Retailers: not as desperate as you think

[ziggy29]

Absolutely, ask anyone who has lived in a country where haggling is expected. It becomes old fast. Think about how most of us dislike buying a car - used or new. Now think what it would be like if you had that feeling when buying everything from socks to refrigerators.

I worked in retail when I was in college. And I was amazed -- and sometimes tormented -- by the number of people who would come up to me and ask for a discount from the price on the sticker. Me -- a non-management 20ish flunky who had no authority.

Sometimes they'd look at a $20 item and ask if we'd sell it half price because the box was slightly damaged. Or maybe something had a tiny cosmetic defect and they'd want $5 off.

This was in the mid-1980s, and I lived in an area with a extremely large first-generation Asian immigrant population, and I suspect that was just something cultural they brought over from the homeland.

Maybe that's what soured me on haggling for everything. That and holding garage sales. No matter how low you priced something for quick sale, someone's going to try to get it for half price in the first five minutes of the sale....

 

[FinanceDude]

Absolutely, ask anyone who has lived in a country where haggling is expected. It becomes old fast. Think about how most of us dislike buying a car - used or new. Now think what it would be like if you had that feeling when buying everything from socks to refrigerators.

That's what the Saturn folks thought. However, it appears to work better for CarMax on used than Saturn on new.........

 

[FUEGO]

Once I went with her to a women's clothing store (I know, weak moment), and got her another 25% off. She was not amused.........

My wife won't ask for a discount usually. If I'm with her and she's buying something from the specials/clearance rack that isn't perfect (maybe a display model), I'll ask if they can knock the price down some. Works virtually every time for an easy 10-25% off just for asking. You are doing them a favor by taking their lightly damaged remainders out of their stock for probably what they paid wholesale instead of them selling it wholesale to a discounter for much less.

Getting a better price often works better if you are buying more than one thing. Like a computer, a tv and surround sound system. They don't want to lose a sale on all 3 items, so you can hit them harder. Or if you are buying 2-3 hotel rooms, or 2 cars, or something like that.

 

[freebird5825]

A little off topic here, but I just got an email from Sears:

CHRISTMAS LANE IS HERE....THE BEST DEALS FOR CHRISTMAS....FIVE MONTHS EARLY!....

There actually is a basis for that email...
Christmas in July - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[FinanceDude]

My wife won't ask for a discount usually. If I'm with her and she's buying something from the specials/clearance rack that isn't perfect (maybe a display model), I'll ask if they can knock the price down some. Works virtually every time for an easy 10-25% off just for asking. You are doing them a favor by taking their lightly damaged remainders out of their stock for probably what they paid wholesale instead of them selling it wholesale to a discounter for much less.

Getting a better price often works better if you are buying more than one thing. Like a computer, a tv and surround sound system. They don't want to lose a sale on all 3 items, so you can hit them harder. Or if you are buying 2-3 hotel rooms, or 2 cars, or something like that.

Cars I got covered, 4 guys I know are all GMs at dealerships. I just call them when I need a car and ask which car they are prepared to lose the most on to get rid of, and I usually get 4-5 choices..........

 

[riskadverse]

I saw an ad in the paper this morning for a flat screen TV that I had been wanting to buy at Fry's. On sale for $1500 - a very good price . . . His response: oh no, we could never do that! So we walk out. No effort made by the salesman to begin to work out a deal.

I guess there's enough people willing to spend $1750 on a TV that they can dismiss customers with cash in hand. Our current TV works fine, so I'm content to wait until the thing is down to $999 if that's what it takes to get a deal.

Fry's is different from your typical electronic retailer. It has been noted for it's poor customer service for years and years. Even noting that, I will invest in them in a heartbeat if they ever decide to go public. Then again, they would end up operating like Circuit City or Best Buy if they did go public, so I certainly wouldn't get married to the stock.

 

[Darryl]

Margin on electronics is nil not the best category to get big discounts.

Negotiating an additional discount at any chain is a challenge as most staff is empowered to do a whole lotta nothing and even in to the manager ranks the discretion can be surprisingly limited. Too easy for central auditors to see an item leave for less than the established price and a bunch of inquiries on who, what, why, when, with the paperwork and potential tarnish to the salesperson/managers reputation even if they had a good business reason. I'm sure this varies by company and company size.
Unleashing the whole staff to negotiate with the customers is scary for the security team and the accounting staff and labor engineers who have to calculate the ROI of the the time spent negotiating and how or if to allocate time.
Best negotiating can occur with a private seller that has a rent payment due.

