation and inventory to bring it to their door. Like a sucker, I went for it until they tried to haggle on their doorstep for a better price.
This is extremely common and never worth it. A Fortune 500 company offered to buy from me but only if they paid 90 days after it was delivered. This was an item fluctuating in price so rapidly, we would be screwed over if they timed it properly. We would be taking so much risk, we could bankrupt ourselves. They knew this and just tried to dangle how well known they were and potential future sales. It is never worth it.
We found tons of customers willing to pay upfront before we took the risk.
The customer is an Asshole to deal with and you value your happiness more than the sale
Sometimes, it is not even about finding another customer who is nicer or you can sell it to on better terms. Sometimes it is as simple as “I don’t want to deal with this person.”
Long term contracts can tie you to people you do not like. You can be forced to talk and deal with them frequently and have no way out. Your life is how you spend your time. You can find many ways to increase and decrease your money. But time will only steadily decrease. Some people on this planet are not worth any amount of money.
You can flip these reasons to consider how to get a sale to go through when the seller is reluctant.
It isn’t particularly surprising. Offer more money. Buy less and do a long term deal. Be easier to work with. Be nice to be around.