Opinions on haggling.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was recently listening to a commercial on the radio where a store was saying that the price listed was their best price so you did not have to haggle to get a good deal. The store is question was a jewelers which surprised me. Then it got me thinking. I started wondering if this store expected people to haggle normally and if so, are all stores like that (except things like grocery stores). If I go into Best Buy or Circuit City are they expecting me to haggle over the price of a 42" plasma screen tv or a new laptop? If I go to a jewelry store to buy something for my wife, are they expecting me to haggle over the price?

I can understand haggling over the price of large ticket items like cars and houses etc., but to haggle in a store seems very odd.

Personally, I hate haggling because I am not very good at it, my wife is the same.

What does everyone in Doperland think? Has anyone actually haggled for something like jewelry or electronics? I would be interested to hear about your stories.

2

Nearly anything is negotiable. My wife haggles over almost anything, and generally will get a discount of 10% or more. She once bought a fancy floor lamp and talked them down from $800 to $400! Some stores will give you a discount for paying cash instead of by credit card.

It never hurts to ask, it’s just not common in the US.

3

I don’t, because I’m no good at it. Salesman says price is $X, I either fork over the dough or don’t. My husband, on the other hand, haggles about almost anything except groceries. The worst that can happen, he points out, is that they will say no. Sometimes they give you a better price. Furniture, for example, has a very high markup and you can potentially save a lot. When it comes to really big items, like cars, I can’t even watch. It’s scary.

His mother is even better (or worse, depending on your point of view). She once convinced a local used car dealer of killing her first husband because he “worked himself to death” on the previous car they’d bought from him. (The 3 pax/day of unfiltered cigs he smoked were not mentioned.) She got the price she wanted.

4

Chasing Amy:
Alyssa: Are you an authorized dealmaker in this establishment? Do you have the power to negotiate?
Cashier: You wanna haggle over the price of your French Dip?

The key is whether the sales person is authorized to sell to you for a lower price. A typical fast food clerk or SprawlMart employee will get fired. (Unless the item is a remainder or some such and can go for whatever that store will take.)

If you are talking to someone running their own store, they can deal.

Car dealers and jewelers are special since the bosses have already pre-approved negotiation within limits. (The biggest limit is that below a certain price the salescreep gets 0 commission and they’d rather have you go away instead.)

If you don’t like haggling, stay away from those places! You are getting royally reamed. Just get as much information as you can ahead of time. Figure out the right price. Work up to it. Simple. Why pay 4 times wholesale for ring?

5

The amount of markup is just about everything. If a store has a minimal markup on an item, more than likely you won’t be able to haggle the price down. It’s not in the seller’s best interest to go any lower, unless the item is shopworn, completely dated, or similarly unlikely to sell. If it’s current merchandise in good condition, and the markup is minimal, then the retailer is willing to gamble that it will sell at the marked price and probably won’t haggle. On the other hand, if you find something wrong with the merchandise, then you can try haggling. On the gripping hand, if you intentionally damage the merchandise to attempt to get a better deal, the retailer is quite likely to know that you’ve done so and will insist on the full price, right now, and you can just leave the store immediately afterwards. A lot of people try to pull this one, and retailers are onto this scam.

Luxury items are much more likely to have a larger markup than utility items. I’ve worked for quite a period of time as a salesclerk in a grocery/deli/convenience store and in a women’s clothing store. In the convenience store, we did a minimal markup on the domestic standard beer, and a HUGE markup on the Dom Perignon. I think that we sold the champagne for about $75 per bottle (it wasn’t a particularly good year) but I saw the owner and managers sometimes sell it for as low as $50 after a haggling session. The salesclerks, of course, were not allowed to haggle about the price, if anyone wanted to discuss the price they had to talk to the owner or manager. In the clothing store, we sold popular work/semidress slacks (Levi’s Bendovers) for about $15, which reflected about half of our normal markup. The owner reasoned that women would come in for the slacks, and pick up some other items while they were shopping. For the most part, this worked. We carried cocktail and evening wear as well, which was marked up at a much higher rate, as well as the costume jewelry. We were quite happy to haggle on these high markup items. We would also sell, at cost, anything that was really dated, though we wouldn’t sell below cost. Only the owner could make the decision to cut the price below cost.

I’ve successfully haggled for some items, cars, furniture, and the like. My tips are to show SOME interest in buying an item in the category, but not THIS particular item, or necessarily from THIS particular store, dealership, whatever. Someone who is just getting price ranges is not a real prospect, and the salesperson isn’t going to want to spend much time on a browser. You want to be seen as a potential buyer, not a browser. Don’t fall in love with a particular piece of furniture or car or style. Unless you’re living in the back of the beyond, you can find one fairly similar to it at another place if the salesperson won’t give you the right price. Figure out the price you’re willing to pay, but of course never let the salesperson know what it is. Remember, though, when you’re figuring how much you will pay, that the salesperson has to cover the basic cost of the item, PLUS overhead, PLUS the salesperson has to eat, too. If your highest offer won’t cover these basics, you won’t be able to buy the item, no matter how persuasive you are. The salesperson knows almost to the penny how much he must get on an item to break even, and he won’t go below that. If he does, then he won’t last long.

