Haggle all the time. One of the best places is Discount Tire haggled my $160/each Yokohama Tires down to $120+warrenty each.

Yeah sure. I want my life to feel MORE like a 24/7 garage sale.

I guess I do haggle. Last night I got BestBuy (do NOT look at me that way - I HAD to go there) to price match Walmart. With no ad, no proof, and they didn't check. On an item they don't sell in the stores.

I don't feel bad - price I paid is what it costs everywhere else.

Just please, please don't try to haggle at your grocery store, CVS, or fast food location of choice. All you will do is annoy the clerk who really can't change a damn thing, and piss off the line of people behind you as it gets longer and longer.

I just did this with my cellphone plan. I'm with Verizon, and we were on their lowest family plan. I did a little research and found out that T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T offered cheaper plans that fit our usage. So I called up Verizon (after searching online for better plan options) and told them that we were thinking about switching carriers - they reduced our bill, and we're all happy.

Every time I try to do this they say "No." As far as the leaving if you don't get the discount, most of the time I can't buy it anyway without the discount, so I HAVE to leave. It doesn't do any good.

I must suck at it.

I just can't bring myself to haggle. I detest doing it with cars, got annoyed with figuring out a good offer on a house below asking price and I just won't do it in other areas of my life.

I guess I'm not hard up enough with my finances to let the need overtake my pride.

Also, pro tip: haggling with hookers yields lesser service (or none!), and haggling with the blow dealer yields no blow (or a punch in the gut)

When paying cash as opposed to credit it can often work.

No way. I'll research and find what the market price is, but I don't really feel like going out of my way to try to talk it below that. If I'm not willing to pay the price, I just won't buy it.

I know I'm probably paying more in the long run, but I'm one of those people who thinks haggling is really, really tacky. Especially on new items.

I have seen that most retailers are more apt to give a discount if there is a good reason. Matching something or taking 10% off because of having to wait a long time or something like that.

"Any discount, is that the best you can do?" the reply is, "The discount is already applied, we have everyday low prices."

@Frank Murphy: Actually, that's useful, and a reminder to take advantage of the situation.

For example, one rainy Saturday in NYC I was trying to buy two RCA cables at $11.99 each. The store's credit card machine was out and they were having to authorize every plastic transaction by hand and on the phone, so when I said, "I have $18 in my wallet," that's what I ended up paying for the pair. Extraordinary circumstance, sure, but having cash in hand is the whole reason I got the discount.

(PC Richards on 86th near Lex, FWIW. I ended up there by accident but the staff there were the nicest and most competent I ever met in an electronics / appliance shop in New York.)

@Applekid: I just view it as a pain in the ass. The last car I bought required so much salesman soul-crushing (I even managed to get the sales manager at one dealership yelled at by the general manager) that I'm dreading having to do it again.

My dad is the ultimate haggler, though, and keeps insisting I need to be willing to walk away. He went to one dealership and just wanted the monthly payments reduced by $50, but they said no. So he left and went to another dealership. As he's signing the papers at the other place, the first place calls and says, "Oh OKAY, FINE, we'll do the lower price." He just laughed and said too late.

@litrock: I would try to haggle even when I know I'm getting the best deal, because then it just makes a good deal even better. If I walk into a store, it's probably because that store has the best deal on what I want, and then I'll try to squeeze a little more,.

This is a great technique for consumers because many businesses will drop their stated prices, especially at the end of the month when sales quotas need to be met and bills need to be paid.

From a business perspective, however, dropping your price for a haggler is a losing game. If you drop your prices, it may cause competitors to match the drop. Before you know it, the market price for your $500 item is now $400. And once prices are dropped, it's hard to raise them again.

Also, the customer who haggles is usually going to be a PITA customer compared to the one who pays, takes the item and goes home. In fact, you are more likely to get a chargeback from the haggler than you are from the straight up retail payer.

That said, consumers can absolutely benefit from the tactic because someone is usually willing to drop their price to make a sale that may have ultimately gone to a superior competitor.

It's great for consumers but if you're a business owner, tread carefully when it comes to haggling responsiveness.

