Do you haggle?

[briandownie]

In an earlier post I mentioned a friend of mine that spends a lot of time figuring out ways to save money. He is really great at haggling. He will haggle for just about anything. I've known him for years and it seems to me that he has saved thousands of dollars by haggling.

I haggle from time to time but I'm nowhere as good at it as he is.

My question is do you haggle?

Brian

[disneysteve]

It depends on the place. When shopping at yard sales and flea markets, absolutely. When shopping at certain types of stores, yes. Other places, no. You need to know where prices are negotiable and where they aren't. For example, prices at a furniture store are. Prices at the book store typically aren't. Prices on appliances are. Prices on groceries aren't. Of course, there are always exceptions. If you are buying in bulk, you can usually haggle. If you are buying on behalf of a charity, you can usually get a deal.

[krantcents]

Yes! The circumstances must be right to negotiate. My last major deal was a large screen TV. The store policy was to match any price from any other retail store. I saved 40%. Most of the time I use shopping bots on the Internet to find the best price.

[MonkeyMama]

Yes, we always haggle. Almost everything is negotiable. What is important to remember is that services are usually VERY negotiable. Not just goods.

OF course, we are mediocre hagglers. We have a relative who is an expert haggler, and is always giving me new ideas. "I hadn't thought about asking for a price break on that!"

We also have a lot of experience haggling at department stores. So often I see people say, "You can't haggle at Sears," or comments like that. Um, yes you can! Sales tax here is about 10%. Sears will often just pay the sale tax for you, so that is 10% savings, just for asking. Free delivery, stuff like that. Big chains will have less flexibility on price, but if you ask, they will figure something out. If not, just shop somewhere else. We refuse to buy furniture without haggling. We have come across stores that refuse to haggle - their loss.

[disneysteve]

We also have a lot of experience haggling at department stores. So often I see people say, "You can't haggle at Sears," or comments like that. Um, yes you can!

I think it depends what you are buying and how much you are spending. If you go in for a pair of jeans, the price is what the price is. If, however, you are buying a washer and dryer and spending $1,000+, that's different and there is definitely room to negotiate.

One thing that is important to know is how a store's sales staff is paid. If they are salaried, you won't do so well haggling. In the case of salaried staff, you may need to speak to a manager to try and bargain. If they work on commission, though, you have a much better chance. I remember being in a store years ago looking at stereo equipment. I asked the salesman how much an item was. His response was, "Are you buying it today?" That told me that the price was negotiable. He would be willing to come down on the price in order to make the sale then since he'd get a cut of it.

[snafu]

There's a book out called 'You Can Negotiate Anything" which teaches the art of haggling. We ask if there is any flexibility in price/discount for a great many purchases which is a common procedure in many other countries. It takes practice and must be a pleasant, smiling conversation/transaction for both parties. It's ok to ask if the item will be going on sale soon, as an opener. You can tell the salesman that you'd prefer to buy from him/her but your research on-line showed lower pricing so you'd need a discount to make the purchase today. If you planned to pay cash, ask if they will discount as retailers pay 3-4% commission to Visa, MC, AMEX etc. I think retailers pay a fee for ATM transactions.

I believe the biggest dollar value discount we got was from our realtor who halved her commission to get our listing because she had 2 other listings in our district. You've nothing to lose by asking.

[MonkeyMama]

I think it depends what you are buying and how much you are spending. If you go in for a pair of jeans, the price is what the price is. If, however, you are buying a washer and dryer and spending $1,000+, that's different and there is definitely room to negotiate.

This is what I was referring to. There are many people out there who believe you can't haggle on an appliance at popular department stores.

[GREENBACK]

I honestly never think to haggle at places that aren't traditional like gun stores, car dealers and such. I really should do more of this on bigger ticket items I suppose. I never thought of furniture stores as a place to negotiate prices.

[seen]

Initially when I read the OP I thought I did my fair share of haggling but...at Sears?? I did not know you could do that.

[krantcents]

The key to negotiating (haggling) is give them a reason to give you a better price. The other key is listening for clues such as "the store will match prices". About 30+ years ago, I bought several suits, raincoat and some shirts. Since I was spending a fair amount of money for a new wardrobe, I asked for things like additional tailoring ($40 extra each suit), a tie for each suit and shirts. The overall cost warranted negotiating.
If I were buying one shirt, I would not think of negotiating. If I were buying 6 shirts, I would ask for a price break.

[disneysteve]

I never thought of furniture stores as a place to negotiate prices.

Most furniture stores around here run those ridiculous ads with "No payments until 2015". Of course, there is no such thing as free financing. They make it up in higher prices. So if you are able to pay cash upfront, you should definitely be able to negotiate the price down 10-15%.

Another example is if you go mattress shopping. We went to the mattress store with their newspaper ad. We took a look at the models advertised for relatively low prices and didn't like the quality or feel of any of them. The salesman, of course, steered us toward higher priced models. We liked a couple but told him they were a lot more than we wanted to spend, so he asked how much we wanted to spend. I told him we had come in looking for the ones in the ad or something in that price range, a few hundred less than what he was showing us. He proceeded to knock a couple hundred dollars off of the price of the better model to bring it pretty close to what the cheap ones in the ad were selling for and he made a sale. We were happy and I'm sure he was, too.

[GREENBACK]

Another example is if you go mattress shopping. We went to the mattress store with their newspaper ad. We took a look at the models advertised for relatively low prices and didn't like the quality or feel of any of them. The salesman, of course, steered us toward higher priced models. We liked a couple but told him they were a lot more than we wanted to spend, so he asked how much we wanted to spend. I told him we had come in looking for the ones in the ad or something in that price range, a few hundred less than what he was showing us. He proceeded to knock a couple hundred dollars off of the price of the better model to bring it pretty close to what the cheap ones in the ad were selling for and he made a sale. We were happy and I'm sure he was, too.

I'll remember this. Definitely has me thinking about it now.

[briandownie]

I've done pretty well negotiating lower prices myself but what I find works really well is asking the store to throw in extras.

I was buying a computer for my daughter to take to school so I suggested to the sales clerk that she could use printer paper, an extra cartridge, a wireless mouse, mouse pad and some blank disks. I got the whole bunch for nothing and a discount on a printer.

I think the real key to getting a good deal is being pleasant and not too pushy and of course always being prepared to walk away from the deal. I think a good salesman knows how badly you want something and will discount accordingly.

Brian

[shengmei]

If you go to target, and you find a defective apparel (missing button, etc), they will take 10% off the price.

The missing button thing is easy to fix, because all of their apparel come with extra buttons.

[Snodog]

I hate haggling and only use it for big ticket items like a house or a car. Usually when I want to buy something I research it online and find the best price and buy it. Just recently I found a cell phone provider that only costs me 4 cents per minute.

I'm not very skilled at haggling because I rarely buy anything but when I do I don't want to fool around cruising all over town trying to find the best deal-I'm not willing to walk away.