Whats the best approach to some haggling at Circuit City?

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: MX2times

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: Sphexi
<Cust.> This is a nice phone, I like it.
<Me> Well it is a good deal too, would you like me to grab you one?
<Cust.> Well, I've seen similar ones for half the price at Costco's.
<Me> ....and?
<Cust.> So I don't think I should be paying this much for it. Their's seems like a much better deal.
<Me> Well could you pick me up one too when you go by there?

Yep, I used to get that a lot too. I promptly terminated those conversations with "well, if it was such a good deal then what (TF) are you doing here?"

Yeah, I believe you talked to customers like that and got away with it:roll:

Sure did. Read my previous reply. Customers like this REALLY piss off Sales Managers... so much in fact that I saw plenty of customers asked to leave. Me getting a little cocky with you paled in comparison to what my manager would do if you made me haul him into your little mess.

For you:

To be completely honest, the salespeople might not even mind people like you once in awhile. It gives them the chance to get cocky and sh1tty with a customer without the fear of being reprimanded, because truth be told, these attempts at "frugality" torque the managers a lot more than the employees. To some kid putting himself through school, you're just a minor annoyance - a gnat, if you will - that will soon be gone. The real effect of this is that you're simply wasting a lot of your own time.

Originally posted by: spidey07
For those fools who continue to pay retail for electronics, here's an idea of what is out there. If circuit city won't deal (and they do) then take your business elsewhere.

sammy 6768...retail 6999 will get it for under 5K.

the samsung DLPs especially have a lot of room.

Don't pay retail.

I never said to pay retail, and I don't think anyone else has either. With all of the discount electronics etailers online, the REAL fools are the ones still tooling around on their weekends while they try to pit Best Buy and Circuit City against each other.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
With all of the discount electronics etailers online, the REAL fools are the ones still tooling around on their weekends while they try to pit Best Buy and Circuit City against each other.

Agreed - the real trick is to pit BB and CC against the online retailers to save shipping costs, risks and delays.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: HumblePie

Originally posted by: Injury
Most retails stores don't pricematch... but most retail stores don't have commission-based employees like circuit city.

Nearly everywhere that pays employees by commission with budge a bit with price on high dollar items. But don't expect to get things like movies, music, games and game systems for cheaper.

It IS possible to haggle with some of the people at Best Buy on items that they have to walk you to the front counter with. Esp. getting discounts on the installation of car equipment.

The idea you people need to understand is "You never know unless you ask."

If someone says no, then you are no worse off than you were before you asked. Done. You either shut up and pay retail or go somewhere else.

WHAT THE HELL? I worked at CC for almost 2 years. It's been a LONG LONG LONG time since it was commision based. When the hell did you crawl out from under your rock?

As for haggling uh... no it's not going to happen in a retail chain store. You can pricematch to another store if it's cheaper and can prove it, but there are always caveats to pricematching. Beyond that, if it's not an advertised sale, a coupon, or a rebate, you aren't getting a discount if you don't work there.

I also worked in a the San Antonio store for quite awhile. We have a ton of Mexican Nationals that come up all the time fom Mexico to buy crap and take back across the border and they ALWAYS try to haggle. It's so annoying. Just because they do business like that there doesn't make it the way here. I would like to say to them, "Go outside and play hide and go fvck yourself" whenever they try to haggle. Wait I did sometimes, but since they barely speak English they hardly understand what I said anyhow.


So to answer your question. No, you can't haggle at CC really unless its on something like an open boxed, returned item.

My friend applied to my local one and turned down the job when they told him it was comission based. He was told that part of their team is hourly and part is comission. My guess is that big sales like TVs and audio equipment are still comission, whereas video games and stuff aren't. This was 4 months ago. Granted, things in Ohio are a bit slow moving, but I think that's perfectly reasonable.

In my experience, there is little to no chance of haggling on new merch., but oftentimes managers will give decent discounts to move old merchendise out of the store. No matter what you believe, the manager DOES have that power, and I wouldn't doubt that if they were buying a TV or something, they would happily use that power on themselves.
Managers get bonuses for clearing out old merch. at the end of the year because then they don't have to pay taxes on it when they have their stock audited.

