[verbatim]

Your assumption that "someone else paid for it" only holds if the price was directly tied to external costs and not their own profit.

[conanbatt]

So you say investors pay for it? Very generous on their behalf.

[tmnvix]

If a client rejects my initial quote but accepts my lower one (for exactly the same service), did I also 'pay for it'?

[conanbatt]

If the other clients pay the higher quote, and thus it is a better strategy for you to put a higher price whichonly a few haggle, you didn't pay for it. The rest of the customers subsidize the haggler.