How are your haggling skills?

mikemac

I think this was raised over in Bargain Alerts a few weeks back but may as well raise it here.

Was buying two expensive ipods on Saturday and I didn’t haggle at all, looking back at it I’m sure I would have got something money off or maybe even an ipod case.
And I know when I sold my scooter I got beaten down on price easily. Ok, I got a decent price but I’ll admit I’m a terrible haggler.
(disregard this when you meet me on adverts.ie!)

So are posters here ruthless hagglers? Would you haggle like a cattle dealer over big purchases like a TV and electrical equipment.
Would you push that further and haggle hard over hotel rooms, holidays or even small purchases

Or maybe you think nobody should haggle, what's your opinion?

KamiKazi

Yore ma's a haggle.

Rabies

On material gifts, no.
Things like horses, maybe holidays and second hand gear.

Electronics, never.

Rabies

KamiKazi wrote: »

Yore ma's a haggle.

OMG thats soooooo original. Happy you're the first?

Go play with some cats and a camera

Danbo!

Yes, people really should. When in spain and other parts of europe you can easily haggle on cheap enough items. I learnt it all from the aul fella who can be a right cheeky bastard and will haggle on anything he can. Lines like 'is that the best price you can do for cash', etc work very well. If staff are working on commission they will usually apply their own staff discount or a student discount just to make a sale.

herbieflowers

Are the non-independent shops haggle-able?

SV

there's always money to be saved!

I recently bought a model car I'd been after for quite some time, advertised at 125euro , got it for 80euro..yer man probably made a ****e load of profit still but saved me 45euro!

I generally won't bother though..

luckat

Depends. For something like electronics, in a big shop, I might occasionally go the "Can you do anything for me on that price" way, purely for fun on both sides.

I wouldn't do it in a small shop, where people might have tight margins, and I certainly wouldn't do it on a stall where someone's made craftwork and is selling it. Tough enough to make a living that way.

Mint Sauce

will try to with electrcal goods, or try and get something throwen in, bought a digital camera last year, was worth €500, got a 100 off, aditiional memory and carry case, last laptop brought, got free software, usally though they might just give me some accesories

komodosp

That sounds like good going with the camera, irish-stew... how did you manage that?

Mint Sauce

got chatting to the sales assistant, small talk, etc, pointed out the one i was interested in (the camera ), pointed out the price on pix mainia, she went off to chat to manager, came back, told me couldn't match it, most could do was a 100 off, was still 50 less on the website than what i eventually paid, but not bad considering i was able to walk out of shop with it same day and start using straight away, plus had that security of going back to the shop if any questions or issue

but still shows the crazy difference in price we are paying, compared to the UK and the continent, was in same shop few days earlier, asked was there any offers or discount or anything thrown in, got turned down flat

Silenceisbliss

I once managed to get an offer for 1 for the price of 2 laptops in PC world.

beat that! (no .... it's not a typo)

javaboy

How are my haggling skills? Not great. They're all faded and look second hand. And look, the stitching is very shoddy in places, especially around the corners. I'm pretty sure I can get better haggling skills for the same money at another shop down the road but I'm here now so I'm sure we can work something out.

oztots

My favourite would be to make your offer, saya its all you got.

Then take at said amount and waft the money in front of them. The sight of money often makes them think twice about saying no.

With cars or bikes I've told a few people this and it works fairly well.
Haggle first, but dont agree on their price.
Say you have it in cash if they want, waft it front of them again, give them your number and tell them to call you if they change their mind.
Drive away.
Give it an hour and they'll generally ring back.

JohnK

Quite useless tbh as I always feel like a twat

Only time I ever really tried was in Thailand and even then it was as simple as offering 50% of asking price and walking out the door if they said no. In every case they were almost jeering at me until I crossed the threshold of the shop then realised I was actually leaving so they'd come running after me. Of course in most cases even 50% was probably too much to pay but I got my little discount so I was happy

niceirishfella

Silenceisbliss wrote: »

I once managed to get an offer for 1 for the price of 2 laptops in PC world.

beat that! (no .... it's not a typo)

I think you mean "2 for the price of 1" ........otherwise your haggling skills are RUBBISH......!

javaboy

oztots wrote: »

My favourite would be to make your offer, saya its all you got.

Then take at said amount and waft the money in front of them. The sight of money often makes them think twice about saying no.

With cars or bikes I've told a few people this and it works fairly well.
Haggle first, but dont agree on their price.
Say you have it in cash if they want, waft it front of them again, give them your number and tell them to call you if they change their mind.
Drive away.
Give it an hour and they'll generally ring back.

That approach can work well but it has to be believable. If it's something big like a car I'd be sceptical that a buyer would bring only the cash for exactly the price they're aiming for. It can work much better when haggling for an item around the 50 or 60 euro region in a market situation. If you play the "I'd have to find an ATM or get the extra money from my wife/husband" line you'll probably have some luck. The last thing a trader wants is the missus coming along saying "You're not buying another bloody fishing rod!".

javaboy

niceirishfella wrote: »

I think you mean "2 for the price of 1" ........otherwise your haggling skills are RUBBISH......!

