Negotiate to Great — Cat Street Market

Negotiate to Great · Simulation

Cat Street Market

Upper Lascar Row, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong — a negotiation in the world’s most storied antique market

You are about to negotiate the purchase or sale of a rare antique at the famous Cat Street Market in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Choose your role below — and read only your own briefing. Once you select a role, you will not be able to see the other side.

⚠️

Do not share your briefing with the other party. The simulation only works if both sides come to the negotiation with their own information. Once you click your role, that's the only briefing you'll see.

Choose your role

When you are done negotiating

Share your outcome

Record the price you agreed on and reflect on what happened.

Answer Here →

🔒 Role locked

The Buyer

Gai Wan Cup — Cat Street Market, Sheung Wan

While wandering through the Cat Street Market in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, you spotted the item for which you have spent years searching. Years ago your grandparents gave you an antique tea set that, in its complete setting, today may be valued as high as $10,000–$12,000 USD. Unfortunately, your set was not complete. You have the Yixing teapot, the cups, the tea tray, and scoops — but no Gai Wan Cup.

You have had this (incomplete) setting appraised by a professional. Though the appraiser was excited and impressed with your tea set, he suggested that the most value was in the full set — and that individual items and incomplete sets were perhaps 20–25% less valuable. He suggested you might be able to sell your items through an antique consignment shop for $4,000–5,000, or through an auction house for perhaps $6,000. With the Gai Wan Cup, you might be looking at around $8,000–$8,500 at auction.

You looked at the Gai Wan Cup very carefully and are absolutely certain this is your missing piece. It clearly has a Jingdezhen porcelain stem, which matches the style, the location, and the setting of the piece — from the late Ming Dynasty. You are 100% certain.

Your Research

You’ve searched for this cup online and in specialty magazines. The Gai Wan Cup seems to be the hardest piece to find. You’ve seen estimates listing the Gai Wan Cup alone for $400 to $1,200. Until now it has been impossible to find the item for sale on its own.

You have $3,000 in your bank account and could get it all out this afternoon if necessary.

Your Objective

You realize you must seize this opportunity. Based on the estimate, you could pay up to $2,500 for the piece and still show a profit. You realize it may be many years — if ever — before you would happen upon this individual piece again. You know that prices at antique markets in Hong Kong are generally negotiable. But how much difference will there be between the seller’s initial price and the “true” price?

The Seller

Gai Wan Cup — Cat Street Market, Sheung Wan

You are an antique seller who mostly does business online, buying and selling items via different electronic auction websites. You’ve developed a reputation for being able to locate almost any item, and now often serve as an agent — doing searches and purchasing hard-to-find items for collectors and other dealers.

You also occasionally sell at an Antique Pop Up at your friend’s shop on Cat Street in Hong Kong. The expense to set up is small, and it gives you the opportunity to make contacts with potential clients and collectors. You mostly use this marketplace to sell items you’ve been unable to sell online.

The Story Behind This Cup

This piece was originally bought for a local client after a long search. Unfortunately, the client refused to accept the Gai Wan Cup due to a minor scratch that you, to this day, have a hard time seeing. You paid $350 (including fees and shipping) to the auction house and were stuck with it.

Your original client was to pay $650 — well within market values for such a Gai Wan Cup ($400–$1,200) even with your 30% locating fee. You listed the cup twice online but had no bids above your $300 reserve. Typically, an individual item separated from its set sees a much lower price.

The Gai Wan Cup has a Jingdezhen porcelain stem which identifies the location and setting style of the piece — crafted in the late Ming Dynasty. The Gai Wan is preferred by many tea connoisseurs to brew delicate teas such as green and white teas, and delicately scented teas such as jasmine.

Your Objective

Business on this day has been steady, though not amazing. Of the 30 items you brought, you’ve made just a single $300 sale. You would like to sell the Gai Wan Cup for at least what you paid for it. Anything above $350 represents a profit. You have not marked a price on the Gai Wan Cup — everything is negotiable. It appears the person looking at the cup is clearly able to pay… so it’s time to close the sale!

After the Negotiation

Discuss with your partners

What worked well in your negotiation — and what would you do differently if you ran it again?

Where did you feel the most pressure? What did you do with it — and did that help or hurt you?

How does this mirror the negotiations you navigate at work? Where do you give ground too quickly?

Who do you negotiate with most — internal stakeholders, external partners, or clients? How does your approach differ?

When you are done

Share your outcome

Record the price you agreed on and reflect on what happened in the negotiation.

Answer Here →

Debrief Discussion Guide

Cat Street Market — facilitation questions for after the negotiation

Question 01 What worked well in your negotiation — and what would you do differently if you ran it again?

Question 02 Where did you feel the most pressure? What did you do with it — and did that help or hurt you?

Question 03 How does this mirror the negotiations you navigate at work? Where do you give ground too quickly — and why?

Question 04 Who do you negotiate with most — internal stakeholders, external partners, or clients? How does your approach shift depending on who's across the table?

Open Floor What questions or challenges came up for you that you want to bring to the group?

When you are done

Share your outcome

Record the price you agreed on and reflect on what happened in the negotiation.

Answer Here →

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Cat Street Market

Share your outcome

Discuss with your partners

Share your outcome

Debrief Discussion Guide

Share your outcome

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. — Desmond Tutu

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
— Desmond Tutu