At the markets, humor can lower prices

Online platforms – such as Etsy, eBay or Leboncoin in France – have experienced rapid growth in recent years, driven by various factors, such as technological developments, the Covid pandemic, inflation, the rise of the circular economy and the growing appeal of second-hand products. The result: millions of consumers now exploit these platforms buy and sell: eBay, for example, recorded 134 million busy buyers in 2023.

How might online negotiations differ from classic offline negotiations? In this fresh universe, buyers and sellers on these platforms by definition do not physically meet. They have few expectations about the future of the relationship, and exchanges are generally brief and anonymous. Buyers and sellers are typically unaware of each other’s personal circumstances. Our study focused on the impact that humor can have during negotiations and the likelihood that sellers will accept an offer made to them when it is used.

Moderator or off topic?

One of the functions of humor is regulate some social interactions : Introducing it into problematic situations can aid people feel better. But humor has to be handled with caution: in some situations, no matter how tense, it is not appropriate to exploit humor at all. What about online sales? Is humor helpful or inappropriate?

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To find out, we conducted an experiment, the results of which are as follows: published in this article. We considered two ways of perceiving humor in online sales. On the one hand, it could be seen as fun: a buyer who uses humor would therefore be perceived as more affable than another who does not, which would encourage the seller to cooperate. On the other hand, given the psychological distance that accompanies “online” interactions, humor may be considered inappropriate and provoke a negative reaction from the seller.

In our online experiment, hundreds of participants were asked to put themselves in the shoes of a clothing seller on an online platform. They were then asked to read an offer from a potential buyer, who could or could not be witty. In the “humor” condition, the buyer responded to the seller’s counteroffer with the following joke: “For a closet salesman, you’re not very useful!” We measured the extent to which the buyer was perceived as affable or cheeky. The potential seller then had to indicate whether he or she accepted a counteroffer that was lower than the asking price.

The laughing salesman…

The experiment showed that buyers who demonstrated a sense of humor were perceived as affable, which significantly increased the likelihood that a seller would accept an offer below the asking price. Moreover, the results indicated that using or not using humor had no significant effect on being perceived as more impertinent in one-off online negotiations.

These findings have a number of applications for both buyers and sellers, especially as trends indicate that the number of such transactions is expected to continue to boost in the coming years.

The first practical lesson for sellers is that they need to be aware of the consequences of amusing comments from potential buyers. While humor can make the interaction more enjoyable and/or fun for the seller, the study clearly shows that there is also a risk of being induced to accept a lower selling price. Therefore, before starting an exchange, sellers should consider how they want to respond to a buyer’s amusing speech. This will allow them to decide with full knowledge of the facts during the exchange whether they want to accept the buyer’s offer, regardless of the buyer’s mood.

Learn to respond to humor

The second practical implication concerns sellers: to protect themselves from attempts to influence buyers, it is in their best interest to have in mind the lowest price they are willing to pay before engaging in an exchange with a buyer. In this way, the seller can always check whether he is still consistent with his original assumptions and thus reduce the influence of the buyer’s sense of humor on his decision.

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In low, the study confirms that it may be wise for buyers to exploit humor when making an offer, especially since the risk of being misunderstood or being impertinent is low. However, it is conceivable that in a purely textual exchange and in the absence of facial expressions, tone of voice and body language, the subtleties that often accompany humor become elusive, leaving room for misunderstanding and the impression that the joker is being cheeky.

These results should also encourage companies that conduct a enormous number of transactions on marketplaces to train their sellers on humor. In particular, training should include guidelines on how to respond to humor in one-on-one interactions, describing different forms of humor, educating buyers and sellers on the cultural nuances that govern amusing expression, and identifying contexts in which humor is appropriate as well as its potential consequences.

The original research described in this article was conducted in collaboration with Emma Garnier, an IESEG 2023 graduate.