@pecan 3.14159265: Yeah, I can't do that. I'd rather just pay what they're asking or not. Paying more is likely, sure, but ... the few times I've tried haggling I felt dirty dirty dirty. I won't do it for savings.

Where do you people shop where the clerks have the authority and tools to give arbitrary discounts?

Price-matching is one thing, since most stores have printed policies and procedures for this, but I feel like this article is talking about something else.

Also, to echo a previous post, please- NEVER do this at a grocery store, drug store, etc. You're just being a dick to the staff (who can't change the price) and everyone in line behind you who has to lose 20 minutes so you can save $2.

I do when it makes sense. Chain stores rarely give you a deal, and nobody's going to give you a deal on a pack of gum.

But for example when I was outfitting our bikes with new tires, I went to an independent bike shop and asked the guy if he'd give me a deal if I bought 4 tires as opposed to just 2 (he didn't know I was fixing two bikes). He knocked off about $5 a tire, so I saved $20 that I can now spend on something else.

And actually it was a win-win because I went back to the same store a few days later to buy two new bike helmets.

Biggest tip, open a dialogue with the sales associate. Dont just walk up and say "Hey, discount.." Lure the sales associate and make him think he lured you in... Then gracefully say, "If the price were a little lower, i would definitely get it." wait a couple seconds, then pitch your request...

Worst case, they'll say no...

I generally do haggle, in situations where I can come up with a plausible reason to ask for a discount. I don't go to Target and haggle on the price of toilet paper, for instance, because that's pointless. But I almost always haggle the price of, say, home repair, or major appliances, or musical instruments, or things I'm buying more than one or two of, or hotel accommodations of more than a day or two. And anyone who doesn't aggressively haggle when buying a car is just a sap. (I actually like the car buying haggle process.)

Right this minute there's a Tru-Green guy outside doing my lawn treatment; I haggled the price of a season of their service down by about 25% and locked the price in indefinitely, just by comparing prices with their competition. Later today, a piece of network hardware is arriving in the mail, from an ebay seller who agreed to reduce his Buy-It-Now price for me by 20% after I pointed out that the same item was selling in regular auctions for less.

One technique that experienced negotiators will bring to bear when haggling is called "the kiss." Basically it means to ask for some small extra at the very end of the process, ideally something worth more to you than to the seller. For example, if you're buying a guitar, and you've agreed on the price, you might ask the seller to throw in a gig bag, or a few sets of strings. Or when buying a major appliance, you might ask for free delivery or setup once the item's price has already been agreed on. Usually the seller is psychologically committed to the process by that time and won't want to let the sale slip over something small, so they agree and you get the "kiss."

People think haggling and bargaining is gauche. There are times when it is; you don't haggle the price of a restaurant meal, for example. But there are plenty of other times when failing to haggle amounts to leaving money on the table, which is just dumb. It's not hard to get a sense of which is which.

@Etoiles: Just don't do it at the checkout line -- when I was but a young lad, I worked in the produce dept of a large regional grocery chain.

We would routinely markdown stuff that was "Below 'Brand' Quality" to get it off the shelf. If you asked nicely, I'd mark it down even more to avoid just having to throw it away at the end of the day.

(Aside: the cashiers just 'loved' my relatively prime pricing. 3# of bananas, let's price that at 97c/7#s).

Pointless. Since business in North America expects the price on the label to be what they get paid, they price accordingly.

Example: In Walmart, jeans are $20. If there is a problem with them you might haggle Walmart down on the price, but not for any other reason.

In China, the same jeans will be $40 - $60. You will then haggle the merchant down to $20 if you're Asian. If you're the wrong kind of Asian, $30. If you're white, $40.

Is this what you want in North America? Replace "Asian" with white, and "white" with black/hispanic.

No thank you. I like that me, or any of my cubemates, or anyone else from my building can walk into the same store and pay the same price for anything. Gives me those warm fuzzies.

