I HATE the whole notion of Haggling. Pain in the ass when buying a car, now I have to do it for my DVDs too?

Make it the same price for everyone, period. It would be so much easier for everyone.

hmm..methinks this race to the bottom in terms of price is not helping the economy

Ah, the third-world-ization of the U.S. economy. When will we get our first military junta? Oh wait, it's already here.

I haggled my way to a lower price point @ Guitar Center... and I wasn't the only person doing so.

Best Buy is not a bazaar. I don't shop there anyway because it makes me feel depressed, but I wouldn't bring myself to haggle with some poor employee in a heinous blue shirt.

@SteveZim1017: I agree. MINI doesn't do haggling for their cars. I loved it. Very simple.

Pissed my dad off though. He was cosigning (I didn't have a credit history) and is accustomed to haggling.

Someone tried this yesterday with me, arguing over the price of a booklight of all things! Please, don't let this be the start of a trend. If you can't afford it at it's regular price, you just can't afford it. Find a better deal elsewhere or move on.

Oh, and please don't tell me Wal-Mart has it cheaper and expect me to change it at that point. Not everyone can gouge their prices like Wal-Mart.

@karlrove: So bonuses for BestBuy's CEO level leadership won't be quite so high this year... and that will destroy the rest of the economy, never mind that most of their employees struggle to make over 10 bucks an hour while selling USB printer cables at a 97% markup. I'm sure the boys at the top are really suffering to make their car payments.

/End Bitter Rant.

@SteveZim1017: I disagree. I love haggling. I like feeling like I'm getting a bargain. Even if I'm not, it just find it fun. I'd haggle at the grocery store if they would let me.

@alysbrangwin: I'd rather haggle there than with a small-business owner with expenses and rent to pay.

Find the right disillusioned college student, be nice and talk to them, and then tell them what you want. Chances are they could care less how much money the store makes on it and will either give it to you or ask a manager on your behalf.

@Gaambit: It's not always a question if you can afford it. It's more why, should I give you more money when I don't have too. When I'm buying a new car, I can afford the $10,000 sticker price, but if I can get them down to $8,000 by haggling, there is nothing wrong with that.

I do agree that arguing over a booklight is a little silly.

I bet that someone who shops around and tracks the major deal forums (fatwallet, slickdeals, ect) can probably do as well or better as someone who haggles.

I'm thinking that haggling is going to work best if you are buying a display model or if you convince the salesperson to throw in some accessories or a warranty cheap/free - lots of stores judge salespeople by accessory or warranty sales, so they are willing to work with you if you buy those things.

@madanthony: Correct. You can't really haggle over everyday models, but if you go in well-informed you can knock a few dollars off the price.

Examples include:
- buying floor models (which people have been fiddling with for a long time)
- buying returned goods (for some reason Best Buy often does not mark down used products)
- Buying "lagging edge" items when you know something new is around the corner (BB usually will put things on sale to make room for new inventory/technology, but not always).

Basically there are some items where the sales rep has some wiggle room, and some where they do not. If you know which items these are then you can try haggling.

@AngrySicilian: Please. CEO level leadership would rather fire a bunch of employees than cut back to only one brand new ivory backscratcher per week.

Don't like haggling? Don't haggle. That simple.

But seriously, if you are buying a car or a computer or TV, what is your time worth? I agree on small items, it can be ridiculous. But high priced items, I see friends leaving behind hundreds and thousands of $$$.

Unless you earn hundreds per hour, it's worth it to haggle AND research for the big ticket items.

I'm really bad at haggling, and am uncomfortable doing it even when I am in a setting where it is common (i.e. it's probably customary in china town, but, er, yeah I still don't do it).

But fighting to get your pricematch/coupon/rebate when buying something, it's almost like haggling. The store wants you to pay one price, you want to pay the advertised price, sometimes you come out somewhere in between!

@Applekid: You're right, that is pretty much what they did this holiday season. Finding help in the PC Home Office area was more impossible than usual.

@darkjedi26: Once, after reading an article on haggling, I went on my planned afternoon trip to the grocery store and decided to try out what I'd learned. Worked great in the meat market. As I recall it was "Since your is out of stock, may I have for the sale price?"

@P.T.Wheatstraw: This is true. Old floor models and returned items are a pain for salespeople and they only get harder to sell as time passes. They usually want to get rid of these items ASAP.

@alysbrangwin:

depending on the level of the associate, they may not even be allowed to change the price for you.

i HATED when people tried to haggle with me when i worked there. i hated best buy, and sure, had it been within my power, i would have let people walk out the doors with $2 cameras, BUT for me to adjust the price on anything meant calling a manager over, waiting 10+ minutes for one to show up, explaining to him/her WHY the price was being changed, having him/her sign a form, then they'd have to type a code into the register, otherwise the price would jump back up.

it was a pain in the arse, and the general store policy is 'no haggling' anyway, since the employees make no commission. (therefore i couldn't 'make a deal' by say, taking $25 off the price and dipping into my commission a bit, because lowering a price meant taking it directly out of the store's revenue, something money grubbers like BB would NEVER stand for.)

if you're dealing with a supervisor, though (signified by a round, silver nametag), feel free to ask, though i HIGHLY doubt they'll do anything for you. BB only promotes those who drink the kool-aid

In many countries you are considered somewhat mentally defective if you don't haggle. So, go out and ask for those deals. If you're embarrassed, you can always claim to be from Far Far Away.

