Fiscal Fitness: Save $157.86 Just by Asking

SEVERAL YEARS AGO WHEN THERE WAS NO MONEY CRUNCH AS THERE IS NOW I LEARNED IF U CAN SAVE FOR A CAR IN MY CASE A 1 YR OLD CAR AND PAY CASH U CAN BARGAIN. I WALKED IN TO A MAJOR DEALERSHIP IN MY AREA WITH CASH NOT CHECK OR CREDIT CARD CASH AND WAS ABLE TO PRACTICALLY HAVE THE SALESMEN EATING OUT OF MY HAND....... I LOOKED AROUND ALONE FIRST AND NEW WHAT I WANTED TO BUY BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO PAY WHAT THEY WERE ASKING. BY PAYING CASH MONEY I WAS ABLE TO KNOCK OVER 2000.00 OFF OF THE STICKER PRICE OF THE CAR I WANTED. I LOVE TO SAVE MONEY WHENEVER I CAN AND CASH RIGHT NOW TALKS WITH SALES DOWN WITH MOST BUSINESS. AND IF ONE PLACE WON'T DEAL GO TO ANOTHER ONE. I 'VE DONE THIS ALL OF MY ADULT LIFE IT WORKS.

You used the word "anyways" and you are considered a journalist. Do you also type "a lot" as one word and get away with it? Sad...just sad....

For your example, I understand the part where Sears would match Best Buy's price. But how would you show physical evidence to Home Depot that Sears has given you Best Buy's price + 10% off?

Who wrote this crap????? you might get a store to knock off a couple bucks on a discontinued item if it is the last one on the shelf but for top of the line current models stores have MARGINS and prices are nonnegotiable.
And Mom and Pops can't compete with bix box stores to begin with they are NOT going to wheel and deal.
All you are going to do is run all over town and spend money on gas and your time with no successful results. The best thing to do is compare prices online and go to the lowest advertised store.

I am sick of these “haggle” articles. It doesn’t work 90% of the time, plain and simple. Sure, I’ve haggled the price down on an item once or twice in my lifetime. But almost everytime it was a discontinued model that they had to get rid of. You have to catch the right manager generally at the end of the quarter and hope that thier sales are low. Haggling generally doesn’t work even if you have the ad for the item you want to price match because models are "slightly" different. Retailers are desparate, but thier store managers don’t really have any incentive to haggle and most won’t do it. I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANOTHER “HAGGLING” ARTICLE AGAIN. ITS NOT TRUE, MOST CONSUMERS CAN’T DO IT BECAUSE THE STORE MANAGER WON”T PLAY ALONG.

Please take down this article ASAP! This is absolutely ridiculous. I have been working in Major Home Appliance Sales for 5 years and I can tell you, there is no extra discounts on top of the current sales promotions. Asking to speak to someone higher is just a waste of your time, and I am always sure to tell people that up front. Retail stores don't bargain, sure we price match but other than that, NOTHING ELSE.

P.S. Thank god all you other retail workers are there that agree with me.

Very misleading title. What are the chances that you can get them to sell you a floor model of an item that other stores are still advertising? Almost None. They need the floor model to show customers. What do you think they are going to do? Break a new one out of the box and use it as a floor model so someone else can request another 15% off of it?

Also, take your own advice and do some research. Bestbuy also offers free delivery on their washers. Find a 10% off coupon they have all the time and you've got yourself a price of $647 - without having to look like a moron asking them to pricematch Bestbuy and then take an additional 15% off of the price they just matched for the floor model that they wouldn't even sell you in the first place.

Attention customers: It is never okay to haggle in a retail store....please stop telling people this! We work just as hard as you, and we need to make money to pay our rent and feed our families, just like you. We have NO CONTROL over the prices that corporate sets, though we will usually give you a minor discount just to shut you up on something that is damaged. Yes, if you whine and complain like a child about an item being scratched (because of customers) or dirty (because of customers), you'll get a tiny bit of money off-and look like a complete jerk, waste our time AND yours, and generally add to the economic stress that is plaguing this country. Congratulations, you saved $10 on a $100 purchase. Whoop-dee-doo.

Please stop telling people to haggle at department stores! You can't! Unless the item is a display model or otherwise damaged we can't give any more discounts than we already offer.

