MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Where else do people shop and ask, "What's your best price on this £9.99 item?"
Surely for a "where else..." you need to give an example?
most places where I think there is any chance that the person I'm talking to may have some leeway to adjust prices.
We had that Don't get done get Dom bloke in our shop.
Stupidly he engaged our haughtiest member of staff and she soon had him on the ropes.She had no idea who the "common little barrow boy" was though.
most places where I think there is any chance that the person I'm talking to may have some leeway to adjust prices.
+1, in bike shops defo.
Sometimes in large chains like halfords the staff might know of ways of reducing the cost so most times I'll at least ask that too.
One time in a little shop in Illfracombe me and the mrs loved this lamp base and it was up for 80 odd quid. I asked the owner if there was any chance of getting the price down, she looked down her nose at me and haughtily replied 'but why would I lower the price?' 'in order to secure the sale' I said. She gave a little snotty laugh and 'No' came the response. We walked out but probably would have bought it at full price if she wasn't so rude.
I don't haggle at all. I have a idea of what I want to pay for something....if the item is near enough, I buy it.
Tesco!
"Blimey, that's a bit steep for all that! How about the lot for £60 if I use my own bags?"
I don't really haggle much, but if a place advertises that they'll price match (i.e. Evans) then I'll happily stand in the shop comparing prices. We did this for baby related stuff on the weekend and saved a small fortune.
£80 is a bit different to a tenner. Somebody asked me what my best price on a top was the other week, it was already half price.
Sorry where else thats not a LBS.
"she looked down her nose at me and haughtily replied 'but why would I lower the price?' 'in order to secure the sale' I said"
to be fair your just as rude as her , cut nose off to spite face much ?
ill haggle on a car privately if i feel its not worth the asking price - and give reasons , but some folk just haggle for the sake of haggling to feel like they got a deal even if it was already a good deal. , ive been with folk like that and its downright embarrassing, they quite often need to have a word with themselves.
Shoe shops, clothes shops, electrical shops (especially electrical shops), cars, furniture, the butcher, basically anywhere I'm dealing with and owner or salesperson as opposed to someone who only rings stuff up at a till.
haggling on high priced items I get but a bottle of wet lube?
The off license, then the kebab house later. Sometimes in Greggs
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I occasionally volunteer at a charity shop. The amount of people who haggle over the already cheap jumble sale prices is amazing.
We did this for baby related stuff on the weekend and saved a small fortune.
Unfortunately this will dwarfed by the very large fortune that the child will cost over the next 18 years. 🙂
Sometimes in Greggs
Have you told them you are now a mobile advertisement for their fine produce to the outdoor sports community?
Should be worth an apple turnover on the house. 🙂
Tottenham Court Road - electronics shops. Saved £100s over the years by pitching shops against each other.
Little observation... considering the vast majority of the shop owners/staff were of "middle eastern and far eastern" descent, perhaps they saw my "haggling" as perfectly acceptable business, provided it was kept light hearted.
Bartering for a price is "normal" practise in some cultures.
ill haggle on a car privately if i feel its not worth the asking price - and give reasons , but some folk just haggle for the sake of haggling to feel like they got a deal even if it was already a good deal. , ive been with folk like that and its downright embarrassing, they quite often need to have a word with themselves.
Cars are absolute must haggle items. REgardless of the asking price.
I'm after a new Mondeo Estate but I'm not paying the ticket price on principle.
I need to move the dealer £500 on his £11k motor or I'm not buying, simple as that. I expect he's got a grand of margin in it. I don't mind him making a living but...
"Cars are absolute must haggle items. REgardless of the asking price."
why ?
its worth whats its worth if i feel its worth whats being asked and its in good nick , ill pay the ticket , if i feel he is chancing his arm ill knock him down with justifications. "securing the sale" is not a justification , and i have in the past told folk to jog on for comments like that in a sales role - any time i have bent over to meet a target with folk like that they have without exception been nothing but trouble in the long run.