6

Almost any item that is sold used (pawn shop, flea market, garage sale) is subject to negotiation. If you don’t like to haggle, you can always ask, “What’s the least you’d take for that?” If you like the price, great. Otherwise just walk away. I worked in a pawn shop for 5 years and got asked this about 20 times a day. Like I said in another thread, we would always take less than the price on the tag.

7

My dad used to prep me on haggling. One of his strategies is to simply turn your back. Find a reasonable price and stick with it, show minimal interest in the item and if the person still refuses, simply turn your back as if you’re about to leave. They’ll call you back if they’re desperate to sell that particular item. I think this works best in flea markets and such lowly establishments where the owner is struggling to keep head above water. I have yet to test its effectiveness in a car dealership, but I did try it when I was buying a new watch, original price 275$ the guy got haggled down to 220$ and when I said “thats without tax right?” (Canadian) the guy said “no” so I go “oh… well I have 220$ right here, you sure?” the guy’s mind was made up until I said “thanks” and proceeded to walk away, I got called back and got it at 220$ with tax included :smiley:

8

I do not haggle. If your price is not cheap enough for my tastes, I don’t buy it. If you don’t put a price on it AT ALL I’m not buying it. I went to Mexico for the day on a lark and they almost didn’t let me back into the country because I hadn’t bought anything. Hey, nothing had a price on it, so who knew it was for sale? Homey don’t play that!

9

<hijack>

Woo! Someone else uses that expression. I’ve always thought mods were gods, but now I know :slight_smile:

</hijack>

10

I didn’t used to, save for housing and cars, but since living overseas I’ve come to appreciate this more. I still see certain places as “off limits”, perhaps incorrectly so (large bookstore chains, departments stores, etc), but will do so in furniture stores, car shops, a lot of places like that. Also on services I’ll usually ask if they can’t cut me a discount. It helps to dress down a bit.

11

I sell sunglasses and people (generally foreigners, but Americans too) try haggling all the time. I think some people see a genuine difference between asking for a discount and haggling, though. I remarked to someone asking for a discount that haggling didn’t really work in “this kind of store” and he looked aghast.

“I wasn’t haggling! I was asking if you’d give me a discount!”

When I asked him what he thought haggling was, he spluttered for a bit, and then went quiet and paid regular price. Ironically, I was going to give him 20% off.

There kind of is a difference though; I think of haggling as “I’ll give you $X for it”, rather than asking the salesperson to determine a markdown.

I do it a lot more now than I did before I went into retail, knowing how easy it is for people to get a better price outta me.

12

According to a friend who worked at Best Buy, you can haggle a bit on the big ticket items, but to get anything substantial out of them you have to buy the store’s extended warranty plan.

13

I had a customer at Borders yesterday who tried haggling. She finally stopped asking me for a ‘deal’ when I told her that I could not do anything, I do not set the prices, and no, Tarot decks, as far as I know are NEVER on sale.

We will occasionally give someone 10% off if something is damaged and they throw a fit, but every time month the managers get a list of everything that was discounted and go through, and if you don’t have a legitimate reason for it, well, you get a talking to.

And besides, 10% just really isn’t worth it to me.

14

I’ve never haggled in a store in Australia. Cars, boats, property and second-hand goods are subject to negotiation, but I don’t think the practice of haggling over consumer goods is very common.

I’ve haggled over electronic goods in Asia, which was an enormous pain in the arse. I hate having to confront shopkeepers as adversaries.

15

I am agreeing and disagreeing at the same time with Jervoise about Australia and Asia (In Australia we don’t haggle much but there are areas of Australia that are more like Asia). It depends on what part of Sydney you are in.

I was previously never one to haggle but I have a friend from Thailand and when we go to the areas of Sydney where there is a large Asian population, such as China Town in the middle of Sydney and Cabramatta on the outer edge it is a different story. Cabramatta has a high proportion of people from Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and China, the local council calls it a a day trip to Asia. Most of the business are small in these areas.

Shops in those areas are very open to negotiating on price, especially if the salesperson is also the owner. Jewellery and electrical purchases are the main items although fashion and fresh food can also be haggled down.

I wouldn’t call it completely adversarial, the shop owner wants your money and will accept a slightly smaller amount rather than nothing and they know what their limit is. One of the best approaches is if you are buying three items that are $11 each just say “Will you take $30 for three?” Its the same thing supermarkets do by selling in bulk, you’re just making your own package deal on the spot.

To answer the OP: It does happen in Australia but most retailers have staff working who don’t have the authority to give discounts and if you ask they answer will almost always be no so you stop asking. But in the areas mentioned above if you don’t haggle on some items you are paying more than you should.

16

A woman I work with routinely does it over the phone. She will ring A and tell them that B have the same item on sale for $20 less. The salesman at B will say he can do better than that. She will then ring A and say that B can undercut their sale price. They may offer to do better. Sometimes she will ring C and go through the same routine. She says that usually once you reach the point of painful discounts the company won’t offer a price - they want you to come there to hear the discount so that they will make the sale. She usually warns them “I hope you’re not luring me all the way there for an extra $1 off.” She seems to get pretty good bargains. She also checks around at work if anyone else is interested so she can tell the store “I’ll be getting 3 of these.” She last did it with a DVD player and did in fact buy 3 for various people.

17

Adjust As and Bs as required.