Do you bargain at retail stores?

[Antares]

I was in Morocco last year (haggling capital of the world) and was totally unprepared. I knew, beforehand, that I would have to bargain and haggle for almost everything....but man. I was haggled by vendors and salespeople into buying things that I wasn't even really interested in.

You peak into a shop or glance over and they would invite you to see what they have. Next you know, they're setting down pillows and pouring you a glass of mint tea and you want to leave but feel guilty because they are being so hospitable and nice. Man, I've never drank so much tea in my life (an ultra super sweet tea, at that).

I also spent a lot of time haggling for some things. 25 minutes just to buy a leather belt one late afternoon. I got some great deals but also know I paid way too much for other things. Part of the "fun," I guess.

I'm glad the US isn't a haggling culture. It can be stressful at times...and time consuming. In the US, I've bargained my HDTV down several hundred dollars off the sale price. I've haggled down the price of a digital camera and a few other things. I've also bargained at the kiosk booths/carts at malls. They tend to be very flexible on price...as are street vendors at summer festivals.

I can also think of several occasions when I didn't quite have enough money when buying something small (soda, candy, some food at a fast food joint) and the place let me buy it with what cash I had. But that's not really bargaining, I guess.

When I bought my car, I didn't haggle at all since I received a "partner" discount (which is basically the car just above dealer cost) along with the manufacturer cash back incentive on top of it.

 

[waloshin]

I would definitely bargain at place like furniture stores, places with salesmen that actually work with you to make a sale. Antiques stores also work (if you know what you're doing).

Most places I'd think of have pretty firm pricing...

I keep getting this image of me trying to haggle down the price of a tube of toothpaste or roll of toilet paper at Wal-Mart (even though I never go there):

Me: This is priced at 1.99. Can you give it to me for 1.79?
Cashier: Derrrrr.
Me: Here's 1.79. Take it or leave it.
Cashier: Derrrrrr.
Me: I'm leaving.
Cashier: *smiles*

The Police com and arrest you for the 0.20.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

You can't "haggle" in most retail stores...the best thing to do is to beat the system...for example, when i was a manager for Borders, I routinely allowed use of coupons repeatedly for one customer, before/after expirations, gave discounts if someone had an unpleasant experience, etc. The people who got those discounts were the ones who approached it politely. If you came to my cashier and said "I have this coupon" and you played dumb about expiration, and asked politely if you could use it, you would get it, no problem. If you were a jerk about it, you would probably get it THAT TIME...but we'd watch for future abuse. Whereas the people who were polite and well mannered we'd be more inclined to help. When you aren't on commission, haggling just annoys people who already have less incentive to go above and beyond, and believe me, there's very little good that often comes from the sort of abuse people heap on retail workers.

I was just going to say, I worked at Barnes and Noble and did just about the same thing.

 

[iBookG4user]

I try to bargain whenever I can, I'm very frugal with my money. Although it is harder to do at retail in the US and the downside to online purchasing is that there is no bargaining. Personally I prefer to buy used rather than new as it allows a lot more room to bargain the price. I've paid $400 for an $800 product and it is not out of the ordinary to get more substantial deals than that.

 

[Doctor Q]

Heh, I bargain quite often! Especially on Craigslist.

the downside to online purchasing is that there is no bargaining

The key to haggling is to buy from individuals, not businesses. Even at a brick and mortar store you might be dealing with an individual (the owner or a salesperson who can make pricing decisions) or the business itself (fixed prices).

 

[Bennieboy©]

The key to haggling is to buy from individuals, not businesses.

yep, there just seems to be some weird etho's when ya trying to argue the price of a pay as you go mobile down compared to dvds or a video game in a market stall or such,

i haggle when i can but it's just not always possible

 

[Ttownbeast]

On items in stock and in the box or items advertised specifically for shipment to the store I don't haggle. If an advertised in store item is unavailable at the moment but deliverable to the store (it's a matter of inconvenience to the customer) or the only item left is the store display item (being in functional condition yet obviously slightly used) then I haggle.

If it's there now or known to be a store ordered item and brand spanking new I find little or no reason not to pay the retail price or advertised sale price. I reserve the bargaining chip for situations of inconvenience--retail establishments which deal in high dollar items are used to this and go out of their way to keep what they can in stock, but will not turn away a paying customer who could be repeat business by being flexible enough to make a deal.

 

[happyfrappy]

Never had to haggle on books or supplies. I have a spiffy bookstore discount which includes a cash back rebate program. For supplies I have a 5 year contract with a local place who includes a reasonable discount that can't be had in retail/online, downside is I must order either by phone/their business log-in and wait a 2-day delivery.

As for computers, I've gotten some unexpected haggling done by store managers... Microcenter knocked off 25-30% on three accessories when I bought my Thinkpad T61 and another time when building a media desktop for my parents the guy managed to markdown a quadcore cpu for the same price as the dual core processor($80 difference) I originally planned to use so the total cost was much lower than Dell or buying from NewEgg! (my parents had a $185 surplus to use towards a monitor)

 

[Doctor Q]

I wonder how many people with an employee discount haggle anyway?