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Bartering or Haggling - whose done it

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I used to do this all the time when I was in my late teens and early 20's at a huge indoor/outdoor flea market down in south east Florida called The Swap Shop. They'd always have the regular permanent vendors there that sold electronics, clothes, shoes, etc and I would never pay what they asked.

having cash in hand (not a card or check) and playing the game can save you a hell of a lot.

Now days the only haggling I tend to do is when I sell something as I don't tend to go to places like that anymore being in a different state.

On the very rare occasion I buy something on Craigslist, it's a given that I"ll haggle though.

But the skill (IMO) lies on both the buying and selling side.

Oh, and buying a car is where I make it my mission to get it as close to what the deal pays.

It's not hard to find the invoice price plus the current dealer rebates for whatever you're looking to buy.

You take those cold hard numbers in hand with you and hold your ground.

If you're trading in a older vehicle at the time as well, take them to ask to give you blue book value.

Last vehicle I bought was in 2008. My 2009 Subaru Forester.

After what they gave me for my old Tahoe, I was starting off $4k upside down.

Left the place getting everything financed including rolling in the negative owed for less than sticker.
 
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When I was in Korea in the Army (91), I used to haggle over almost everything. From the price of milk in a store, to the cost of a dinner after you ate it, to custom fit boots... I saved a ton of money.

Here in the US, not much luck, unless I'm looking at a floor model, or a box for an item is damaged. Got 25% off a LCD TV for my great aunt at Best Buy because the box had a dent in the corner (man I worked that kid lol).
 
PatrickBateman said:
did it at Guitar Center to get my Roland TD12 e-drums for $3199 ( price on sticker was $3,699)
Also haggled when I bought a new Altima in 2001.

trick is indeed to "walk away"...both times I said "ok thanks" and pulled my keys out of my pocket and was stopped before I got to the door
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They already had you.
 
I hate haggling. It makes me extremely uncomfortable. I attribute it to my upbringing. As a result, I never buy anything in open air type markets, which means I usually don't buy stuff outside of the gift shops on vacation. I never buy anything from the Afghans. And I use one of those negotiator services for buying a car where you pay them a percentage of the amount they save you off of the window sticker.

If haggling is involved, I just go without. It's not worth the amount of discomfort it causes me.
 
Nebor said:
I hate haggling. It makes me extremely uncomfortable. I attribute it to my upbringing. As a result, I never buy anything in open air type markets, which means I usually don't buy stuff outside of the gift shops on vacation. I never buy anything from the Afghans. And I use one of those negotiator services for buying a car where you pay them a percentage of the amount they save you off of the window sticker.

If haggling is involved, I just go without. It's not worth the amount of discomfort it causes me.
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Life of Nebor
 
I've been buying furniture lately. I've been able to get 20-30% off of everything I've bought plus free delivery. Been pretty happy about that.
 
I've haggled on car repairs before, it's not as tough as you'd think. Usually it's not as hard as you'd think. It seems to work if you ask for additional work, not a lower price. For example, I got my transmission and transfer case serviced on my jeep recently. I got them to throw in a free oil change and do the rear diff for 50% off. I still paid full price for the transmission service but it saved me from paying for something I needed anyways.
 
I've done it once or twice.

got a nice discount on furniture a few years back for agreeing to pay cash instead of financing it, and I got a few bills knocked off a framed picture at an antique shop because the frame was super busted (and again, for agreeing to pay cash instead of credit)

I don't think I'd ever try it at a national chain or high-end store, though.
 
Biggest purchase I ever haggled over was my car, although that's obviously not out of the ordinary. Have also occasionally haggled over smaller things, like parking, cover charges for bars, and books at an academic conference.
 
In the US, haggling is hard for anything not used.

I buy a lot of car parts and I always try to give the local business the first shot. With my 240SX I restored most of the car, I was spending $1000-2000 a pop for a ton of parts (rather than just onsey-twosy stuff). I told my local dealers that even after shipping I was saving 20-30% buying from online Nissan dealerships. I just wanted to meet halfway.

They all told me I was dealing with counterfeit or stolen parts.

One parts manager actually did call me back over it all and was willing to 'meet my offer', at that point though I told him he'd need to do a little more than that since I was insulted by his staff. He got all pissed off at me and told me I was stealing food from his babies.


It even is worse in the BMW market. I have $5-600 in plastic trim pieces coming for my M3. I tried all the local dealers here, they won't budge from retail and most don't honor my BMWCC membership card. I paid a bit under $300 shipped.


lolz.
 
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