if you were running a store, would you rather make a $4 sale, or a $99 sale?

[rudeguy]

Just swung by the local computer shop to pick up some floppy disks. I wandered over by the motherboards and saw an Asus I had been looking at. Their price was about $30 more than the most expensive place online had it for. After talking to the guy (pretty sure he was the mananger) for a while, I asked if he could come down a little on the price. He said no. I told him I was either going to get the mobo or the floppies, and that I just wanted to get a deal. No deals...so I just bought my floppies and left.

Wouldnt you want to sell the motherboard even if you only made $10 on it??? The floppies were only $4!!!!

 

[Cuda1447]

So get it online, he can run his business however he wants.

 

[JonnyBlaze]

someone will pay the price he wants.

JB

 

[Aves]

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Wouldnt you want to sell the motherboard even if you only made $10 on it??? The floppies were only $4!!!!

Not if I was going to sell it to someone else and make more that $10 on it.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

If I had a shop, I'd do both. Or at least, a few items at $4 to attract customers and hopefully lure them into a $99 buy

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: JonnyBlaze
someone will pay the price he wants.

JB

^^^

 

[TheNinja]

I agree with you. He should have sold it for a profit, even if that profit was small. Then he could have ordered another one for his store and tried to sell it at the price he was originally asking. I guess it would depend on how fast he could get another one in though. He wouldn't want to sell it to you for a small profit if someone was coming in the next day and would possibly buy it for more and he wouldn't have any in stock.

 

[TuxDave]

Haggling just makes things difficult. If his business was pretty good already, I would've done the same as he did.

 

[Jzero]

How do you know what his profit is on the items?
Maybe he would make $3 on the $4 disks but only $2 on the $99 board.

 

[XZeroII]

depends...

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: GoodDad
Just swung by the local computer shop to pick up some floppy disks. I wandered over by the motherboards and saw an Asus I had been looking at. Their price was about $30 more than the most expensive place online had it for. After talking to the guy (pretty sure he was the mananger) for a while, I asked if he could come down a little on the price. He said no. I told him I was either going to get the mobo or the floppies, and that I just wanted to get a deal. No deals...so I just bought my floppies and left.

Wouldnt you want to sell the motherboard even if you only made $10 on it??? The floppies were only $4!!!!

You don't know the cost at which he paid it for. Besides, it's not a fvcking flea market. If he doesn't want to sell it to you at your price, he will to someone else for his price.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: Jzero
How do you know what his profit is on the items?
Maybe he would make $3 on the $4 disks but only $2 on the $99 board.

either way, he would move a product. The more products he moves, the lower his cost becomes. Its how retail works, most places would do anything to increase their inventory turns....oh well. Now I know why small computer places never make it in this town.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Originally posted by: Jzero
How do you know what his profit is on the items?
Maybe he would make $3 on the $4 disks but only $2 on the $99 board.

either way, he would move a product. The more products he moves, the lower his cost becomes. Its how retail works, most places would do anything to increase their inventory turns....oh well. Now I know why small computer places never make it in this town.

Did you ever manage to haggle with people at Best Buy or CompUSA?

 

[IshmaelLeaver]

Steal the mobo. That'll teach him.

 

[datdamkid]

Originally posted by: JonnyBlaze
someone will pay the price he wants.

JB

yep stupid ppl.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Originally posted by: Jzero
How do you know what his profit is on the items?
Maybe he would make $3 on the $4 disks but only $2 on the $99 board.

either way, he would move a product. The more products he moves, the lower his cost becomes. Its how retail works, most places would do anything to increase their inventory turns....oh well. Now I know why small computer places never make it in this town.

???

If you sell 100 widgets for $99 at a profit of $1, your profit is $100.
If you sell 100 widgets for $4 at a profit of $3, your profit is $300.

Businesses are in business to make money, not "move product." What good is sales if you lose money on every sale?

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Originally posted by: Jzero
How do you know what his profit is on the items?
Maybe he would make $3 on the $4 disks but only $2 on the $99 board.

either way, he would move a product. The more products he moves, the lower his cost becomes. Its how retail works, most places would do anything to increase their inventory turns....oh well. Now I know why small computer places never make it in this town.

Did you ever manage to haggle with people at Best Buy or CompUSA?

