Shit: A new TIME magazine article on "how to haggle a better price"

[nuthing12]

Why the hell can't these guys ever do a real story on the SC's who actually use their advice (outside the confines of a car dealership) that leaves the rest of us poor souls to clean up the mess left behind. These people don't know and obviously don't care how much it hurts the people behind the counter who have to deal with these people.

Ughh, makes you want to tear out another patch of hair and have people ask if they're imagining things or if you really are going balder.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...913774,00.html

[jjllbb]

ahahaahah!! I JUST read that. I'm going to take it into work and post it in the break room for a laugh/ horrible furious ranting.

We've all been talking about how local news channels have been playing these pieces about haggling in stores. They're the reason we have half the stories around here nowadays!!!

SHEESH! SHADDUP ALREADY NEWS PEOPLE!

[BookstoreEscapee]

if you're not bargaining for everything everywhere, you're needlessly draining your wallet.

Uh, what?

Gault borrows another sales technique by inching into the seller's personal space--not in a menacing, I'm-going-to-steal-something way but in an enthusiastic, we're-on-the-same-team way.

I don't care whose team you're on, get the hell out of my face. Getting in my personal space is a good way to get me off your "team."

A discount because a watch doesn't have a box? My first question: Does that watch normally come in a box?

After some back-and-forth, Gault winds up with two $6 packages of bacon for free.

I'm sorry, I can get behind a discount on an recently-expired package, but two packages for free? Just because you're willing to buy expired meats doesn't mean you deserve it and a non-expired package for free.

This article is pissing me off.

[sprocket79]

The bacon part made me laugh. Who would WANT expired bacon? Not me. I'm not such a cheapskate that I'll lose my dignity over $6. The store would just throw it out anyway. Actually, I'm wondering if Whole Foods might not get in trouble for that because that has to be some sort of health violation.

Her jewelry escapades were laughable at best. She still overpaid for it, but now she feels better about herself. Anyone who knows anything about jewelry knows that the prices are padded for haggling. Usually the sales person will knock something off so that he looks like he's a good guy for giving you such a great deal. She just beat him to the punch. No skin off his nose. He probably still sold it for much more than it's worth.

As for price matching at Best Buy, that's pretty common, no amazing haggling skills there. Frankly, I'd rather buy it online if there's no sales tax and free shipping. Amazon is my friend.

The Sports Authority story was also a complete fabrication on what is a very common practice. The watch she bought was obviously on clearance because the price ended in .97 and because it had no box. Getting 10% off something with no box or no instructions or accessories or is slightly cosmetically damaged is pretty common. Usually it makes it unreturnable. If she wanted a new watch, she would never have gotten a discount, so she is misleading a bunch of idiots who can't see through her lies. Now these idiots are going to inflict themselves on poor, unsuspecting sales associates.


Ugh. That woman is such a fraud. I bet I could outshop her in a bargain-off any day of the week.

The one thing that did piss me off is the John Deere guy at Lowes. You snooze, you lose. If you don't get to a sale during the sale period you do not deserve the sale price. Wait until it goes on sale again or pay full price. If he was a SMART shopper, he'd wait for when a sale and a coupon coincided.

[Greenday]

It all depends on what you are buying. A lot of the stuff in the article made sense. But it fails to mention that you will be wasting time trying to haggle with ordinary employees. Ordinary employees generally do NOT have the ability to give discounts or to haggle. Furniture, jewelry, cars, very expensive stuff, maybe. But mostly only managers can do that kind of stuff. The article failed to mention that and it'll cause a lot of unnecessary hassle.

[draggar]

The bacon part made me laugh. Who would WANT expired bacon? Not me. I'm not such a cheapskate that I'll lose my dignity over $6. The store would just throw it out anyway. Actually, I'm wondering if Whole Foods might not get in trouble for that because that has to be some sort of health violation.

If they get sick off of it and can show that they purchased it "out of date" they can sue the pants off of Whole Foods. (This is one of the main reasons why my store never donated "day old" bakery items to soup kitchens).

[Chanlin]

The one thing that did piss me off is the John Deere guy at Lowes. You snooze, you lose. If you don't get to a sale during the sale period you do not deserve the sale price. Wait until it goes on sale again or pay full price. If he was a SMART shopper, he'd wait for when a sale and a coupon coincided.

I have to disagree here. It all comes down to whether or not I have a buyer. If I know right now I have a buyer at full price then screw the haggler. If I haven't been moving whatever I am selling after a year and this guy will buy it at the slightly discounted sale price we were just offering great. The sale price is still more than likely at profit for me, maybe not as much as I would have gotten but meh its a sale.

[sprocket79]

I have to disagree here. It all comes down to whether or not I have a buyer. If I know right now I have a buyer at full price then screw the haggler. If I haven't been moving whatever I am selling after a year and this guy will buy it at the slightly discounted sale price we were just offering great. The sale price is still more than likely at profit for me, maybe not as much as I would have gotten but meh its a sale.

You're probably right if it's a high ticket item, which it was in this case. If it's something relatively inexpensive, then I have a problem with people trying to get sales after the fact.

[ditchdj]

Who would WANT expired bacon? Not me.

Actually, "expired" ONLY means that the store and distributor can no longer guarantee that it's "fresh". I've bought "expired" milk many times that was marked down to 75 cents and it was as fresh as the 4 dollar milk. In fact, the ONLY times I've bought sour milk when it was NOT expired.

Go figure.

[RickSpangle]

My theory is that the worst haggling SCs are the ones who don't normally do it, read an article like this one then psyche themselves up for their big bargaining session. When they get knocked back they get all uptight and embarrassed and that's when the fireworks start. That would certainly explain all the stories where people have just asked for something completely unrealistic then blown up when they get laughed off.

Personally I'll always ask for "best price" on high value items - white goods and the like - and am prepared to shop around for the best deal. But if there's no realistic prospect of saving more than $50 or so I take the view that life's too short to bother. But then I guess some people's self-esteem depends on small victories.