Despite whatever many of you morons who talk only about dealing with people of different races and making fun of them for trying to save money think, it IS possible to do these things, but it's high YMMV. If you want to put the effort forth to save what might not be worth it, you're welcome to try.

 

[Stuxnet]

There was a time when you could get away with some of this stuff, but it was rare even then. As someone else mentioned, you could gain leverage by buying the extended warranties (which you could just return right after the sale). Some stores - including the one I worked at - would OCCASSIONALLY discount merchandise if it included an extended warranty. But, over the last decade or so, chains like Best Buy have had their pants sued off by the government for engaging in this illegal practice, commonly referred to as "bundling". Also, customers started to wise up and they would purchase the warranty so they could get a discount and then just return the warranty immediately afterward. Not that I blame them... the stores set up that game to be played, and the customers got better at it and it bit the retailers in the ass.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Injury
In my experience, there is little to no chance of haggling on new merch., but oftentimes managers will give decent discounts to move old merchendise out of the store.

This is a good point, and this is where the exceptions creep in. Stores will discount older merchandise to get it out the door, but these discounts will be very, very easy to come by and if you've done your homework (ie, you know it's an old model), you'll know when to ask for it. Stores are eager to move this stuff, and if they're going to discount it for you, they'll offer it up immediately. Heck, most of the time they'll bring it up before you do. The moment they sense interest in a product they need to move, they'll bring it up.

But if you find yourself enganged in (what you think is) a chess match over getting a discount, it ain't gonna happen. You're not getting 35% off that brand new shiny plasma they just rolled out onto the floor.

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: BriGy86
its my guess that the sales people wont really like you all that much if you try to haggle with them

All you are doing is wasting both of your times.

A. The associate is getting paid peanuts and not enough to put up with someone argueing about a price.
B. Only a manager or ass. manager can usually change the price.

thats more of what i was thinking :thumbsup:

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: Kaido
Eh, I don't think you can haggle at CC man...

you can haggle everywhere, you just have to sack up and do it.

Many low-level retail employees don't have the ability to override prices... so you can try to haggle everywhere, but you'll have to find a person with the authority to haggle with you.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: Garet Jax

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: MX2times
Nothing illegal or immoral please😉

Pay what's on the sticker.

It ain't a car dealership.

[edit]

I worked at CC while I was in college, and nothing - NOTHING - dissuaded me more from dealing with a person than "so what's your bottom line on this?"

1. It makes you look cheap.
2. It makes you look undeducated.
3. It makes you the butt of about 20 or so jokes after you leave.

I know you're not there to be friends with the salesperson, but unless another store has it for less and you have proof, you're wasting everyone's time and making a general jackass out of yourself.

I could care less what you guys think of me - I make my money go very far since my wife is a stay at home mom and we have two children (well one + one more in a week and a hlaf). You call it cheap - I call it frugal. Educate yourself on the difference.

Exactly. Don't listen to these morons. Not everyones rich like they are and can afford to throw their money away like they apparently do.

LOL these "morons" are far more qualified to field questions on the topic than you are. A lot of these "morons" were on the other end of these attempted transactions and know what the limits are.

I can't in good faith make a blanket statement and say "this will never, ever work", but I'm willing to stop just short of that and say "good fscking luck - you're wasting your time". I've been there and done that.

It's not a matter of being rich. If you can't afford it, you can't buy it. Period.

Wrong. These morons have no idea about the OP's financial situation. Besides the fact that I have haggled at CC and gotten lowered prices. As always, it's up to the manager.
And you'd have to be very superficial or insecure to actually care what a pimply idiot who can barely read or write English says or thinks about you behind your back.

And the stores do mark up the prices on items quite significantly. A good example is a memory stick I purchased from Staples. Their price was $349 while everyone else sold the exact same item for about $120. So I bought it from them using one of their $30 coupons and had them do a 110% PM guarantee which ended up costing me a total of about $80.

