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I am looking for a proverb or idiom that indicates bad bargaining skills of a person. For e.g., a person might bargain for a kilo/pound vegetables, succeed but end up buying only a quarter kilo/pound. This would also indicate a foolish person.

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    google.com/search?q=idioms+for+shopping - He is likely to buy a pig in a poke - Anyone could sell him a pig in a poke
    – mplungjan
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 12:05
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    Most English speakers would recognize the allusion if you said, "If you sent him to market to sell a cow, he'd come back with a handful of magic beans."
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented Nov 12, 2017 at 22:14
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    'A fool and his money are soon parted' is quite an early proverb in the English language and, as such, might be thought to contain the wisdom of the ancients. The phrase 'A fool and his money are soon parted' - meaning and origin.The notion was known by the late 16th century, when it was expressed in rhyme by Thomas Tusser in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie, 1573: A foole & his money, be soone at debate: which after with sorow, repents him to late.
    – Leachoid
    Commented Mar 2, 2022 at 18:07

5 Answers 5

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give away the farm (idiom)

Sell the farm. The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase give away the farmnegotiate poorly or make a deal that puts one at a serious disadvantage: He signed a law that gave away the farm to big drug companies while leaving seniors with hardly any benefits. Yuri Dolgopolov; A Dictionary of Confusable Phrases (2016)

To give away the farm means to make available or divulge more than absolutely necessary. Business negotiations require strategy and tactfulness and one must be careful not to give away the farm. Brian Ashcraft and Dan Kelly; Jargonaut Express: Essential Idioms for the Astute Business Speaker (2014)

To offer way too much during a negotiation. David Burke; Slangman Guide to Biz Speak One (2001)

To pay more than one should have; to pay more than fair market value.

Joe has made a career of giving away the farm. Wiktionary

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"They're no Horse Trader"

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/horse-trade

horse-trade: To negotiate, trade, or bargain in a shrewd, judicious manner. Primarily heard in US.

Example: You'll have to excuse my cousin, he hasn't had the patience to horse-trade ever since he started working on Wall Street.

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I would call such a person a "sucker." Dictionary.com Unabridged offers the following definition of the term:

a person easily cheated, deceived, or imposed upon.

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"A fool and his money are soon parted." (per comment by Leachoid)

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To be “Selling yourself short” perhaps?

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    I would have voted this up, but you didn't cite any reference, nor enlarge on it in any way.
    – Nigel J
    Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 16:09
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    I've not been able to find an authority giving any meaning for 'sell oneself / somebody / something short' other than 'give an underestimate of the value of'. I wouldn't equate having bad haggling skills with selling oneself short. Commented Nov 11, 2017 at 16:23
  • It does imply undervaluing, but "sell" is used in the sense of "to influence or induce to make a purchase" rather than to actually complete the purchase (exchange goods for money).
    – Stuart F
    Commented Sep 1, 2023 at 10:40

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