Tcisboss - you asked for two words I'd use to describe my actions. I only need one word: Successful. Before entering in a negotiation, you go into it with a clear target to achieve. The outcome of a negotiation is either a success or a failure. Yes, the greedy vendor wanted top price, and yes, the selfish buyer (me) wanted to pay bottom dollar. In this situation, they didn't call my bluff, and I won.
To the people calling me an unethical liar (Janimont, Redmoki etc) - call me scum, call me sick, call me corrupt, call me a liar, call me what ever you like - I don't mind. The fact is I did lie as part of my method of negotiating. I certainly can't deny that.
But to take the moral high-ground and frown upon someone who has lied to facilitate personal gain (me) - by implication, that suggests that you never committed such an atrocity? Have you, in your life, ever lied for some form of personal gain? If not, then make yourself known to The Vatican, my friend, because I hear they are auditioning for a new Pope.
Now, obviously, in reality we all know that everyone has lied at some point in their lives in order to achieve a desired outcome for something. No one is perfectly clean. However, I would speculate that those who staunchly opposed my method of negotiation were annoyed because they realised that if they were the vendor in this situation, deep down, they too probably would have fallen for it.
Finally, I'll say this. Have any of you ever sold your house by auction?
Have any of you ever sold your house by auction, and allowed your auctioneer to make 'dummy bids'?
Sometimes they also employ people in the crowd to make false bids in order to drive up the price. Those bids, on behalf of you (the vendor), have no intention of ever being fulfilled. They are plain and simple lies. Just like my initial $725K 'dummy offer'. No different. It works both ways too - you just don't like hearing about it.
