nwfdailynews.com — Most people don't think twice about bargaining when it comes to something big, like a new car or home. But getting a price cut on smaller things, cable bills, doctors' fees, electronics goods, can be surprisingly easy: Just ask.
Aug 21, 2006 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountAug 21, 2006
Although I once felt haggling was wrong and rude, I've come to see it as completely acceptable. The goal is to have a price both people can live with. If you are selling, you can always say, "sorry, I can't go lower than $__", but if you want the sale, even with reduced profit, you can get it.Also when haggling you should have good manners and not beam a huge smile after taking possession of the goods. ; ) The seller should also not look too disappointed; he was willing. People who are rude, don't deserve your business. Haggling isn't asking for something for nothing, it's just agreeing on a lower price which is still acceptable.
yashuAug 22, 2006
I try this all the time and mostly get laughed at... especially cell companies... the workers always say "I just work here"... they give every excuse in the book... it is silly... I don't know where you guys live, but around here the written price is the real price...I will say this though, sometimes you can get a lower price by finding an unlisted package... like a "basic" package of something... cable, phone, ect... alot of those places have a basic package they don't ever advertise... but even there the price is the price.
senseigmgAug 22, 2006
It works at Best Buy as well, depending on the manager/supervisor. My friend's dad bought an HDTV and haggled with the guy for a good 20 minutes, and he cut the price and threw in a warranty.
sclozzaAug 22, 2006
My advice as someone on the other side of the counter, be reasonable. If I am selling something for $80, don't ask to have it for $15.
Closed AccountAug 22, 2006
cars have a lot of leeway, but in my experience, the low pressure sales guys, have the best deals.THe high pressure ones are trying to screw you. the guy that is low pressure honestly knows he has something above the competitors (and in cars it is amazing how much the prices differ by thousands of dollars)
ngageguyAug 22, 2006
Anyone try haggling with Apple? Any luck?
willcode4beerAug 22, 2006
wistar, not true. Used car dealers actually make much more than those selling new cars. The worse the cars the more money they make.When I was a kid, I had a job as a porter at one of the buy here pay here places. The down payment was the commision to the salesmen. Every car on the lot had been sold/repo'd like 6 times. The owner was rolling in cash.Later, I had a girlfriend who worked the car biz. She started selling new cars. She got $100 for selling a new car, regardless of price. Once she got 'promoted' to used cars, she started making crazy commisions because there, they are based on the sale price.
willcode4beerAug 22, 2006
I wonder why people are embarrased now.In the older times it was considered standard to haggle prices of everything. In many countries it still is the standard.Maybe the embarrasment is caused by retail giant brainwashing, I mean marketing. Convince people not to haggle, bleed more money from their pockets.
dougmcAug 24, 2006
If you have insurance and the doctor is `in network', that generally means that the insurance company has already negotiated a fixed price with that doctor for that procedure, and you get that price.If you don't have insurance, the price is almost always *higher* than what you + your insurance would pay if you had insurance, often signifigantly higher. Yes, those who are generally the least able to pay are charged the most!Of course, this also means that's there's considerable room for negotiation -- if you don't have insurance, and are paying up front, especially cash, you should be able to at least negotiate the insurance price for the procedure with no trouble, and should be able to even beat that (since there's no paperwork, and he gets paid right away.)