I hate haggling even where it is the norm. Growing up, I thought I was the only one. Then I became a Quaker and found out that historically Quakers don't haggle.
Got me an additional $5/hr last job I had. Maybe I should have asked for even more. Also, got a good deal on my current car. I don't find myself in situations where haggling is appropriate/accepted very often, though.
I buy and sell a lot of vintage mini bike and motorcycle parts as part of being a hobby collector. I don't think I've ever bought anything without starting with a lower offer than I was actually willing to pay, or asking more than I actually wanted for an item. It's part of the game, and you really feel like you've won something when it's all over
@mick Depends how badly you want something and how in demand it is.
There was a couple that made a low ball offer on our house, we flat out refused it. Then refused a full price offer from them. Reason being, I assume once inspection came, they would try and haggle every single thing to try and get more money that way and I didn't want to deal with it. I'm sure they ended up finding a house they liked, but they didn't get ours which they must of wanted.
I would be the same way if someone made an insulting offer at a Yard sale. I would just flat out refuse to sell to them as a principal. If i'm selling something at a yard sale it is probably being sold for much less than it is worth already since I just want to get rid of it. So just pay the price or offer me like 10% less if you need to feel special like you got an extra deal. If you offer me 50% less I'll probably just say no, I won't counter.
@DrWorm Just assume you've never truly haggled down as far as you could. But you have to reach that point where you're happy with the deal and can accept that they're going to make a little money on you. It's easier when you find an awesome dealership and not one of those bloodsucking screw you kind of dealers. (Just to note, in regards to the purchase mentioned below, I don't think the dealership we went to cleared any significant profit on this car. But it's the same one I bought my car from so I think they hooked us up due to loyalty.)
@cinoclav@DrWorm Pretty much how I approach it. I didn't haggle so much as come up with a number I wanted for my trade in and a number I wanted for the car and wouldn't take less.
@mikey That's the way to do it. Seeing some sucker walk into a dealership and start off with, "I want a payment no more than $xxx per month," absolutely makes me ill. I have a friend I'm helping right now who made that mistake. They lowballed her trade by about $2k because it still kept her below her desired payment. Yep, first thing to know - what you want for your trade using both the Black Book and the Blue Book (NADA Guide) and don't give in and know what you should be paying for your purchase. When you know these things, you'll already know approximately what your payment will be, especially if you've already pursued your own financing.
Having bought myself a new car 3 months ago and helping my gf buy a new car this past Friday - yes. Definitely yes, in particular with cars. Considering in the end she paid $2500 under invoice for her car, I think I'm reasonably adept at the art.
@tightwad Invoice, not MSRP. Start at the bottom price and go down. Trust me, I most definitely did not get suckered at all. I know the business quite well with both friends and family in car sales. Mazda only gives their dealers a 1% holdback. They weren't getting much of a kickback from the manufacturer. Both vehicles bought are extremely popular right now. Average selling prices on mine are typically about $500 over invoice, I paid about $700 less than invoice and managed to get $1000 more for my trade than the current Black Book value. What little I financed I managed to get them to drop the rate far below anything I could find on my own. They ate all the points they normally would have leveraged for additional profit. Average on my gf's are about $300 over invoice. If it wasn't for the fact that this is the second car we've bought from them in 3 months there is no way they would have gone as low as they did. I gave them a glowing review on Cars.com and even the owner made a point of stopping to chat with me and say thanks. The deal on the gf's car came directly from him with the appreciation of my review.
@CowboyDann loved that episode but I could never do that, it makes me feel so weird. Luckily my fiancée is the type to ask for deals and haggle so I let her take care of that.
@JonT same here I could never do that. I gotta say though, I have given out the good guy discount myself. I'd say it's about once every five or six times requested.
@KDemo Sometimes I put something in my Amazon "save for later" shopping cart and wait to see how low it dips. Only works for dynanamically-priced objects.
@PocketBrain do you use camelcamelcamel for price history, and notification options when it hits your price point? If not, you are certainly missing out on deals you can wait for.
