Мы приценивались перед торгом, а продавец уступил.

It comes from прицениваться. In this context, it means something like checking the price, sounding out the price, or getting a sense of how much something costs before deciding what to do next.

It is not exactly the same as торговаться.

• прицениваться = find out / estimate the price first
• торговаться = actually bargain or haggle over it

So the idea is that мы приценивались means we were feeling out the price before the real bargaining started.

The -сь is the short form of -ся, the reflexive ending.

In Russian, reflexive verbs are not always literally reflexive in the English sense. Sometimes -ся is just part of the normal dictionary form of the verb and gives it a special meaning.

So прицениваться is simply the standard verb for checking out the price / sizing up the price. You should learn it as a whole word, not try to translate it piece by piece as if it meant to price oneself.

This is a question of aspect.

• приценивались = imperfective past
• приценились = perfective past

The imperfective приценивались shows an ongoing, repeated, or background action: they were in the process of checking prices or feeling things out.

That fits well with the rest of the sentence, because it sets the scene: first there was this preliminary activity, and then the seller made a concession.

If you said мы приценились, it would sound more like we checked the price once / we got our price sense and finished. That is possible in some contexts, but the imperfective works better here for a preparatory, unfolding action.

Because перед takes the instrumental case.

So:

• торг = bargaining, haggling
• перед торгом = before bargaining

This is a standard pattern:

• перед уроком = before class
• перед встречей = before the meeting
• перед отъездом = before departure

So торгом is just the instrumental singular form required by перед.

Here торг means bargaining or haggling, especially over price.

It is narrower than торговля:

• торг = bargaining over a price
• торговля = trade, commerce, selling in general

It is also related to торговаться:

• торговаться = to bargain, to haggle
• торг = the bargaining itself

So перед торгом means before the haggling started.

This is an important distinction.

• прицениваться = to ask around, check, or estimate the price
• торговаться = to negotiate and try to bring the price down

So прицениваться often comes first. You look, ask, compare, and figure out what the seller wants. Then, if appropriate, you торгуетесь.

That is why the sentence says Мы приценивались перед торгом: they were doing the price-checking stage before the actual bargaining stage.

А often links two clauses with a sense of contrast, comparison, or switch of focus.

Here it works well because the sentence contrasts two sides:

• мы were doing one thing
• продавец responded in another way

So а can sound like:

• while
• whereas
• and meanwhile
• sometimes simply and, but with contrast

Compare:

• и would just join the facts more neutrally
• но would sound more strongly like but

In this sentence, а is natural because it sets our side against the seller’s side without making the contrast too dramatic.

Уступил is the past tense of уступить, which basically means to yield, to give in, or to make a concession.

In the context of bargaining, it usually means the seller came down on the price or agreed to better terms.

So продавец уступил means something like:

• the seller gave in
• the seller budged
• the seller made a concession
• the seller lowered the price

The exact thing being conceded is left unstated, because the context makes it obvious.

Yes, in a way the sentence is elliptical: Russian often leaves out what is obvious from context.

With bargaining, уступить often implies уступить в цене = to lower the price / give a discount.

You could make it more explicit:

• продавец уступил в цене = the seller came down on the price
• продавец уступил нам = the seller yielded to us
• продавец уступил сто рублей = the seller knocked off one hundred rubles

But продавец уступил by itself is perfectly natural if everyone already knows the discussion is about price.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

The subject here is продавец, which is masculine singular, so the verb is уступил.

Compare:

• продавец уступил = the male seller yielded
• продавщица уступила = the female seller yielded
• продавцы уступили = the sellers yielded

For the same reason, приценивались is plural because the subject is мы.

Yes. Russian word order is fairly flexible.

For example, you could also say:

• Перед торгом мы приценивались, а продавец уступил.
• Мы перед торгом приценивались, а продавец уступил.

These versions are still grammatical, but the emphasis shifts slightly.

The original Мы приценивались перед торгом, а продавец уступил sounds quite neutral:

• first, what we were doing
• then, what the seller did

If you move перед торгом to the front, you emphasize the time frame more strongly.