6 replies to this topic

[WreckWench]

So you see this *gotta have treasure* in some far away place and you realize after you bought it that you may have gotten it cheaper if you had only tried to bargain with the guy. Or you want to buy this *amazing gotta have item* but the thought of bargaining for it just turns your stomach so you walk away. Or maybe you find your *dream item* and an hour later you walk away the owner and saved a lot of dough by bargaining back and forth.

Which one are you and why? If you avoid bargaining why? If you do bargain how do you know you are getting the best deal? When do you walk away? And what are you best bargaining tips or techniques?

[peterbj7]

I hate bargaining, but there are some places you have to, Egypt for one. The initial prices demanded are fanciful, and you can often end up paying less than 1/10 of them. When I am selling something (as in my shop) I refuse to bargain - I set the price at a fair level and that's that. Some people assume there's bargaining room no matter what the opening price is and get annoyed when they're told "no bargaining". I have to say I have always found Americans the worst in this regard, though the fact that most of my customers have been American may be a factor.

[Sharklover]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE bargaining. What a fun sport! In some cultures it is expected, and prices are marked up accordingly,and some sellers might even be offended if you don't try.

One must know the RELATIVE value of a currency. 10 dollars might buy you a pizza in the US, but if converted into yuan, it might buy you 100 pizzas. So you have to not think in your own currency, but in theirs. I had a ball bargaining in China and Dubai. But at a certain point, even though I knew I could get a better deal, I'd stop (In China particularly), because I liked leaving a little extra in the hands of someone who probably needed it more than I did.

If it is a high dollar item, and you really want it, you must be prepared to have a "walk away" point. You will know what a vendors limit is if they do not let you walk. But you must know what yours is too. I walked away from a bracelet I really wanted in the Gold Souk in Dubai. Gold is SO expensive right now, exchange rates were not too favorable, and the vendor simply couldn't go any lower. Whew, 3 dive trips for the price of that bracelet!

People always assume that bargaining is not done in the US in retail stores. I remember reading about the oversupply of oriental rugs in the US. I found the perfect rug but it was way more than I could afford. I walked out with that rug at half of the retail price. The guy needed to move some rugs and still made money.

No sin in bargaining as long as a fair price is paid and the vendor makes their profit too.

[Parrotman]

I never bargain. I figure that if a vendor or a store wants to sell something to me they will have it priced right or I won't buy it. I have been in retail for 35 years and I find customers that try to bargain in my store to be obnoxious. When they tell me that they can buy it cheaper at xyz store, I ask them why they did not buy it there? One of the reasons that I won't bargain is that I personally think that a vendor or store that is willing to bargain knows they are ripping the customers off to begin with and they are just hoping that someone will be foolish enough to pay the high price. So I do not give them the opportunity, I just leave and go somewhere else.

J

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

I'm an accountant in the retail industry. I hate bargaining, and don't do it at all well no matter what part of the world I'm in....I'm quite sure I 'overpaid' for several things in Cairo!!

And I certainly don't like it when I give a customer the price my boss has set for an item, and they insist I can do better. Trust me, I won't budge off the price my boss has set!

[grim reefer]

Except where bargaining is the social norm (real estate, cars, etc.) I hardly ever bargain unless someone is actively trying to sell me something. Then I might ask if that's the best they can do. Or sometimes I ask if they can throw something else in as part of the deal. I got a "free" nitrox course from my LDS this way when I bought a nitrox computer that they were trying to sell me.

[Sharklover]

I never bargain. I figure that if a vendor or a store wants to sell something to me they will have it priced right or I won't buy it. I have been in retail for 35 years and I find customers that try to bargain in my store to be obnoxious. When they tell me that they can buy it cheaper at xyz store, I ask them why they did not buy it there? One of the reasons that I won't bargain is that I personally think that a vendor or store that is willing to bargain knows they are ripping the customers off to begin with and they are just hoping that someone will be foolish enough to pay the high price. So I do not give them the opportunity, I just leave and go somewhere else.

J

Oh, I don't do THAT. That IS obnoxious.

Bargaining in some cultures is the norm and seriously, in some cultures you will offend them if you don't do a little bit of it.

It is not the norm in the US to bargain for most goods and I wouldn't do it in most scenarios. I shop around for good pricing just like the rest of us. But in the case of the rug, I truly could not afford the rug I liked. The retailer initiated the bargaining as he needed to move some rugs and must have made enough money on it to sell it to me at the price he did. My father had a large nationwide furniture business when I was a kid. I used to work part time for his designer at his first store and know how large the industry standard markup is for accessories, rugs, and the like. I knew that the retailer was still making good money. So it was actually a very pleasant interaction with the rug retailer and both of us were happy with the price and the transaction.

Now what's really fun is to go to the furniture market in High Point with a pile of cash. The can and will sell wholesale there. I grew up in a house full of market floor samples.

But I pay through the nose to try to buy American made furniture and with local and independent retailers as I would prefer supporting those businesses over getting the best price.