I dont go to either store very often, and when I do its for things I need or I am looking for. That being said, just yesterday I talked the manager at CrapUSA down on the price of a camcorder my buddy was looking for.

 

[notfred]

The places on pricewatch and stuff sell hardware for less than a lot of smaller shops buy it for. Not evenyone gets huge volume discounts.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Originally posted by: Jzero
How do you know what his profit is on the items?
Maybe he would make $3 on the $4 disks but only $2 on the $99 board.

either way, he would move a product. The more products he moves, the lower his cost becomes. Its how retail works, most places would do anything to increase their inventory turns....oh well. Now I know why small computer places never make it in this town.

Did you ever manage to haggle with people at Best Buy or CompUSA?

I dont go to either store very often, and when I do its for things I need or I am looking for. That being said, just yesterday I talked the manager at CrapUSA down on the price of a camcorder my buddy was looking for.

:beer::beer::beer::beer: (assuming it wasn't via pricematching to another B&M store nearby)

 

[rudeguy]

Businesses are in business to make money, not "move product." What good is sales if you lose money on every sale?

I never said I wanted him to lose money on the sale.

and to elaborate a bit on your thought:
cost of 100 widgets=4/per
cost of 1000 widgets=3.50/per

so if he sold more widgets, taking a short deal on some of them, he would make more money in the end.

 

[rudeguy]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Originally posted by: Jzero
How do you know what his profit is on the items?
Maybe he would make $3 on the $4 disks but only $2 on the $99 board.

either way, he would move a product. The more products he moves, the lower his cost becomes. Its how retail works, most places would do anything to increase their inventory turns....oh well. Now I know why small computer places never make it in this town.

Did you ever manage to haggle with people at Best Buy or CompUSA?

I dont go to either store very often, and when I do its for things I need or I am looking for. That being said, just yesterday I talked the manager at CrapUSA down on the price of a camcorder my buddy was looking for.

:beer::beer::beer::beer: (assuming it wasn't via pricematching to another B&M store nearby)

no, it was a discontinued camcorder that was missing a manual and charger. Retail was something like $399, I offered him $100, we met at $200. You just have to know how to haggle.

 

[emmpee]

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Businesses are in business to make money, not "move product." What good is sales if you lose money on every sale?

I never said I wanted him to lose money on the sale. and to elaborate a bit on your thought: cost of 100 widgets=4/per cost of 1000 widgets=3.50/per so if he sold more widgets, taking a short deal on some of them, he would make more money in the end.

But the odds of him increasing his sales tenfold (or any-fold) is amazingly slim. The store owner is on a low-volume high-markup system. He's not about to alter it for one sale, and he probably doesn't have the time/desire/ambition/patience/capital/WHATEVER to buy at much larger volumes and sell at cheap prices.

 

[Tom]

hehe, finally got rid of them ol' floppies !!

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Businesses are in business to make money, not "move product." What good is sales if you lose money on every sale?

I never said I wanted him to lose money on the sale.

and to elaborate a bit on your thought:
cost of 100 widgets=4/per
cost of 1000 widgets=3.50/per

so if he sold more widgets, taking a short deal on some of them, he would make more money in the end.

You're making the assumption that he sells quite a lot of the motherboard and that it's a long term product. If you refuse to buy it at the outrageous price that's $30 more than online, what makes you think others are rushing to buy it at his shop?

So put yourself in his situation - if you opened up a brand new shop and every customer in there walked in and tried to bargain down on the price of the product - you're telling me that you would give that price to every customer despite decreasing your profit margin or losing money altogether?

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: GoodDad

Businesses are in business to make money, not "move product." What good is sales if you lose money on every sale?

I never said I wanted him to lose money on the sale.

But without knowing his cost, how can you be so certain that he can discount that item without taking a loss?

so if he sold more widgets, taking a short deal on some of them, he would make more money in the end.

Sure, but unless he thinks you're going to later score big for him, he's not going to kowtow to you. I'm not the world's greatest salesman, but some dude I've never seen before buying floppy disks wouldn't strike me as a potential goldmine.

One oft-mentioned key to getting discounts is being a known frequent customer. If you always buy your suits from the same store and the manager/owner of that store knows you, he'll be more likely to cut you a deal than if you just walked in the first time and asked for a discount.