No, no, and no. Do not do these things. You will only piss off some retail slave that likely has no authority to alter prices. When I worked retail, I let hagglers walk all the time. You know why? It was retail, not some Marrakesh market. The price is the price, take it or leave it. I get paid either way, and certainly not enough to care that I just lost a multi-million dollar a year company maybe five or six dollars of profit, because someone else would come along and buy it at our asking price. My job was to make you spend more money, not less just to make a sale.

If you don't have the money to pay full price, then either downgrade or go without. Unless you're buying a car. In that case, it's expected, so knock yourself out.

'People do this in foreign countries all the time'

I always hear people say this when haggling comes up. Maybe being specific would help, since in the foreign country where I used to live, haggling was for the street markets and not places like department stores.

@Etoiles: People tried this with me when I worked retail. They failed to comprehend that 'chick at the register' was not the same as 'massive corporate entity that sets the prices'.

@Etoiles: Yeah, there are actually people behind you that ARE willing to spend money. Go to the customer service counter if you're asking for a nickel off on your dented can of chicken broth, PLEASE.
ALL i want to do is to go home after food shopping, and i don't need any more people slowing up the lines!

I am indian. My mom can haggle like anything i have ever seen. My dad on the other hand couldnt haggle to save his life. I take after my dad.

I know I'm probably paying more in the long run, but I'm one of those people who thinks haggling is really, really tacky.

@litrock: It just seems like you're either begging the salesperson for a fair deal (buying a car) or you're asking to pay less than a fair price.

I can't imagine doing it outside of certain circumstances without feeling like a jerk.

@Rectilinear Propagation: By certain circumstances, I mean where you already have to haggle.

I find haggling for most items gauche. The reward for haggling isn't worth the inconvenience and embarrassment of asking some 20-year-old to cut me a "deal" on a television and save 50 bucks.

I'd much rather spend my time carefully researching WHICH item I buy to prevent browsing or unnecessary spending. In my mind there is far more to be saved by carefully choosing the items you purchase and identifying reasonable sales than one can glean from haggling. The store, to me, should be treated as if nobody works there - I want to show up, pick up the exact item I had selected for purchase, and get the hell out of dodge.

@dwasifar: Oh, I forgot the big one: the "cash discount." When dealing with locally owned businesses, you can almost always get a discount for paying in cash (that's cash cash, as in green presidential portraits, not a check). The reason cash is attractive to a small business should be obvious, but that's their issue, not yours.

To those people who have checked in on this thread with "in America, the price is the price," I have just three words: no it isn't. Not always, anyway. I have decades of experience otherwise to prove it. You just have to know when and how - and who - to ask.

A few years back, I bought a leather jacket at a JC Penny store. The leather had a somewhat "distressed" look to it by way of style. The clerk got an additional discount for me (about 20%) because there were two scuffs as well. So yes, they can and will discount under the right circumstances.

@ADismalScience: That kind of research is a good kicking-off point for a little haggling. It makes you more confident in your position and more likely to walk if you don't get your way. A good salesman can tell the difference and will respond accordingly, and you'll get a better deal.

I must have been the only person ever that when I canceled AOL back in 98 that they did not offer a free month to. I kept waiting for the CSR to offer and no offer ever came.

Well, I've lived in Japan, Ghana, Egypt, and a number of other African and Middle Eastern countries - and I do haggle, even when I'm back home. Not for the small stuff (although my Arab partner will), but anything of any substance. And it works, albeit far more at small outlets or for (as dwasifar noted above) services.

When it comes to travel - unless you're refugeeing out in the path of a storm or at the same hotel as the city's largest annual convention, anyone who takes the first room the hotel clerk gives you is consenting to be ripped off. Done nicely and with finesse, you can find yourself in fine digs, at no extra cost.

@dwasifar:

Except 99% of the time in this day and age you aren't dealing with a "salesman." You're dealing with a glorified register monkey who has access to a front-loader.

@litrock: There are two main problems with most hagglers I encounter at work:

1) They don't follow rule #4 up there and instead of leaving when told no, start to get increasingly bitchy at me, demand a manager, demand our corporate number and all for a $5 discount? That's enough to put me in a really bad mood.