Any private sale is worth a haggle!
Can usually talk them down in an off license as mentioned above. I've successfully haggled a few things up as well, selling stuff to the scrap yard/offloading spare tickets to touts (only after walking round trying to sell to normal people first!).
To some businesses, "securing the sale" is a necessary evil for cash flow purposes...
I wouldn't be surprised if car sales are in this bracket
to be fair your just as rude as her
No he is miles away from that
they run a shop they want to sell stuff
there are many polite answers to the will you lower the price that means they wont just walk out
I have lived in the middle east I have haggled for hours
i once did this and realised i was arguing over what was 5p!
I tend to either just pay the price or offer what i am willing to pay rather than just haggle
Someone on here once tried to haggle me down to £6 for a brand new tyre that was £20 new and the postage was about a fiver
I offered to do this but warned them it would arrive in many pieces in a small box
Some folk seem to want to do it as a matter of principle rather than seeing that it is a fair price that is being offered
Cars are absolute must haggle items. REgardless of the asking price.
I'm after a new Mondeo Estate but I'm not paying the ticket price on principle.
I need to move the dealer £500 on his £11k motor or I'm not buying, simple as that. I expect he's got a grand of margin in it. I don't mind him making a living but...
Private Vs trade though. Some people just like to knock 10% off the price for the sake of thinking they've got a good deal. I'd not haggle unless there was actualy soemthing worth haggling over.
E.g. bought a car, needed a service, new disk and pads. Asked for those to be done and then paid the asking price. Bough a boat recently, sail was a bit outdated so I said I wanted at least 60% of the cost of a new sail off what would have been a 'good' price (it was already cheep) and we agreed on that before I;d even seen it (it was an hour and a bits drive so both parties quite happy to have the price fixed before making the jounrey).
Classifieds on here is the worst for it though. Put something up for sale for £x, get offered £x-10%. Doesnt sell for some reason, stick it back up at £x+10% (wasn't profiteering, just plucking a number out of my head), get offered £x.
I'll try and haggle on a car, sometimes you get something, sometimes you don't. Sometimes sellers make it pretty damn obvious what the haggle room is in their pricing - you know, when you see car advertised for £8,150 or similar?
I've heard the windscreen price described as the "vicar's wife" price before now by people in the trade, i.e. there will be the very rare, very trusting individual who writes a cheque for the asking price, but they expect most to look for some movement.
I know a few people who've bought from a local "car supermarket" and invariably £2K comes off the price along the way, with the usual games of "phoning the boss for authorisation" etc.
My LBS haggles like that bloke in Life of Brian - I'm usually happy to pay the marked price, but invariably seem to end up with some sort of discount that I haven't asked for. I'm not complaining though..
A friend of mine spent a lot of time travelling in Africa and came back a seasoned haggler. He would steer a fine line between the keenest bargain and being carried out of the shop and flung in the gutter.
Was out with him once and we needed some UV fluorescent tubes.
"how much are you UV tubes?"
shop keeper "£10 each"
How much if I buy 20 of them"
shop keeper "you can have 20 for £7 each"
"Ok I'll have three for £7 each then"
Shopkeeper reluctantly agreed effectively to give one tube away for pretty much free.
Stepping out of the shop Johnnie tilted the boxes that the tubes were in and one slid out an smashed, so we had to go straight back in a buy another
"they're £20 each now " the shop keeper said, before we could even ask 🙂
Last-but-one car I bought was new. We were going to finance it - 50% deposit, and the remaining 50% on 0% finance over 3 years.
I was eventually told to stop haggling by Dr North (via her booting me in the shins and saying "That's enough!") when I was down to the last £72. That's £2 a month at zero per cent interest.
Last car I bought was a second hand Mini for her. The cocky, patent shoe-wearing salesman/lad had developed a nervous tick and a stutter by the time we'd finished negotiating the price. 🙂
anywhere I feel its appropriate.... which is almost everywhere
DIY store, shoe shop, electronics store, etc
If you don't ask, you don't get and 10% is normally pretty easy.