 

[samclem]

Margin on electronics is nil not the best category to get big discounts.

Negotiating an additional discount at any chain is a challenge as most staff is empowered to do a whole lotta nothing and even in to the manager ranks the discretion can be surprisingly limited.

One consumer magazine ( maybe "Laptops"?) ran an article recently about some electronics chains that were falsely claiming to be out of stock for low-price laptops. The ad would give an attractive price, and sales personnel were instructed not to sell any of those loss-leader laptops to customers who didn't buy something else (jackpot: an extended warranty). If the customer didn't want the the warranty or the other add-ons, then the salesperson was told to discover that they were "out of stock" when he went to the back to get the machine. This was not just one store, but many, and enforced by management. Sales folks/managers were evaluated based on the on the % of machines sold with the "extras."

 

[TromboneAl]

I can understand the desire not to negotiate. It often makes you feel poor, cheap, or disrespectful. It also takes time.

This book:

Amazon.com: You Can Negotiate Anything: Herb Cohen: Books

is a great read.

Herb Cohen believes the world is a giant negotiating table and, like it or not, you're a negotiator. Whether you're dealing with your spouse, boss, department store, bank manager, children, solicitor, or best friend - in every encounter with other people, negotiating is always taking place. And how well you handle those encounters determines whether you prosper happily or suffer frustration and loss. With his helpful and sensible approach Cohen shows that negotiating is a process you can understand and predict - and most importantly, that it's a practical skill you can learn and improve upon.
​

 

[al_bundy]

it depends on the TV

LCD's made with the latest generation technology will have a higher price. Those made in factories with older generation technology can be had for less.

you have to do some research on the TV and find out exactly which LCD screen is in there. there are a few manufacturers in the world including LG, Samsung and AU Optronics and they all produce different quality screens. it's even so bad that manufacturers will play games by slightly altering the model # depending on the store they sell it at to hit different price points

 

[FinanceDude]

Margin on electronics is nil not the best category to get big discounts.

Not so..the manufacturers have gotten in to the "incentive" game. For instance, at Best Buy, Sony gives Best Buy $300-$500 CASH BACK on every big screen they sell, as long as they hit the numbers. Plenty of motivation to sell a few more units for a little less.

One should ALWAYS assume they can negotiate a classified local ad or on craigslist. I was talking about "normal" retail stores........

 

[ziggy29]

Margin on electronics is nil not the best category to get big discounts.

Not coincidentally, when you get those 10% and 20% off coupons from retailers, electronics are often excluded in the fine print.

 

[Westernskies]

Timely post- after two weeks of back and forth, I just ordered the appliance package for the new house we purchased. I went online and priced them out, put them in a spreadsheet showing the model #'s, prices, noted no delivery charges or taxes, etc. Took it to a big local appliance retailer; told them I preferred to buy local, would even look at floor models or open box-returns to save a little money , as long as the merchandise was new and under warranty. Their first reaction was "no way we can match internet pricing- they don't even charge for delivery or taxes!" Their initial "best price" quote was $2000 over our internet pricing. So we waited... they called back several times the next week wanting to know where we were in the process- then they had a big warehouse sale at one of their other stores over the weekend. We found the biggest-ticket item- a 48" built-in refrigerator -for $2500 less than the best spreadsheet price; bought it on the spot, and then waited for them to figure out their list had changed...When the salesguy called a few days later and I told him the refrigerator was off the list because we had just purchased it at their warehouse sale ; he was flabbergasted and asked "where did that come from?" I politely suggested that maybe he should be the one with the answer rather than the question. He stormed off to call the manager of the store that had held the warehouse sale. Not sure what transpired, but the salesman from the warehouse sale called back last night, and offered to sell us all of the remaining appliances for less than the on-line pricing- w/ tax included. I did pay them an additional $100 to deliver them all , even though on-line delivery was free.

Total savings with taxes and delivery off their intial quote was ~$4500; well worth the hassle; it took a couple of weeks, but we weren't in any hurry.

 

[REWahoo]

Nice going. In the art of negotiation time is often your greatest ally.

 

[Darryl]

Western great job patience is certainly key and wow $2,500 reduction on your refrigerator I think the last one I bought was $700.

Attached is 4 years old and models change. Looks like best buys current gross margin runs about 25% software, accessories, warranties and high end anything would have the highest margins and commodity anything and items already sale priced the least.