2) Most people don't seem to have a good grasp on what you can and can't haggle. Just saying "high dollar electronics" is too vague. Good luck trying to get anyone to drop their price on a PS3. Unless you are buying an opened floor model or something, you won't find a discount. The reason is companies are making practically no profit margin on the PS3 so there's no wiggle room for a discount. HDTVs and Digital cameras or a different story but most electronics places don't really offer many discounts.

Buying a car, getting home repairs done, buying appliances, etc. These are the things commonly haggled on.

If you want any success haggling in a store, your best bet is a mom-and-pop shop or a second hand store. Profit margins on used items are generally significant, so the merchant has a wide latitude to negotiate.

@JeanStork: I had people do this all the time. Sometimes they'd pull the "well, X has it cheaper," and my reply was invariably "Well, I'd buy that one, then."

They never knew quite how to react to that, and I'd usually just ask them if there was anything else I could help them with.

I have haggled with online merchants, and I've *always* gotten a better offer for big ticket items. I've saved hundreds of dollars doing this. I just email them something like this (find as many merchants' emails as you can and send it to them all):

Dear Merchants,

I am shopping online for this product:

[www.sitewithproduct.com]

I can buy it at a bunch of different places for about the same price ($xxx) and was wondering if you could sell me one lower than this price. I can't find one used!

I'll go with the lowest bidder, as this is going out to a bunch of different online merchants. Thanks for your time.

The key to successful haggling is not to need anything that you are haggling for. I often get great deals on stuff that happens to catch my eye when I'm out and about, but when the kid's AC breaks during a heat wave I'm going to pay what they're asking and GTFO.

An end-of-season clearance sale is a good time to ask for an additional discount.

Ask for a discount on something already in clearance?
Really?

Is it even possible to do that without sounding like ridiculously cheap jerk?

I once got the police discount because I asked a all you can eat restaurant if they gave a discount for people staying in a hotel. I don't have much shame so I will always try.

@ADismalScience: Wow, I guess that means I have to give back all the money I've saved that way over the years, then, huh? :)

@Applekid: Well, it doesn't come up that often I guess...but just throw something out there on housing. Especially now. I did, and I saved 5 grand. Yeah, it's a lousy 5 grand on a house, but it's 5 grand.

@dwasifar:

You'd really have to quantify it. I used to work at a big-box retailer in home theatre sales years ago. I would contest that it's unlikely you saved very much on typical consumer electronics/appliance purchases. Most of the "savings" I gave customers back in the day were bullshit phantom money from coupons they didn't bring in or delivery services that we never really actually charged anyone for.

I manage a furniture store and people do try to haggle. I by haggle I mean they try to tell me what I am selling it for.

Keep in mind that when you a trying to get a lower price you should ask nicely for it. You should also make a reasonable offer. Otherwise I will gladly sell my well priced item to someone else.

Can I give you $xx.xx? Will get you a lot farther than, "I'll give you $xx.xx."

I am always happy to discount an item if we can but if a person looks like they are going to be more trouble than they are worth I will move on.

@JulesNoctambule: I'd always point out that they were not in said country when they tried that line on me. I'd also point out that I had no authority to alter the price or LP would start breathing down my neck. Which is something that probably should be pointed out. Even if a manager has the authority to alter a price, if they do it too often, Loss Prevention might start snooping around, and it could cost someone a job.

Just sayin'.

@SoCalGNX: Nice! I hope you got some acid washed jeans to go with that mofo...

@Rectilinear Propagation:
My mom did that for a pair of very expensive, good quality, but very ugly running shoes that were already on clearance. Basically she just said, "Really, do you think anyone's going to buy these for $X? How about knocking off another 10%?" And he did.

It might be easier to do it w/o sounding like a jerk if you're a nice polite middle aged lady.

Always, ALWAYS ask for a better deal! In Target last week, my husband asked for a discount on a pair of shoes that were stained. They were the last pair of shoes in that size, and since they were for our nephew to play sports in, who cares if they has stains, right? The cashier had the authority to knock off 10% on the spot! Sure it was $1, but over time, it all adds up!