I have been in retail for over 30 years and am subjected to these requests daily. I hate to say it, but most people who engage in this behavior are fairly rude about it. If you are going to ask, please be nice about it and don't get miffed if you are told no and go stomping mad out the door or rudely hang up the phone. Believe it or not, most stores work on a profit margin that they need to stay in business.

Also keep in mind that a lot of places that charge slightly higher prices on certain items may make it up to you in other areas, such as better customer service or help after the sale that you will not get at cost-cutters. Try to think of the big picture.

I work in retail and you can't haggle where I work. So don't come in and give me a hard time about money because I barely make any to begin with. Look online for coupons too. Don't give sales associates a hard time.

I assume then this advice from the motley fool is reciprical. I am a subscriber to the motley fool and I look forward to haggling my subscription renewel when its due.

I work retail as well, and our prices are non-negotiable. Yes, there are some adjustments that can be made for an item being a bit dirty or chipped, but sales associates have NO control over the overall prices or sales. In fact, we can get FIRED for being haggled and unnecessarily marking items down. I'm not losing my job to save someone another $5, especially when we run great clearance prices and coupons. Coming up and whining about "item x is too expensive, can you mark it down? $x is too much, can we work something out?" is very irritating and only makes the customer look bad.

You are wrong about the $150 savings. As Matta posted its 10% of the difference, so it will be 71.38 plus 7.14 or 78.53 Plus delivery at Sears. At Best Buy, they will price match delivery to Home depot. so total will be 710.10. Most places will not sell floor models at the discount, because they then put another out to be sold at the discount. PLease get your information straight before publishing. I know thwew facts because I sell appliances.

We will never rebound our economy if everybody is asking for discounts for everything.

I called ComCast cable about four months ago because I thought $80 for cable TV and the internet was too much. I told thatm that I thought it was a rip off and that I could go to Dish network for $24.99 and get ATT high speed for $24.99 and they matched those two prices! My cable and my internet are now just $54 with the taxes included. I've also called my credit card to lower my interest rate from 18% to 5.50% just by telling them that I would like to pay it back but the rate makes it impossible.

I was just reading the comment about the people trying to buy a display model but Target not letting them, even though th floor models get thrown away. This SAME thing happened to my grandmother. During December she found this gorgeous Christmas tree at Target, they didn't have it in stock, but they still had the floor model. She asked if she could buy it and they told her no, that it was against store policy. She went to a few outher Targets and looked online but could never find the same tree. She returned to the first target a few days later and the display was gone. She asked them where it went and they told her that it was thrown away! I think it's horrible that stores would actually do things like that! I mean, why can't someone buy a display, is it because they don't want to discount the price? What is the reason, someone please tell me. It's so wasteful!

WOW! An awful lot of proper but dumb people out there. Of course there are merchants that would like you to believe that it is crass to ask them to lower the price---they want as much of your money as you are stupid enough to give them. Guess those merchants have done a pretty good job. They've even convinced some of the consumers to advocate to the public on their behalf----"It's RUDE to ask or attempt to get a merchant to lower their price". Either that or some very low life merchants are attempting to convince you that even consumers believe you should give the merchants all your money.

Bottom line...if there is a salesperson involved---they are there to make a sale! Make them earn their money, AND, save as much as possible. Don't be intimidated(unless you think it is proper to pay more than you should). Most durable goods are highly overpriced. Doesn't matter what products---T.V.'s, shoes, newspaper subscriptions,----even a loaf of bread. The Art of the Deal. Merchants that won't deal, go over their heads or go somewhere else---somewhere that WILL cut you a deal(I call it profit sharing). Merchants that won't cut a deal won't get ANY profit. Consumers that are uncomfortable with expecting a respectfully lower price.....Come by MY business---we love idiots like you. We don't think you should get a break either.

I have been in retail for many years and I've had my share of hagglers to say the least. For starters, most of the people doing the haggling are the ones that have the money and can afford it. Most hagglers who get you to mark the price down are going to think the can haggle everytime they stop in the store and tell there friends to haggle too. I understand if its the end of the season and you have alot of inventory left and need to sell it off. That is what sales and clearance is for. So to all the retailers out there that are sick of these customers politely tell the prices are what they are.

This works in Mom and Pop stores and price matching stores, but it doesn't work in a lot of chain stores. Most big chain stores cannot do any negotiating because corporate sets the prices.