At the time of this writing (2005) circuit city owed their entire profit to extended warranties as they couldn't even crack their nut with the sale of merchandise. Best buy didn't disclose the same level of detail but their chart looks quite similar, maybe they were profitable from the sale of goods and maybe they weren't.http://www.warrantyweek.com/archive/ww20051101.html

 

[FUEGO]

Total savings with taxes and delivery off their intial quote was ~$4500; well worth the hassle; it took a couple of weeks, but we weren't in any hurry.

I guess you can't put the $400 white box contractor's special fridge in a million dollar home?!? Saving $4500 on appliances? I don't think I have spent $4500 total on appliances in my life including renovating and adding on a stack unit w/d in my old rental condo. But good job on the negotiations. My guess is that there is a lot more room for negotiations on the high end units vs the contractor's specials that are basically commodities (the end where I'm buying appliances).

 

[Westernskies]

I guess you can't put the $400 white box contractor's special fridge in a million dollar home?!? Saving $4500 on appliances? I don't think I have spent $4500 total on appliances in my life including renovating and adding on a stack unit w/d in my old rental condo. But good job on the negotiations. My guess is that there is a lot more room for negotiations on the high end units vs the contractor's specials that are basically commodities (the end where I'm buying appliances).

Remember, our banker wanted to see a working kitchen- guess what is sitting in there now?- white box contractor's special range, microwave, fridge, and dishwasher; all from our current home- we had just updated the kitchen to get it ready to go on the market- strangely enough we agonized over spending $4500 on all new stainless appliances...... and yeah, while we were fine with the white econoboxes for years, they do look strangely out of place in the new home- 30" range in the 48" refrigerator space, built-in microwave sitting on the counter, refrigerator over in the corner, and the dw stuffed in the cutout... but hey, it's a working kitchen!

 

[FUEGO]

Remember, our banker wanted to see a working kitchen- guess what is sitting in there now?- white box contractor's special range, microwave, fridge, and dishwasher; all from our current home- we had just updated the kitchen to get it ready to go on the market- strangely enough we agonized over spending $4500 on all new stainless appliances...... and yeah, while we were fine with the white econoboxes for years, they do look strangely out of place in the new home- 30" range in the 48" refrigerator space, built-in microwave sitting on the counter, refrigerator over in the corner, and the dw stuffed in the cutout... but hey, it's a working kitchen!

Boy I bet she hated being stuck in there! You couldn't spring for a $300 dishwasher instead of sticking her in there? I guess she is technically a dishwasher, and that is all your lender required. My DW would be piiiiissed if it were her.

That's funny, but I know what you mean re: the right look. White box contractor's specials look fine in my house, but they would look very out of place in a nice updated house. Are stainless appliances still popular and in style these days? I thought I read something about them going out of style recently??

 

[Westernskies]

Gotta go, my refrigerator is running...

 

[JohnDoe]

I thought about asking for the manager, but why should a customer have to beg a store to take his money for a luxury good?

Because margins are thin and retailers aren't doing themselves any favors giving the stuff away.

 

[lloyds]

We are seeing "bargains" in the transportation industry in the pacific northwest. Most of our bids are coming in in the neighborhood of 60% of where they were a couple years ago. But no bargains obvious anywhere else, maybe in home maintenance and improvement items on a limited basis.

 

[soupcxan]

Because margins are thin and retailers aren't doing themselves any favors giving the stuff away.

If they could sell it for price $x on Saturday, I doubt they'd be put out of business selling it for $x on Sunday. This wasn't a doorbuster special that was clearly being sold below cost to get traffic in the door.

 

[al_bundy]

it might have been a special promotion with the manufacturer for that one day. a lot of times sales, coupons and rebates are special agreements where the manufacturer shares the cost of the promotion or pays for it entirely to move inventory

 

[Midpack]

I can understand the desire not to negotiate. It often makes you feel poor, cheap, or disrespectful. It also takes time.

I know this is true, but I feel like a lazy, patsy if I don't try to negotiate on most things. Feeling poor, cheap or disrespectful in a relationship with a salesperson who is a total stranger I may never see again, doesn't even enter my mind at all. I ask for a discount, the worst thing they can do is say no. Then it's up to me to pay their price or walk away if I have other options. There's nothing to it and often times they are quick to offer a discount, takes almost no time at all and no big deal IMHO.

 

[soupcxan]

Update: they just put the 52" LCD TV on sale again for $1500. On one hand, I still think that's a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a TV. And there are always new models coming out, so the price has to keep dropping.

On the other hand, I could go for the 55" inch for $1900 instead...