The idea off haggling makes me shudder... I'm English don't you know, I simply smile, pay up and grumble to the wife when I get home. I even struggle on the classifieds.
I never haggle. It just seems so, well, common.
I don't normally even bother to ask the price. Just tell them that my man will be along to settle up later.
I only ever haggle on cars and houses or when I am in Mediterranean climes.
My (ex - mad as a box of frogs) sister-in-law would haggle for anything and everything - it was embarrassing - like the time she tried (unsuccessfully) to haggle over a Big Mac Meal Deal. The assistant looked utterly confused at her line of questioning. Ohh, and she went on to ask if their onions were real or onion substitute.
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I'll haggle in any shop that sells something for double the cost elsewhere.
My LBS knock 10% off without me ever having asked, cos I'm a good customer. It's not discussed, it just happens 🙂
Yeah, I go there, they always knock 20% off for me.
They don't like you.
Guitar shops
Electricals
Cars, especially since I had a tour of the forecourt on a quiet day with a mate who sold Fords and I found out what the bottom lines were compared to the prices on the windscreens. 😯 (although tbf he said that in his experience they were larger margins than most other brands)
Antiques
Collectables
Not haggled in a bike shop since I bought an ex demo bike about 10 years ago though. Assuming that we are not counting producing your membership card and asking for the local club discount. That is a far nicer way to get a few bob off and encourages you to join a local club (or two...)
The alterations place.
Only a fool pays the man the price on the door.
My lbs would occasionally knock 10% off from time to time. The store where I bought all of my MX gear from knocked 10% off all my purchases and still do. I'm going back soon to buy a new helmet (£380) and I should imagine it'll end up being a lot less than that.
However, £10, I wouldn't even bother.
i deal with a load of foreign blokes, turkish, polish, croatian, russian, kurdish, ****stani, indian and chinese.
ever single one of them wants to haggle over prices, be it from a £5 bag of coax plugs to a £2000 satellite meter.
i just add 10% on the original price when they 1st ask, and then agree to come down a bit, giving them the goods for the correct price.
they leave quite happy with themselves.
When my dad was dying he decided to book a pre-planned funeral, undertaker duly booked to arrive, all solemn and serious, we planned the hymns, the cars what flowers and wreaths etc,then came the time to cost it out, a large sum.
I leaned across to the undetaker and said in a serious voice, "Now how much for cash" the poor undertaker went white,started shaking as he thought of a reverend answer, the room went quiet, until my dad burst out laughing and said, dont worry mr jones, hes having a joke, of course i will pay the full price.
But always worth asking..................
Where ever possible,I spent a fair bit of time in spain, mexico, south america etc, buying of markets, if I'm at a market i haggle, normaly to try and get an extra apple or pear etc.
If I have a budget and see something over my budget I will try and get it for the price I want. I got a £4500 car for £4000 book price was £4100, I expected to get it for around £4250 with a bit of work but the guy came down and threw in on my first offer.
Small or private places I wont haggle to much but places like Arnold clark and car supermarket buy the cars for pennys compared to what they sell them for, the sales men are generally a bit slimy (sorry im sure there not all like that) and they try and slyly hide faults with the cars. (having worked in there valeting centre).
Tv's, outdoor kit you name it i have no shame in it, I will pay ticket price if i have to but why shouldn't i try and get a deal. I have people coming and asking to reduce aldi reductions all the time some times we oblige some times we don't.
High price, high margin stuff I will haggle on. Jewellery for example.
If they offer interest free credit then you know they'll knock something off for cash.
A few years ago I went on a sales course with work. The trainer was very keen on haggling. After the course I tried haggling on lots of things. My wife and I were looking to get new coats. I asked if they could do us a deal if we bought both. Apologetically they said they could only give us 10% off. So about £50 saved by just politely asking.

