Haggling is great, I find haggling builds our negotiating skills and a perspective in understanding other person’s point of view, which is a unique learning experience by itself.
But what if we can demand a price with confidence, I have always done this in past and will continue to do it and will show you how.
Over the period of my purchasing, I have learnt that the more expensive the product is the great power we have as a consumer. Similarly in-store, the higher the authority we can talk to, the more leverage he has to discount price.
Before you start negotiating you need to understand that bigger stores have higher margins compared to smaller ones.
If a small store purchased a product for $x then bigger giants like Target would have purchased the same product from the same distributor for $x-$y price.
It’s the power of volume, it is that power that bigger chain stores rely on to negotiate the price from manufacturers.
So next time when you see a store discounting the price, remember that no matter how much they are discounting there is still room for their profit ( at least this makes me guilt-free).
“Price beat guaranteed” or “Lowest Price Guaranteed” are some of the popular terms that are getting used by more and more retailers to attract customers.
A price beat guaranteed is where if you find a cheaper price, the store will match the price plus x% of further discount on the price.
There are some finer terms and conditions around this, some of them are quite obvious– where they would only consider a non-sale price from other stores.
Still this should not deter you, many times I have asked, if they could beat a sale price of xyz store and pleasantly surprised to get it.
What made me write this post is a recent email from my friend.
“I am looking to buy a router, is there a better place or better deal than you know”
On further probing, I understood that the way he usually buys is looking at those sale catalogues where retailers advertise a discount.
This is a common trap that most of us fall into. If the advertisement says 50% off it doesn’t always translate to you saving 50% on the product, it simply means the price in-store is marked down to half.
It is upon us to shop around and see if it’s a real deal or not because some times the sale price is relatively higher or on par with other stores listed price–In that case, you will be better off haggling with the other store than buying on sale price.
To get the best possible deal
Coming back to my friend’s question I asked him to narrow down the product that he is interested in.
It turns out to be his old internet modem has given away and was looking for a Router, Netgear D6300;
First Part of the discounted search
You can always Google the product for a price, in this case, we have found a better price at MSY.com.au.
I usually find the price in MSY competitive compared to most of the stores, at MSY it was listed for $249.
This is the second part of discounted Search
Find the store that offers ‘price beat guaranteed‘, in Australia you have OfficeWorks, Myer, David Jones etc.
Some stores don’t beat the price if they have to compare with online retailers– stores where you can’t walk down and pick up the product.
I know for sure OfficeWorks beats MSY, I am the beneficiary of this trick many times over.
If the price gap is large when compared online you may find it surprising that not all retailers agree to give a discount and some times none, that’s when I suggest to go through online shop reviews and buy it online.
In these circumstances where the price gap is high, I don’t bother walking all the way to the store. It’s effective to call multiple stores from my desk for confirmation.
On confirmation get the sales guy’s name and let him know that you are travelling quite a distance and will come and buy the product (this will ensure you from any trainees or newbies).
Also by getting a sales person’s name you can deal with him or her directly without going through the whole story again.
MSY has the listed price of $249 (highlighted in yellow)
Officeworks was selling the same product for $347
On matching MSY’s price office works also gave a further 5% discount on the Router.
Total Discount : 31.8%
Saved Amount : $110.45
Bottom Line
Don’t wait for a discount, you can be creative and create a discount for your self. If a product is on sale catalogue– doesn’t always mean its the cheapest possible price. Retailers always mark the price based on how much the consumer is willing to pay for it but not how much it costs them.
Lastly but not least ask your self, Is it really the best price?
I am sure you would have experimented your own techniques in haggling, share it with piggywise community below.
See you in the comments.
Credits:
photo credit: Gerard Stolk (vers l'Assomption)
We do not haggle enough in the United States. Glad to see it still does on to some degree.