neal666

i have seen 2 sofas i really want in barker and stonehouse but its £2450 for them both and i really dont want to pay that price! would you barter? give me some tips! what would you offer! do people barter on things like this?

rog

iTrader: (2)

Never have on stuff like this, BUT i don't see why not, you don't ask you don't get, and always bid LESS than you ideally want to pay and you'll end up agreeing on the actual amount, it makes the seller feel like they're getting something if you up your price a bit.
But they might just tell you to "do one"

orionmojo

iTrader: (1)

you just say whats the best you can do me on those. i want them but dont want to pay that.

if your paying cash too you have an extra advantage.

or do what my dad did on more than one occasion, take the tag off a cheaper one and then just argue the toss until they give in

opposite lock

iTrader: (3)

show them the colour of ur money it will show ur serious. As above, if you dont ask you dont get!!! Dont be embarressed by asking its ur money and a sofa is definately an item to barter over.Plenty more other deals out there and they know it. Offer them a respectfull figure , put the ball in there court n only pay what ur happy with i,d say.

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

exactly what I would do and if its still not what you want to pay, tell them how much you are prepared to pay,

If you dont ask, you dont get

MikeR

As above

Mike

R5FORD

iTrader: (1)

get a indian mate to go and get them for you

we get the best deals

Fiddy

When i did my GNVQ in business at collage back in the 90's, we did a section on prices in shops, the price is what they want you to pay, you are not at liberty to pay that and can barter, my teacher said he did it all the time, think id be to embarrassed tbh.

bookwyse

After living and working in Saudi Arabia, it has become almost second nature to barter over things like this.

As said, offer them a very low price and then come up until you reach a price you are happy to pay. If they dont seem interested at first then ask to speak to someone higher than them that would actually like to earn some commission

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

I work in purchasing, I barter without even realising and I get quite annoyed when I do have to pay the tag price, lol

Paddy

Any sticker/advertised price is what's termed in law as an "invitation to treat". It's not an "offer" in the contractual sense. So until you agree to pay a price it's really just a number and can go down or up.

Most stores will have some sort of discretionary Manager's discount and I'll bet they hardly ever use it and really really want to! I bought a load of scalextric the other day in Model Zone in Kingston [for my spoilt nephews, not me]. Tag price £250, I paid £200 and the salesman was gutted [I asked for the manager] as he reckoned his own staff discount didn't come to that

The only thing I draw the line on is when they try and offer you warranties, finance or store cards in order to get the discount.

Cash is key as said above, if someone comes into me looking at cars and says "I've got £XXX here and I'm out today to buy a car whether it's from you or someone else" they won't be walking away.

saphycozzie-adz

iTrader: (10)

Just start by asking what their best price is for the pair of sofas. When he returns with the price and tells you, look unimpressed and tell him to do better or send someone to you that can like a manager. When he eventually makes his lowest offer and says he can do no more, start going for cushions and other extras until your happy. Go for it, I love a good bartering session

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

I did it when i bought my house, walked into currys and bought a 50" plasma and a ps3 bundle.

I could have bought the lot about £80 less online than I could have in currys, so when he totalled it up on the till, I said I'll give you £200 less than that (cant remember what the figure is now).

His face was utter disbelief, as if I was being stupid. He said we can take £30 off for you sir! I said no, I will pay £120 less than the sale price, and if not then I will walk away and buy it elsewhere online.

Needless to say I left a happy man

KregRS

So, in theory, I could go into Asda, do my shopping, get it all thru the checkout then start haggling over the price?

Brian

iTrader: (2)

I do it on somethings if you dont ask you dont get


Brian

It's Czech Mate

Thats the right way

gus

iTrader: (1)

my misses walks off once i start

if i got a price in my head i wont pay more then that

i enjoy it so will quite happily stay there all day until either they back down or i get asked to leave

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Yes! Any price you see advertised for an item is only a 'guide price' as it were, its not set in stone that that is the price you have to pay, weather its a sofa or a tin of beans!

Icurus

My Mrs walks away too

recently brought a 48" (I think its 48"!) LG LCD tele from Comet, ex display and asked for 80 off, chap said no etc, anyways got £50 off and 5 years free insurnce thrown in, which I thought was not too bad

Wife was sitting in the car by that point lol

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Bartering is to exchange goods without involving money - you mean haggling

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

well done mate, Currys will match online prices

that being said, I bought my Pioneer TV through Currys, price matched what I had found on the internet, then knocked him down another 50 quid and got him to throw in the glass stand for free

S1rst

I haggle with almost EVERYTHING i buy. Alot of the time its a principle thing that i just HATE to pay tag price. More often than not i get everything cheaper and if i dont, well at least you tried.

A few examples of goods from high street stores ive boguht recently are: Cooker up at £549....bought for £379, Sat nav up at £240...bought for £160, £500 of clothes...bought for £360, TV up at £1100...bought for £775 with a free £80 stand. Moto gp for wii, up at £30..bought for £25. I even do it in the kebab shop at 2am......i just round it down to the nearest pound and say 'that'll do it wont it?'. I do know them though so thats cheating i suppose.

Im not tight with money, i just prefer to keep the extra money in my pocket instead of theirs. Some people call it tight, some cheeky, some embarrassing , but i call it comman sense.

