I’m finally at the point where I’m going to be buying adult (non-Ikea) furniture for the first time. I’m talking specifically about Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, to Restoration Hardware level stuff, where I’ll be paying $2,000 for a couch (instead of $300) and $1500 for a desk (instead of $150). Not the most expensive stuff on the market, but a far cry from particleboard you-assemble-it furniture of dorm rooms past.
Do people generally haggle over prices in these situations? I’m sure that salespeople will “sweeten the deal” with free delivery type incentives, but I wouldn’t dream of buying a car or many other goods without haggling when there’s a salesperson and thousands of dollars involved. Am I going to look like a lunatic if I start asking them to meet certain price points on various items?
I’ve never done it. I’ve always paid the asking price or didn’t buy. I do recall asking if they were expecting it to go on sale anytime soon. That sometimes prompts a positive result.
I’ve purchased “grown-up” furniture and never haggled on the price. I have, however, kept my eyes open for sales. I usually watch for the no interest finance type sales at stores that I already have credit cards for, that way I can buy a $2000 couch and pay $100 a month until it’s paid off. I’m usually weary of the “Buy a couch and get a free _____” since I figure they just adjusted the prices so it all works out the same anyways. I suppose, now that I think about it (and now that I’m in a situation where I don’t need a couch now) the better idea would be to find the furniture you like and then watch for sales and make sure the price goes down. Who cares if you manage to haggle in free delivery, but the price of the couch is $50 higher this week or it comes with a free ottoman but it’s $40 more and you have to purchase the fabric protection.
When I had to all-of-a-sudden furnish a whole house, I got them to knock 5% off a sofa, loveseat, and two leather chairs. This was at a Levitz Furniture in So. Calif.
I often watch for floor models – they usually give a discount on those. Plus sales, etc. If I were buying a lot of funiture from one store, I might ask the sales person if he could trim a little off. There’s no harm in asking.
I would definitely ask for a discount on floor models. I would also ask for 5-10% off if I was buying a substantial amount of furniture, say to furnish the whole living or dining room, seating, tables etc.
The three retailers you mentioned are national chains commonly found in malls or out-pads in mall parking lots. Those are the class of retailers least likely to have any price flex other than advertised sales. They don’t have sales people; they have floor walkers & cash register operators.
Buying similar quality furniture from you local Bob’s House of Awesome Couches or whatever you’ve got a lot more room to haggle. Usually not much on single items. But if you buy a couch and easy chairs and a coffee table and end tables, well now you’ve got room to knock a bunch off the total. Depending on how desparate they are, or how deeply the sticker is already discounted to what they used to get for similar stuff 5 years ago, you might be able to knock another 10 - 30% off.
Yeah, always worth asking.
My experience is in Ireland, but I don’t think it’s that different, in that it’s not a country where haggling is de rigeur.
I have a rule that if I’m buying pretty much anything for more than a few hundred euros, I just ask if they can do anything on the price, often they will knock 5-10% off straight away. Sometimes, they say no, but well worth asking.
As noted above, in some places, the staff are just slack-jawed youths, with no authority to offer discounts…
I don’t really see mall stores haggling with you-- but they are more likely to have coupons (sometimes substantial ones) and their prices will fluctuate heavily due to sales. Go to each of their websites and sign up for their email lists, see what coupons you get.
The other option, as others have mentioned, is to go to a local owned store. They are far more likely to negotiate.
Anyway, I agree that you can ask for something off if you’re trying to buy a display or a whole room full of furniture, but otherwise, stores like that really don’t give discounts, in my experience.
I’ve successfully bargained at Hom Furniture and Slumberland Furniture, both large-ish Midwestern chains. I even bargained for furniture at Dayton’s (which was bought by Carson Pirie and then Macy’s). I’d say the smaller the furniture store, the more room you have to bargain. The worst they could say is “no”.
Also, most of the medium sized stores have bargain centers where items have been returned for one reason or another (sometimes the fabric doesn’t match what they expected, so nothing wrong with it). In my metro area, we’ve got a couple of them including the Room & Board Outlet or BluDot which manufactures here which is all kinds of awesome.
Yeah it’s worth asking for a deal. If they’ve got authority and aren’t stupid they’ll realise it’s worth guaranteeing the sale to you with a few bob off. When you start haggling some places will offer to throw in more items at the sale price, rather than lowering it.
It doesn’t hurt to ask if there’s some way you can get a better price. Perhaps you have red hair, and there’s a special Red Headed Legion discount, but it’s not generally advertised. Sometimes there’s a veteran’s discount.
It helps, a lot, to shop around. If you can say “I saw the same or similar item at Store X for Price Y”, then sometimes you can get the current store to match the price and throw in a 10% discount on top of it.
My favorite, though, is to go to thrift shops. You DO have to be careful about bugs. I let the furniture live in the garage for at least a couple of weeks. But I was able to get an Ethan Allen dining table with five chairs for $225 at a thrift shop, instead of paying $2000 or 3000 for a new one with six chairs, for instance. I found a fabulous desk for $35, not particle board either. So, while you’re shopping, hit up a few thrift stores too. You might find THE perfect piece of furniture, even a set of furniture, for ten cents on the dollar. And it might very well be a much better quality than you could otherwise afford. You can’t be in a hurry, but I’m willing to spend a few hours to save a couple of thousand bucks.
You’d have to go to an actual furniture (or mattress, etc) store, with actual commissioned salespeople on staff, to haggle. Crate and Barrel definitely doesn’t apply. Everyone there is a generic “sales associate” who works for retail-wage (minimum or slightly above), and no commission.
A salesperson will walk you through the place and try to get you to buy more-expensive stuff. A sales associate will help you if you ask them help (and the store isn’t too busy), but you don’t get the same level of service. So if you’re approached by a pushy-ish salesperson while browsing, you can be reasonably assured that they will haggle. If a disinterested college student says “How can I help you?” when they pass you in the aisle, you can’t.
Your only real hope to “haggle” in a generic retail chain would be to ask if they have a price-matching policy.
Too bad there’s those freaking cameras.