Probably Stolen haggling guide: how to bargain, negotiate and barter
To haggle in Probably Stolen, put the item on the Negotiation Counter and open the Bargain Interface. When you sell, a discount is always accepted and raises the customer’s budget; a markup can be refused and lowers the budget. When you buy, a demanded discount can fail, while paying extra is always accepted. Barter offers cannot be negotiated at all.
Everything here comes from the game’s own text and code (version 0.46D). The success chances are calculated from the formulas in the code, not measured in play.
How do I open the Bargain Interface?
- Drag the item to the Negotiation Counter (Ctrl-click also works). The Negotiation Interface appears.
- Open the Bargain Interface from there. The game’s tutorial says it lets you “demand more or offer better prices to customers, which can affect their budget and the amount of reputation gained while trading.”
You can make one price bargain per customer. A discount and a markup exclude each other, and neither can be combined with blackmail or a threat. The panel shows the chance of success and, where relevant, the chance that the customer walks out.
What can I do when I sell?
The customer is buying from you. Your two options use steps of 10, 25, 50 or 75 percent:
| Option | Result |
|---|---|
| Selling: Offer Discount | Always accepted. Grants additional reputation on each item sold and increases the customer’s budget |
| Selling: Add Markup | May be refused. If accepted, reduces the customer’s budget and costs reputation on each item sold |
A discount really raises the budget. In the code, the customer’s budget grows by twice the discount percent: a 10% discount adds 20% to the budget, 25% adds 50%, 50% adds 100%, and 75% adds 150%. This only applies to customers who spend from a limited budget. Customers have a “Customer Budget” and the game warns you when they have less left than your price (“You will miss out on X credits”). A discount is therefore the way to sell more items to one customer, at a lower price per item.
A markup cuts the customer’s budget by 10%, 15%, 20% or 25% for the 10%, 25%, 50% and 75% steps.
What can I do when I buy?
The customer is selling to you.
| Option | Result |
|---|---|
| Buying: Demand Discount | May fail. If it works, costs you reputation on each item bought. Success depends on your faction reputation |
| Buying: Offer Markup | Always accepted. Pay extra and gain reputation on each item purchased |
What are the chances of a bargain working?
For Add Markup and Demand Discount the accept chance is 100 minus twice the percent, plus your reputation bonus with the customer’s faction (reputation divided by 6, doubled if negative), plus 15 for event customers, plus the DealMaker bonus, limited to 0-100. With neutral reputation and no extras:
| Step | Accept | Walks out | Politely refuses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 80% | 12% | 8% |
| 25% | 50% | 30% | 20% |
| 50% | 0% | 60% | 40% |
| 75% | 0% | 90% | 10% |
When a bargain fails, the customer either refuses and stays, or walks out and costs you 3 reputation with their faction. Some customers always refuse bad bargains or always stay after a failed one, and Augs always refuse a markup or a demanded discount. Higher faction reputation shifts every number in your favour, and so does the DealMaker machine: you can activate it once per customer, it draws power, and it adds its bonus (10 plus its quality bonus) to the accept chance.
What about blackmail and threats?
Both use a fixed 20% price change and are not available against Security customers.
- Blackmail (Criminal): threaten to report a wanted customer to Security unless they give better prices. Accept chance is 60 plus a reputation bonus (reputation divided by 4) plus 15 for event customers plus the DealMaker bonus. If it fails, you lose 5 reputation. Against a customer who is not a criminal it always fails: you lose 7 reputation, and there is a 50% chance the customer leaves and you lose 10.
- Threaten (Aug): accuse a customer of being an Aug and threaten to shoot them. It always works on a real Aug. On a normal customer it always fails, you lose 7 reputation, and half the time they leave and it costs 10. See Augs.
Can I haggle with a barter offer?
No. The Mentor’s Note says: “Barter offers cannot be negotiated unlike regular buy and sell offers.” A barter customer asks for an item instead of credits; the game tells you to move the requested item to the counter, and the tooltips show the Unit Barter Value and Total Barter Value of items. The window is titled “Barter Offer”.
What else changes my negotiating position?
- Withdrawal. Nicotine, alcohol and narcotic withdrawal each give a negotiation penalty, according to the game’s health messages. The game lists “Negotiation Penalty (Addiction)” as a price modifier.
- Wholesale offers. Some sellers give a discount if you buy all their items; this is the seller’s offer, not a bargain.
- Stolen goods. Sellers discount stolen items based on their Heat value. See Contraband.
- Retail markup. Sales add a retail markup set by difficulty; see Money.
FAQ
Does a discount increase the customer’s budget in Probably Stolen? Yes. The game says so in the Offer Discount tooltip, and the code adds twice the discount percent to the budget.
Can I haggle a barter? No, barter offers cannot be negotiated.
How do I bargain with a customer who sells to me? Use Buying: Demand Discount for a lower price, which can fail, or Buying: Offer Markup to pay extra and gain reputation.
What does the Reputation Multiplier mean? The panel shows the estimated reputation you gain or lose with the customer’s faction per 1,000 credits traded.
Can I bargain twice with the same customer? No. After one price bargain the others are locked for that customer.