tristanlist: I was wondering how to get the most money from bartering. (Legitimately. The cheat is to offer $65,000 for something the alien is both selling and willing to buy, like a random Standard Trade Good, these change daily. With that out of the way...)

I have noticed certain points where aliens' responses to barter offers will change. Like you can never offer less than 75% of the s.t.v. price for an artifact, or the alien says he's insulted and will not barter down. There are probably similar minimums for other goods, and maximums when selling them (250% for specialty goods maybe?), and whenever your offer breaches these, the response will be something like-

" x ? You insult me."
or
"I can't hear you."

Then there are instances where you make a better offer, and it is checked in relation to your previous offer. I am not clear on how this works, but I am guessing that it needs to be a certain percentage towards the s.t.v. rating from the last offer, say, 10%. If, for example, your new offer is just one penny better than your old one, the response will be something like-

"And why would I accept y if I did not accept x."
or
"y... x... it amounts to the same thing.

Finally, if the alien's bid or ask is -really- bad, it seems that refusing them outright prompts them to make a huge improvement, possibly doubling or halving their price. They will say something like,

"Now, let's not be too hasty."

I believe it also runs them down on patience, and you should to accept it.

Any thoughts, or does anyone know the "breakpoints?"