@PocketBrain seriously, the price fluctuations with many items on amazon are huge. This site gives you the history of the item and then you can set a price point you would be comfortable at. It then alerts you when the price point has been met. I can't tell you how many times it has saved me a good amount of money on items I am willing to wait for. As August Goat I say you must try it :)
All the time and my wife hates it. I once made a car salesman cry, I've gotten money off a TV at Wal Mart. I'll try anything I can to get the best price on something.
@somf69 haha my husband hates it when I do it too. Last time we bought a car I had one of the sales people actually chase us out to our car after I walked out on them. They were dicking me around and giving me just absurd prices for their car so I stood up, said fuck it and left. Maybe they thought that because I'm a chick I wouldn't say no? Either way, its pretty funny to see a car salesman beg you to come back.
Honestly, you're a fool if you don't try to haggle in many situations. Especially on bigger purchases. Everyone is afraid of making someone upset. No one is ever going to go nuts on you if you ask for a discount. Just don't be unreasonable (asking for 50% off a new car, etc.) and you will be surprised most of the time!
I hate going to a garage sales etc and being told to "make me an offer" I also hate people who try to haggle on reasonable prices. This summer I saw someone trying to get a .25 cent item for .10 cents, like that was going to break their bank
@gnext2 I had a garage sale one time and I will never do it again.
I had brand new items, never used that costs hundreds and was selling them for around $10. Very reasonable prices. Then I had customers offer 50 cents and was upset when I declined their offer.
For those prices offered, I would rather donate them to charity or give them away to friends or as gifts to people. Or even throw it away because I spent two days sitting in front of the house to make so little money and I have much better things to do with my time.
Rarely if ever works though...
I hate haggling even where it is the norm. Growing up, I thought I was the only one. Then I became a Quaker and found out that historically Quakers don't haggle.
after 30+ years in sales, it's become my worst habit- if I don't shave at least 15% off a deal i take it as a personal failure.
Got me an additional $5/hr last job I had. Maybe I should have asked for even more. Also, got a good deal on my current car. I don't find myself in situations where haggling is appropriate/accepted very often, though.
I buy and sell a lot of vintage mini bike and motorcycle parts as part of being a hobby collector. I don't think I've ever bought anything without starting with a lower offer than I was actually willing to pay, or asking more than I actually wanted for an item. It's part of the game, and you really feel like you've won something when it's all over
It never hurts to ask.
@mick Depends how badly you want something and how in demand it is.
There was a couple that made a low ball offer on our house, we flat out refused it. Then refused a full price offer from them. Reason being, I assume once inspection came, they would try and haggle every single thing to try and get more money that way and I didn't want to deal with it. I'm sure they ended up finding a house they liked, but they didn't get ours which they must of wanted.
I would be the same way if someone made an insulting offer at a Yard sale. I would just flat out refuse to sell to them as a principal. If i'm selling something at a yard sale it is probably being sold for much less than it is worth already since I just want to get rid of it. So just pay the price or offer me like 10% less if you need to feel special like you got an extra deal. If you offer me 50% less I'll probably just say no, I won't counter.
Only for cars.
@mikey I hate shopping for cars because I am never sure if I ever haggled down as low as I could have.
@DrWorm Just assume you've never truly haggled down as far as you could. But you have to reach that point where you're happy with the deal and can accept that they're going to make a little money on you. It's easier when you find an awesome dealership and not one of those bloodsucking screw you kind of dealers. (Just to note, in regards to the purchase mentioned below, I don't think the dealership we went to cleared any significant profit on this car. But it's the same one I bought my car from so I think they hooked us up due to loyalty.)
@cinoclav @DrWorm Pretty much how I approach it. I didn't haggle so much as come up with a number I wanted for my trade in and a number I wanted for the car and wouldn't take less.
@mikey That's the way to do it. Seeing some sucker walk into a dealership and start off with, "I want a payment no more than $xxx per month," absolutely makes me ill. I have a friend I'm helping right now who made that mistake. They lowballed her trade by about $2k because it still kept her below her desired payment. Yep, first thing to know - what you want for your trade using both the Black Book and the Blue Book (NADA Guide) and don't give in and know what you should be paying for your purchase. When you know these things, you'll already know approximately what your payment will be, especially if you've already pursued your own financing.