Its all about speaking to the right people/person and trying to pick the right person to approach to start with. Dont use a snotty/clever attitude, have a laugh with them and do it in jest but let them know your serious without being too pushy to start with. Many places have a policy whereas they only offer a discount if the customer asks 3 times in total.
If you do, and go about it the right way, more often than not you will get a decent discount.

matts1

my mate used to work selling sofa's and said the mark up is HUGE!!!

So,when a mate saw a sofa for 2k, they said they had seen the same style sofa for 1500 but the delivery was a little long for them, and would they match it. They didn't at first but when they said ok, and get up to go, the sale man agreed to match the 1500.

Then, my misses mum haggled 500 off a 2500 sofa just before christmas, simply did the same thing and they waited until they thought you were about to leave and then took the deal.

About two years ago I went to a discount place and spotted a 3 seater leather sofa at 500 - reduced from 1k as it has a small snag in one of the seats.

I went in a week or so later and it was still there, I said will you budge on the price as I want to take it today - they said yep - 200? I nearly ripped their arm off lol!!

Always worth a try, even if you get a free delivery it is better than nothing and it aint like they will sell out so if they don't bite, and you don't want to go back, send the misses in.

Just keep it friendly but firm and let them know it is a deal today!

matts1

my 200 quid bargain, really high quality compared to some of the stuff out there and was perfect for when we moved in and was on a budget.

S1rst

Id have still offered them a ton. Nice bargain that.

You cant beat the feeling of walking away knowing youve got a real good bargain.

matts1

stood outside the shop and wondering how the fek I was going to get it home was funny though!!

Here is another GREAT trick, check online, the other week I got a 330 quid washing machine for 275 simply because I asked if they would match the web price.

And a couple of years back I bought some bedroom furniture from MFI, was 1400 - but took the online prices - that said was the price in store?? and it was 900.

The girl was easy to get on with and went over each item and got it down to 800!!

Stuff was shite though, had to bracket it to the wall to make it sit right.

fuzzy

cash isnt the key with things like this. ideally they want a buyer who'll sign up for credit so they make more commission. when ive paid cash for large items before ive had the sales assistants trying to talk me into keeping my wad and paying it up but theres
no harm in saying you want it but your only willing to pay £1800 and see how it goes.

Fiddy

Yes if you wanted to.

matts1

Dont think asda will budge!!

It is more about places selling one or two big items, low turn over of sales and with dedicated sales people.

I used to work in carpets, you could gaurantee that at 5 minutes before the shop closed, an indian family would walk in and claim they wanted to buy carpet for a house. They would then try and haggle and would easily have you there for an hour!!!

I used to point out that carpets didn't have a sell by date and so weren't reduced at the end of the day, followed by "if you come in tomorrow morning and let me get off home tonight, I will know 20% of anything you buy".

They would leave like a shot and be back at 9am ready to get a deal, little did they know that over a full house we would always offer that sort of discount!!

Got me out the door on time though.

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Was thinking about this topic when i was in Wickes about an hour ago.

Bought a poofy decorative trellis/fence panel thing, the slats of the trellis are glued together, and one of the joints had come unstuck, nothing a drop of wood glue and 2 mins of my time wouldn't fix.

I took it to the till, he rung it in at £22.50, i said could I get a bit of discount cos its damaged etc, he needed authorisation from his manager to do the discount. So the manager comes over, says we'll do it for £20. I said 'but a tube of decent wood glue will cost more than that discount.'

So he said £15, I said ok then. He started knocking it through the till, and I said, 'You said a tenner didn't you?'

He said 'go on then, but I'll be putting the price up on the next thing you buy from us'


Cheers passionford, you saved me £12.50, don't tell the manager of wickes I've got a tube of wood glue in the shed though

R5AAL

I have a bit haggle on EVERYTHING! you don't get if you dont ask, i always do it in a friendly likable way, give the sales person a bit of a laugh. I always ask for a deal though even on stupid wee things, car salesman though and my boss tought me very well lol

matts1

Haha, good lad Rich. The more I think about the deals I have had the more there are!!

Again when I got my place I wanted a built in oven, glass hob and an extractor. The misses says B&Q have a deal on a hob and oven 365 quid.

I told her she was talking madness and we set off, yep, she was right, so stuck it on a trolley, then see's a 150 quid extractor reduce to 100 quid.

Goes to the till and it came to 465.00, then a bloke comes over and says that over a certain amount we get a discount, swipes some card and it comes out at 350 for the lot!!

Again, me and the misses stuggling to get it into a fiesta was a sight to behold - managed it in the end.

Fiddy

No, neither do i matt, they would probably look at you like you were mental if you made an offer on the price of a bag of shopping, but he said in theory lol.

matts1

A mate said he was in tesco's at the till, huge line and at the front are some chavs, they have rang up all the shopping and then found they have forgotten their wallet??!!??

So then try and get the cashier to let them take the stuff and pop back later to pay lol!! The manager comes over and says it aint going to happen, the shopping stays put till funds are paid.

After and big fuss, the father suddenly finds his wallet in his trouser pocket!!! - scum!

Adrian

I have always found Currys good for this. Couple of years ago I got my brother a PC, Ipod for him and his other half, couple of other things and it came to about £1500, we had the assistant manager serving us so I said £800 cash. Guy said no, but I can do it £1k cash.. I just said throw in 2 cases for the ipods and 100DVDRW and I will.

Deal done

neal666

will have to get my confident head on and give this a try i think. looks like you lot have had some real deals..