The worst they can do is say no.

After a year in which my income has dwindled significantly while my expenses have done the opposite, I have found that, for me anyway, the key to coping is ruthlessly separating my wants from my needs.

It's amazing what you can get by without buying. My boyfriend likes the way I look without makeup better, so badda bing: no money spent there. The soda I always bought while out running errands? No more. Haggling may work for some people, but I'm definitely not the type to do it. So I take a very careful look at what I really need as opposed to what I want and can do without.

I haggle everything I can. I know that stores can typically offer 10% off without much issue with the situations. heck I got wal-mart to knock 10% off of a bike because none of the tags were ever marked correctly for the bike. I've also asked for percentage off of a carton of cigarettes. The hospital my mom is in and out of all the time, the cafeteria always gives me employee pricing on meals because I'm there very often. My mom won't eat some of the stuff on the menu for patient rooms, but like if they have clam chowder in the cafeteria, I'll get that for her.

i tried haggling with directv & got NOWHERE.

get this awesome deal to set up HD for an existing customer: pay us $99 for an HD box, additional $10/mo. AND sign a new 2-yr contract. not a very good deal considering new customers get a FREE HD+DVR (which is like $249).

i told the guy i would sign a contract or pay for the box, but not both. he wouldn't budge. i told him i was going to cancel my service. he said 'go ahead'. anyone have any ideas here?

If you hate to ask for a better price, then don't. Nobody will force you into a negotiation.

For those of us who know that we can get a better price, just by asking, it's worth the 10 minutes it takes to get the salesmen to divulge that they can push 1 button and give us 20% off. Chances are you are coming at negotiating a price based on the idea that it's a confrontation with the salesmen... it works much better if you build a quick friendship and they feel as good about giving you the discount as you feel about getting it. Taking the time to be cool with someone can make all the difference. It saves me hundreds on my big ticket purchases.. but at the same time you have to know when to just shut up and pay for your crappy waffle maker. Keep the negotiating to big-ticket items.

I'm a best buy employee and I'm in a position where I'm able to "haggle". It's not uncommon for me to know our cost of a product and how much I would be allowed to take off without getting yelled at by a manager. But, on the other end of things, if you scratch my back I'll scratch yours. Don't blow off my Geek Squad Black Tie Protection Plan, don't tell me you've got a friend who can do our Geek Squad Services. I'm already losing money on the laptop, so no you can't have another $50 off.

I just haggled the hell out of a new Yaris. Got $2300 off a $15k car, they're really desperate. I'd say it took a few extra hours emailing dealers....at the most. Worth the time? You bet! I wouldn't be asking for a discount on some blank CDs for $4.99 at Fry's though. The amount of time you spend has to make sense to you.

Haggling doesn't work. Period.

Tried it the day after Christmas at the local Sears. I always need dress shirts for work, so I grabbed 10 at Sears, all the same price. Asked if they could knock off $5 and make the total an even flat price with no change since I was buying 10 at once. They took them from me and laughed as they put them back on the display shelf.

Same thing at Best Buy when I was going to buy a few items. I asked if they could knock off about .89 cents (you can tell, I hate change) to make the total an even bill balance. I was met with a flat NO!

@antimir: yeah, i've never had luck haggling at best buy. i recently bought a samsung LN46A550 - went to best buy to check it out & they wanted like $300 more than newegg. kid was trying real hard to get me into the tv, but after i got him all high on the sale, i whipped out the printout from newegg. 'match this price & i'm sold'. i thought he was gonna cry.

circuit city actually did a better job - they matched the price of the tv, but wouldn't throw in any extras or reduce the price of their cables. i ended up just buying it from newegg. <$1300 delivered (including cables & mount) & i got it in 2 days.

@AngrySicilian: I bought an open-box laptop at BB, and they didn't remove the display software before letting me take it home, so not only did I have to take it back three days later to have that done, but it wiped everything I'd installed or configured to that point.

If haggling becomes customary, then you'll see all of the retail prices become inflated. Then you'll just haggle yourself down to the price that you probably would have paid without haggling. Car dealers play this game. At one time it was customary for them to carry 3 different pricing books and they'd show the customer different ones depending on how the initial encounter went. By the end the business made sure that they made money and the customer went home with a frustrating experience.

I hate haggling.

@mac-phisto: Call back and talk to a different guy? I think you want to get to someone in the retentions department.

I did manage to haggle at Best Buy last Christmas. Bought a Halo edition Xbox (it didn't come with Halo 3, which I pointed out to the clerk how foolish that was). He promptly threw in the game, and an extra controller, if I purchased the Product Service Plan. Normally I don't go for the PSP, but it worked out about $50 cheaper than if I had bought the game and controller separately. So the store got something out of it to be sure, but I saved $50 overall so I was happy enough.

