Originally Posted by Psimet2001

Living on the other Side of that equation all the time I know exactly what the shop guy is going through/is thinking.

Constipation of the brain.

"Hmmm...did I really want to sell that? Can't sell it at full price. Want to give him a deal because it was "used". Don't want to piss him off by asking for near full price, but if I am not going to sell it at full price I might as well order him up a new one and take that one back. If I don't then I will just need to get another one for fittings anyway."

Usually all goes through his head in the 5 minutes you ask which is probably when the store is filled or he has 5 people asking questions or he needs to get that order in befor the close of ship time from his distributor.....

His biggest concern is you having what you need - what works - and that you're riding. That is always the most important. The details on payment....they'll work out in the end.

From your perspective...yeah...it sucks. Being that shop owner though I would recommend you do the following: come in when you know the shop isn't super busy, hand him $50-$60 and simply say that is what you would like to pay for the stem, that you hope that will be sufficient, it's what you think is fair, and that you're only pushing it because you don't like to know that you owe somebody.

He'll be very happy and most likely apologetic.