That is the question…
I say yes! More and more people these days utilize this shopping strategy. I am not exception. I haggled and will continue haggling regardless of my financial situation. Even if I save just a dollar by haggling, I am satisfied. Am I cheap? No, I am just concerned about my money.
A few years ago, when everything was fine and dandy in my world, I went shopping for a bedroom set. I went to a little family-owned store and found what I liked. The owner of the store came up to me and asked how he could help. I told him straight up that I would buy the set for $700.00 (the set was priced at $1500.00). He looked at me like I was a little crazy, and maybe I was, but I wanted to take my chances. He said he would not be able to meet my expectations. I paused for a moment and on the way out I said to him that his competitor was willing to sell it to me for $750 and I asked the owner if he wanted his competition to have my money. I think at that moment he made a decision to sell the set for $700.00. It wasn’t easy to negotiate the price in this case because I was asking for a huge discount, but haggling for something a little bit more reasonable is very easy.
Just about a month ago, I went to my dentist for a regular check up which regularly priced at $99.00. However, for the first time visitors, the price is only $49.00 for the same exact service. I told my dentist that the only way I can stay with him is if he gives me the same price as for his new clients. What do you think? Not only did I get this discount, I have also been told that they will continue giving me this discount at my future visits. Not bad at all!
These days, you can haggle anywhere, even at the stores such as Macy’s, K-Mart, Target, etc. It is not very easy to haggle for groceries, but big items such as appliances, furniture, home improvement products and such are very easy to get discounts on, especially right now when the economy is down. The retailers need to get rid of their inventory and the service providers want to stay in business.
I am absolutely shameless about haggling! One of my friends said that she does not feel comfortable doing it, because she wants the store owners to make some profit and that she would not want to take something away from the business owner and his/her family. What? This is crazy! You should never feel that way. In the example above, if the owner of the store did not make any profit at all on the bedroom set, there is no way he would ever sell it to me for such a deep discount. See, there is such a thing called “markup”. Every retailer marks up the price. Here are a few examples for you:
- Jewelry markup could be up to 500% (yes, you read it right!)
- Clothing-up to 50%
- Furniture-up to 60%
- Appliances and Electronics-up to 30%
- Sporting Goods-up to 45%
See? The next time you feel bad about haggling, think twice, because, most likely the retailer you are purchasing from is not thinking “Oh, My God, I cannot charge this person too much because I do not want to take money away from his/her family.” Businesses are there to make profits; otherwise, they would not exist. Haggle as much as your heart desires. If you do not ask, you will never know.
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