Haggling - Do You Do It.

Twoandahalfmen

With 33% of the population to polite to haggle and get a bargain because they are too polite or embarrassed, I want to know do you do it. The worst that could happen is you get a NO.

There's more room for discounts if you try!!!!

juan.kerr

Yes, my propsective employer offered me 50k, I managed to haggle him down to 45k. I fely very proud of myself until I realised what I had done.

Does any large retailers actually allow haggling?

Davy

Deleted User wrote: »

Does any large retailers actually allow haggling?

Appliance places like power city, Harvey Norman can do slight discounts on some items. Not sure if DID will though

Sofiztikated

Pick and choose your battles.

If the person you're dealing with OS standing solely behind a counter, no.
If its a sales person on the floor, yes.

Kat1170

DID did, don't know if they still do.

mikemac1

Power City do

If you're spending a few hundred on a TV it's strange if you don't haggle!

You did with the staff on the floor, by the time you're with the young person on the till it's too late

If you know any farmers bring them with you, they'd haggle over a can of WD-40!

cmssjone

If I'm spending big money (>1000) then I would try somewhere else if I didn't get something off. Last Xmas bought a laptop from Harvey Norman, price 1100 (which was the cheapest I could find) which I haggled down to 1050. Tried to get it for 1000 but no joy. I also managed to get a 35 euro laptop sleeve thrown in for free so I was quite happy. The guy was quite receptive to the haggling but made it quite clear what his bottom line was. I think it tells them on the computer system how low they can go.

circadian

Used to work in a chain retailer years ago. It eventually began to grate when people would say "ah sure ye can do better than that. I'll give ye (whatever lower amount) for it."
No. I can't. Then there's the few with the brass neck asking you to use your staff discount. The auditor/management would love that.

However, been in Asia for a while and generally can't be arsed haggling. Generally offer a price, if they give me a crazy response I walk away. You get your price more often than not.

Orbion

If you are able to haggle a price down in a shop, they are clearly over charging you in the first place as they have accounted for this in the cost price. I would never shop in a place where one customer goes to the counter with the same item as you but pays a cheaper price, bar damaged items.

P. Breathnach

Yes, I haggle, and I usually succeed. That's not because every retailer is willing to haggle (or give junior staff authority to cut prices). It's because I recognise the situations where there is scope to negotiate a deal. I note what circadian says about it grating on some staff. I like to think that I can read situations and know where bargaining is on. My success rate supports my belief.

Sometimes the game is more interesting to me than the amount of money I save.

There is no excuse for haggling aggressively, acting as if sellers are somehow out to "do" you. They are not. They are simply trying to make a living. If they can clear €100 on an item, they might be very happy; if they can clear €50, they might not be desperately unhappy.

Central to my haggling technique is good humour: a smile, a bit of banter, a sense that we are both playing a game; never a sense of getting one over on the vendor. When the deal is done, we part on good terms, and I am confident that if I approached the same seller a week later I would be greeted with a smile.

galwayjohn89

I had one muppet try to haggle on a prepaid mastercard. Peoples stupidity will never cease to amaze me.

ABajaninCork

Where appropriate, I always try to haggle! Go in with cash, as cash is always king!

Procrastastudy

cmssjone wrote: »

If I'm spending big money (>1000) then I would try somewhere else if I didn't get something off. Last Xmas bought a laptop from Harvey Norman, price 1100 (which was the cheapest I could find) which I haggled down to 1050. Tried to get it for 1000 but no joy. I also managed to get a 35 euro laptop sleeve thrown in for free so I was quite happy. The guy was quite receptive to the haggling but made it quite clear what his bottom line was. I think it tells them on the computer system how low they can go.

Same laptop online probably would have been about €800

100200 shih

I love to haggle, I got €700 of a 2nd hand car for the other half a couple of months ago, like the other poster said , its a bit of banter !!!

SilverScreen

Shops and businesses up and down the country are closing and certainly not being helped by cheapskates haggling and looking for discounts. I worked in retail for a number of years and at one stage nearly every 3rd customer was looking for a discount of some sort. I was under strict instruction by management not to give discounts unless there was a certain case for it and rightly so.

I know times are tough and everything and people are trying to make ends meet, but people should be more aware about businesses struggling to provide employment for people.

campo

Zero1986 wrote: »

Shops and businesses up and down the country are closing and certainly not being helped by cheapskates haggling and looking for discounts. I worked in retail for a number of years and at one stage nearly every 3rd customer was looking for a discount of some sort. I was under strict instruction by management not to give discounts unless there was a certain case for it and rightly so.

I know times are tough and everything and people are trying to make ends meet, but people should be more aware about businesses struggling to provide employment for people.

Would shops prefer to sell at a discount or not sell at all ,

I probably have saved 200e this year from haggling but as others said you need to choose your battles , pointless doing it in centra but a furniture store work away

mikemac1

Zero1986 wrote: »

Shops and businesses up and down the country are closing and certainly not being helped by cheapskates haggling and looking for discounts. I worked in retail for a number of years and at one stage nearly every 3rd customer was looking for a discount of some sort. I was under strict instruction by management not to give discounts unless there was a certain case for it and rightly so.

I know times are tough and everything and people are trying to make ends meet, but people should be more aware about businesses struggling to provide employment for people.

Your shops haggled with suppliers, haggled over rents, asked the bank manager for better terms, negotiated salaries for their senior staff and asked the council to have their rates reviewed.
I could keep going

Everyone can haggle, from a corporation to a small business and a person out shopping on a Saturday

SilverScreen

mikemac1 wrote: »

Your shops haggled with suppliers, haggled over rents, asked the bank manager for better terms, negotiated salaries for their senior staff and asked the council to have their rates reviewed.
I could keep going

Everyone can haggle, from a corporation to a small business and a person out shopping on a Saturday

I can understand it's different when negotiating bigger deals like that as the asking price is usually only a starting price anyway. But when you get middle-aged women coming in and haggling over a friggin kettle it just gets ridiculous. They can well afford it.