@mac-phisto: Talk to cancellation department...if that doesn't work, cancel. They'll call back and give you a good deal.

I switched from Dish to Directv and got an awesome deal (for AAA members). Dish wouldn't give me a better deal. One week after signing up for Directv, they called me and promised to give me everything Directv offered, and they'd pay my cancellation fees.

I told them they'd missed their opportunity to negotiate with me, and maybe I'd talk to them in two years time.

Whoops, meant to say Xbox 360. And the nice surprise was that the Halo edition had the Falcon chipset, so no RROD a year later!

@darkjedi26: Yeah, cars, houses, anything at a flea market...I can understand trying to negotiate a better price. But in an established retail environment, where the prices are always dictated by a number of factors, that's a bit much.

Heh I tried this a few weeks ago. Perhaps I don't have the knack for it. Went into a furniture store, and they had an entertainment unit for $600. So I asked the guy..."any kind of sales or deals I can get in for this?" "No sir...perhaps in January". "Hmm...no 'promotions'...nothing I can use?" "I'm afraid not sir". "Ok, let's say I wanted to buy this unit right now. What is the best price I can expect to pay on it?" "$600 sir". "Ummm...ok...well....we will think about it...I guess..."

Go different unit somewhere else, but they didn't seem to want to haggle at all. Only reason we got it there was they had 0% financing for a year, which I guess saves me like $150 in financing.

@intellivised: That's because GC employees have been allowed to adjust prices for a good long time. It's like any other major purchase - either buy a few high-margin goods to get a discount on the high-price but low-margin item or pay full price for the high-price item and get a few trinkets (cables, strings, etc) for free.

I'm getting a bit sick and tired of the media blaming the crappy state of retail on shoppers. Most B&M retailers didn't do so hot this Christmas. But, whose fault is that? Not the customers. Amazon did great, because it offered the best prices. I got All the James Bond movies on Blu-ray for around $10 each. Try that at Best Buy or Circuit City and see what they tell you.

The poor sales during this year's holiday season is the fault of the retailers' greed. They're used to screwing their customers by manipulating prices in ways that don't make you want to shop in their stores anymore. Online retailers do it too. But, shopping online has the advantage of not having to deal with spending gas, time, and dealing with rude customers and store employees. Above all, you can do your price comparison right on the spot. The greatest advantage B&M retailers have had over the years in the shoppers' inability to compare prices on the spot. That's going away though. With more and more phones being able to handle web browsers, shoppers can find the best deal anytime, anywhere.

Retailers, if you're singing the blues this year, tough.

@FatLynn: Archie is a bitch, it uninstalls everything installed every few minutes :/ I hope you got at least 10% off for buying the display. I don't work for BBY but I have to work there as a 3rd party vendor.

@mac-phisto: I was looking at the LN40A650 TOC and did pretty much exactly what you did. Went to check out the TV at Best Buy, asked about price match, and then left. Spent time at a couple of other places then just ordered it from NewEgg.

The biggest headache I had in the whole process was figuring out why the hell I even tried anything other then Newegg.

@krispykrink: I think you are going about haggling the wrong way. This isn't the age of cash and avoiding change in your pocket. Ask for a percent off. That's how registers work at Sears and Bestbuy (both companies which I actually have register experience). Generally you can knock off up to 10% without having to call God for an approval/override code.

@quail: Nah, the rule of averages takes care of that for us. There will always be people out there willing to pay an inflated (list, msrp, etc) price. Those people allow me to get the discounts. I'm sure the store is still making money off me when I buy stuff on clearance.

@intellivised: Yeah. I've been doing that forever

@KyleOrton: So, big companies do not have expenses or rent to pay?

I recently haggled at H.H.Gregg for a surrond sound system. They had it listed for $750 but I found it on Amazon for $620 (free delivery). I was able to get $650 for it at the store which allowed me to take it right away. Which was also a good bargain since the box was so big that I wouldn't of wanted it sitting on my front porch all day so I would have had to take a couple of hours off from work to sign for the package which totally makes up for the price difference.

Oh lordy, the people over at customerssuck.com are going to HATE this.

I don't blame them. How many stores are going to give the employees at the bottom of the ladder the power to change the price of the product? How much do you want to bet that the employees who do change the prices of products in retail stores get in trouble for it later?

@SteveZim1017: Retailers accommodate for discounts when they set their "normal" prices. When you pay full price, you subsidize a discount for someone else.

I would much rather be the one getting the discount than the one subsidizing someone else's.

Haggling is fun, and can save you money. But I would never encourage anyone else to haggle. The more you pay, the better discount I can get!

I haggle when I buy cars and houses and I hate it. I always think I'm getting the short end of the stick. Over the past 16 years, I've bought only two houses and 3 cars. I'd rather live in my current house until I'm dead and drive my 9 year old car until the wheels come off - I hate haggling that much.

When buying other things, I check out a variety of retailers and make my decision based on price, reputation and shipping charges (if any). I'd rather spend a few extra bucks and get something from a retailer I trust than go with the lowest price from some retailer I've never heard of.