Yeah that was the idea. That PC world ripped him off. He even put in the typo but so people wouldn't do exactly what you just did.

Biggins

Paying cash for second-hand goods, yea, I'll haggle.
Come next year, I suspect there will be more haggling than ever before!

oztots

javaboy wrote: »

That approach can work well but it has to be believable. If it's something big like a car I'd be sceptical that a buyer would bring only the cash for exactly the price they're aiming for. It can work much better when haggling for an item around the 50 or 60 euro region in a market situation. If you play the "I'd have to find an ATM or get the extra money from my wife/husband" line you'll probably have some luck. The last thing a trader wants is the missus coming along saying "You're not buying another bloody fishing rod!".

Ah sure im only a young lad. Cars and the likes at my age rarely go over 5000, unless your some ass looking for a Civic type R or the likes. Works most places.
I can remember my father wanting a golf club somewhere. So he hands me about €20 less than its worth and says "tell the man you want to get your dad a present".
It worked, child exploitation at its best.

javaboy

oztots wrote: »

I can remember my father wanting a golf club somewhere. So he hands me about €20 less than its worth and says "tell the man you want to get your dad a present".
It worked, child exploitation at its best.

I've done that before actually. I got a bodyboard cheap in France that way. It's believable when a kid says "this is all the money I have". Not so much with an adult.

Silenceisbliss

niceirishfella wrote: »

I think you mean "2 for the price of 1" ........otherwise your haggling skills are RUBBISH......!

....and I even wrote "no .... it's not a typo" :rolleyes:

BroomBurner

I've started haggling more often. It's good fun. Once you get past the feeling weird for speaking out loud in front of strangers bit.

To make it easier, know where you can definitely get what you want cheaper and also be prepared to walk out empty-handed. After that, you're set. Why both pay full price when you don't have to?

chasm

Im useless at haggling- which is why the markets in Turkey were probably not the best place to go shopping whilst on holiday! They pester you for a sale, and if you say No, it confuses them and they are like "make me an offer", which wasnt too bad i suppose if it was something you liked as it opened up the negotiations as it were.

We had a child in a buggy with us and the traders would stand in front of you so you couldnt pass or put their feet against the wheel so you couldnt push the buggy- Seriously got on my nerves to be honest. I know its their way of trading but i prefer the old fashioned "thats the price, if you dont like it buy elsewhere" attitude.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

I am stubborn when it comes to taking offers, my price is not a guideline. I will accept reasonable offers. Selling something for 50 euro and I get an offer of 45 is reasonable, getting an offer of 15 is not.

I don't think you can haggle in a shop really, when it comes to my car I will haggle, tyres mainly. If I get a quote on something I would normally say, "is that the best you can do". Or I will tell the company that I got a better offer and could they match it.


There are sooo many substitutes out there that you should be able to get better deals. You know?

AnonoBoy

I can keep 4 batons in the air for a good few minutes at this stage so they're getting better. I'd love to try flaming knives or something but I don't think my haggling skills are that good yet.

On a totally unrelated note my reading skills could be slightly better I suppose.

thefinalstage

My haggling skills allow me to get deals on everythning. I once got 2 for the price of one on a bulk buy of penny sweets :P.

twanda

chasm wrote: »

Im useless at haggling- which is why the markets in Turkey were probably not the best place to go shopping whilst on holiday! They pester you for a sale, and if you say No, it confuses them and they are like "make me an offer", which wasnt too bad i suppose if it was something you liked as it opened up the negotiations as it were.

We had a child in a buggy with us and the traders would stand in front of you so you couldnt pass or put their feet against the wheel so you couldnt push the buggy- Seriously got on my nerves to be honest. I know its their way of trading but i prefer the old fashioned "thats the price, if you dont like it buy elsewhere" attitude.

I know exactly what you mean! Was in Morocco on hols and the tour guide told us that nothing in the shops had a set price and that the shop staff expected you to haggle for everything. She advised us that whatever price a seller tried to get from us,the real value of the item would only be half or two thirds of that and we should try to bargain down. It was horrible trying to buy anything coz I am sh**e at haggling. If you did manage to bargain them down, they would act all huffy and ignorant and nearly throw the item at you... This year we're gonna go somewhere that has shops with set prices.

..That said, a lot of other Irish holiday makers told me they were loving the haggling bit and were very proud of their haggling skills.

JohnK

twanda wrote: »

..That said, a lot of other Irish holiday makers told me they were loving the haggling bit and were very proud of their haggling skills.

Well it can be a good laugh and all that but if you just want to buy something and get on with your day its a right pain. Sure you could just pay the initial price but then you're being taken for a complete ride.