The worst I've seen was a lad offering me €30 for an electrical item that was priced a few euro dearer (there was very little markup on it so a discount was out of the question). When he realised he wasn't getting his bargain he took a brand new crisp €50 note out of his wallet and gave it to me, and I could also see that he had a few more in his wallet as well.

galwayjohn89

100200 shih wrote: »

I love to haggle, I got €700 of a 2nd hand car for the other half a couple of months ago, like the other poster said , its a bit of banter !!!

I'd pretty much always haggle on buying second hand goods especially cars. 99% of them are purposely over priced to allow for haggle room. I have never bought a car for full price and when selling I always over price and then have a price in my head which I would accept. Always get far more then the lowest I would accept.

Owryan

Tend to pick n choose when to haggle. When I was buying a new tv, dryer, stereo n fridge, rather than trying to get the price down I got a free sound system , it wasnt expensive or anything but it sweetened the deal esp as it was a cash sale.

Likewise I tend to do a big buy in of coal/logs n the like. Usually I try get a bag or 2 thrown in.

Was willing to spend 2 grand in homebase in Carlow last year but they wouldnt budge on free delivery no matter what I tried, ended up walking away . Over 2 grand and they wanted an extra €39.

Orbion

Owryan wrote: »

Tend to pick n choose when to haggle. When I was buying a new tv, dryer, stereo n fridge, rather than trying to get the price down I got a free sound system , it wasnt expensive or anything but it sweetened the deal esp as it was a cash sale.

Likewise I tend to do a big buy in of coal/logs n the like. Usually I try get a bag or 2 thrown in.

Was willing to spend 2 grand in homebase in Carlow last year but they wouldnt budge on free delivery no matter what I tried, ended up walking away . Over 2 grand and they wanted an extra €39.

I find that attitude a bit poor tbh. Regardless of how much you are spending, staff have to give the same service to all customers while sticking to company policy. I find it a bit pathetic to try and "bully" or blackmail a shop and still try to take the moral highground. To top it all off you just wasted your time and theirs....

Orbion

I also find it strange that people would never think of haggling at a shop like Tescos even though their margin on goods is huge and would like to know why you dont go to the checkout and just offer to pay less than the total.

ABajaninCork

Orbion wrote: »

I find that attitude a bit poor tbh. Regardless of how much you are spending, staff have to give the same service to all customers while sticking to company policy. I find it a bit pathetic to try and "bully" or blackmail a shop and still try to take the moral highground. To top it all off you just wasted your time and theirs....

So do you buy a car (for example) at the quoted price then? If you're buying 'big ticket' items, you just pay the price? Just curious as I find your reasoning somewhat strange.

Owryan

Orbion wrote: »

I find that attitude a bit poor tbh. Regardless of how much you are spending, staff have to give the same service to all customers while sticking to company policy. I find it a bit pathetic to try and "bully" or blackmail a shop and still try to take the moral highground. To top it all off you just wasted your time and theirs....

People are free to think what they like but as far a I m concerned its about getting the best deal possible. I wouldnt think I wasted my time as I wont be going near them again. I use the same fuel merchants because he was generous to me and now I buy all my fuel, kerosene and that off him , maybe 2 grand over a year.

I ll be shopping for 2 laptops, a desktop and other bits in a few weeks so there ll be more haggling then .

P. Breathnach

Owryan wrote: »

...
Was willing to spend 2 grand in homebase in Carlow last year but they wouldnt budge on free delivery no matter what I tried, ended up walking away . Over 2 grand and they wanted an extra €39.

There are a number of possibilities here, including the one you fixed on: that Homebase are completely inflexible.

It might be that you were dealing with a staff member who did not have authority to make a deal with you, perhaps a part-timer or junior.

It might be that they are not allowed offer free delivery because of contractual arrangements with people who provide the delivery service, and you were simply looking for the wrong thing: you might have got as much value in another way, like asking them to include something like a couple of pots of paint to sweeten the deal.

Or you might have got up somebody's nose.

Orbion

ABajaninCork wrote: »

So do you buy a car (for example) at the quoted price then? If you're buying 'big ticket' items, you just pay the price? Just curious as I find your reasoning somewhat strange.

I shop around for the best price that I can find in my budget and then if I am happy to pay that and I need it, I get it. I dont see why after all that I then have the right to expect to get it for less for no reason. Some people feel they are entitled to get something for nothing so if they want to waste everyones time being greedy, its up to them.

mikemac1

Orbion wrote: »

I also find it strange that people would never think of haggling at a shop like Tescos even though their margin on goods is huge and would like to know why you dont go to the checkout and just offer to pay less than the total.

Shop assistants in Tesco have no power to haggle.

Sales staff in an electrical store do.
It might not be money off, could be a TV stand that was on display or a set of good headphones thrown in to improve the deal

Duggys Housemate

No I don't. With the exception of car purchasing. Nearly all my big purchases are online anyway and I don't haggle for food, beer or toiliteries. Call me crazy.

cmssjone

Procrastastudy wrote: »

Same laptop online probably would have been about €800

I'd been keeping my eyes on that particular model for a few weeks and even checked out the British sites. To my surprise HN was the same price or better than most of the online retailers. It was a little cheaper in the UK but the cost of delivery wiped out any savings.

Orbion

So if you go into an electrical store, you ignore all the marked prices and decide the price yourself? Where do you draw the line - over €20, over €50, over €100?? Where does this sense of entitlement come from?