You never know when an opportunity to haggle might present itself when you’re out shopping, as our reader Marty demonstrates. He was able to get a 10% discount on a blazer at Macy’s just by asking the clerk at the register.

Just wanted to share a small victory I had while out shopping today.

I am a twenty-something male. I needed a navy blue blazer. I found myself going to Macy’s at the local mall. I found a Michael Kors blazer in my size that I liked, and was prepared to pay the advertised price (MSRP was $250, marked down to $89.99).

However, as I was trying the jacket on, the top button popped off! I knew that this was a good chance to get the salesperson to come down on price, even though I’d never tried haggling before.

I offered the salesperson $70 for the jacket with the now-broken button. He said that he couldn’t do $70, but he could give me a 10% discount. I found this to be an acceptable middle ground, and accepted the counter-offer. (I know, it’s technically not haggling since the product was now of worse than retail quality, but buttons are super easy to put back on.)

I now own a navy blue blazer (with a broken button) and I saved about $9 in the process. Best of all, my first attempt at sort-of haggling was a success!

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