Having bought myself a new car 3 months ago and helping my gf buy a new car this past Friday - yes. Definitely yes, in particular with cars. Considering in the end she paid $2500 under invoice for her car, I think I'm reasonably adept at the art.
@cinoclav except you got suckered into the "invoice" bs...
@tightwad Invoice, not MSRP. Start at the bottom price and go down. Trust me, I most definitely did not get suckered at all. I know the business quite well with both friends and family in car sales. Mazda only gives their dealers a 1% holdback. They weren't getting much of a kickback from the manufacturer. Both vehicles bought are extremely popular right now. Average selling prices on mine are typically about $500 over invoice, I paid about $700 less than invoice and managed to get $1000 more for my trade than the current Black Book value. What little I financed I managed to get them to drop the rate far below anything I could find on my own. They ate all the points they normally would have leveraged for additional profit. Average on my gf's are about $300 over invoice. If it wasn't for the fact that this is the second car we've bought from them in 3 months there is no way they would have gone as low as they did. I gave them a glowing review on Cars.com and even the owner made a point of stopping to chat with me and say thanks. The deal on the gf's car came directly from him with the appreciation of my review.
No, I don't like Scottish food. Oh wait, you said "haggle" -- never mind.
Do you guys give the Good Guy Discount? Great episode of This American Life
@CowboyDann loved that episode but I could never do that, it makes me feel so weird. Luckily my fiancée is the type to ask for deals and haggle so I let her take care of that.
@JonT same here I could never do that. I gotta say though, I have given out the good guy discount myself. I'd say it's about once every five or six times requested.
I would, but don't know how to haggle on meh. Buying online makes haggling a challenge.
@KDemo Sometimes I put something in my Amazon "save for later" shopping cart and wait to see how low it dips. Only works for dynanamically-priced objects.
@PocketBrain do you use camelcamelcamel for price history, and notification options when it hits your price point? If not, you are certainly missing out on deals you can wait for.
@mfladd I really should, but the internet is strange and frightening to me, so I do not. I really should. I think I'll start!
@PocketBrain seriously, the price fluctuations with many items on amazon are huge. This site gives you the history of the item and then you can set a price point you would be comfortable at. It then alerts you when the price point has been met. I can't tell you how many times it has saved me a good amount of money on items I am willing to wait for. As August Goat I say you must try it :)
@mfladd You have me bleat. I rarely use it. It makes sense that you're friends with the camel camel camel.
@juststephen They are my primary mode of transportation when travelling.
All the time and my wife hates it. I once made a car salesman cry, I've gotten money off a TV at Wal Mart. I'll try anything I can to get the best price on something.
@somf69 haha my husband hates it when I do it too. Last time we bought a car I had one of the sales people actually chase us out to our car after I walked out on them. They were dicking me around and giving me just absurd prices for their car so I stood up, said fuck it and left. Maybe they thought that because I'm a chick I wouldn't say no? Either way, its pretty funny to see a car salesman beg you to come back.
Honestly, you're a fool if you don't try to haggle in many situations. Especially on bigger purchases. Everyone is afraid of making someone upset. No one is ever going to go nuts on you if you ask for a discount. Just don't be unreasonable (asking for 50% off a new car, etc.) and you will be surprised most of the time!
I hate going to a garage sales etc and being told to "make me an offer" I also hate people who try to haggle on reasonable prices. This summer I saw someone trying to get a .25 cent item for .10 cents, like that was going to break their bank
@gnext2 I had a garage sale one time and I will never do it again.
I had brand new items, never used that costs hundreds and was selling them for around $10. Very reasonable prices. Then I had customers offer 50 cents and was upset when I declined their offer.
For those prices offered, I would rather donate them to charity or give them away to friends or as gifts to people. Or even throw it away because I spent two days sitting in front of the house to make so little money and I have much better things to do with my time.