I'm sure you would have gone in and gladly plunked down $350 for it :roll:

I talked to the manager after I did the PM and he told me himself that they don't mind doing the PM because they're still making some profit on the item. He said the high prices are aimed toward the sheep that come in and pay for the items without shopping around.

Like I said before, people like the OP and me are not rich and stupid enough to pay the full retail price on items.

 

[imported_Mike]

My friend applied to my local one and turned down the job when they told him it was comission based. He was told that part of their team is hourly and part is comission. My guess is that big sales like TVs and audio equipment are still comission, whereas video games and stuff aren't. This was 4 months ago. Granted, things in Ohio are a bit slow moving, but I think that's perfectly reasonable.

In my experience, there is little to no chance of haggling on new merch., but oftentimes managers will give decent discounts to move old merchendise out of the store. No matter what you believe, the manager DOES have that power, and I wouldn't doubt that if they were buying a TV or something, they would happily use that power on themselves.
Managers get bonuses for clearing out old merch. at the end of the year because then they don't have to pay taxes on it when they have their stock audited.

Despite whatever many of you morons who talk only about dealing with people of different races and making fun of them for trying to save money think, it IS possible to do these things, but it's high YMMV. If you want to put the effort forth to save what might not be worth it, you're welcome to try.

CC hasn't been commssion for ~2 years now, the entire company. Your friend got lied to or your friend is a liar.

 

[Codewiz]

I used to work at Sears. You can DEFINATELY HAGGLE THERE. I know the electronics guys would get people haggling with them over price all the time. It all depends on how the salesman is doing for the month as to how well you will do. Since they are on commision they are likely to wheel and deal.

 

[HumblePie]

Look... first off CC is NOT COMMISSION. I don't care what your friend told you, he's lying. You can look it up. They haven't been commissioned based in years. This is for any store that bears the Circuit City name. This is for ALL departments. There is NO COMMISSION. This isn't an opinion, it's an unarugable fact.


As for haggling, if you walked up and wanted to pay less then $400 bucks for an IPOD you better produce something in the way of a valid coupon or pricematch to a LOCAL competitor. Otherwise, pay the $400 bucks or get the hell out.

Now, I won't say there isn't some haggling but it is VERY SPECIFIC.

Here's the things you can sometimes haggle at CC. I point out sometimes with emphasis.

1) Open box or demo models. All open boxed items are marked off to a some from the full price. For circuit city, there are 3 levels or mark down that can be applied. Which translates basically into store cost, and 2 different percentage levels between cost and full price. Usually, the store tries for the highest price on an open box. SOMETIMES, you can haggle down though to the second lowest. If you are really lucky, because its an item that is missing all extras that were suppose to come with it (like a remove and manual and such) and it's been sitting around for ages, a manager might mark it down to cost. The ONLY person that can go below that is the Store Manager, and they aren't store managers for selling stuff below what they pay for.

2) Protection with multiple items. If you buy a computer with a protection plan, you can't really haggle it down. However, buy a computer, monitor, and printer all with protection plans where applicable. Then a manager might be willing to work with you on that in haggling down the cost on a protection plan. Usually they do half and half of whateer discount they are going to give for both the items and the plan. However they mark it down, it's still the same discount.

3) If you are buying a BUTTLOAD at once. Then yah, you'll get a discount. I had a guy I sold seven $12,000 plasma screen TV's to for his yacht. Yah, he said for his yacht. He bought a ton of other stuff along with the protection plans. That was like a $100,000 transaction and a wet dream come true for any eletronic store. You want to bet he got a big fat discount that anyone else just buying 1 TV wouldn't have recieved? Yah, for that, managers will bend over backwards. Espcially if you buy all the "extras" with the main items considering the extras have a much higher markup too. I'm not saying you need to buy 7 plasma screen TVs to haggle with a manager on price, but it going to have to be a substantial amount and include so higher marked up items or services. Buying 50 computers at once isn't going to get yo a discount if you ONLY buy the computers. Why The sore made maybe $300 bucks in profit off the computer if you buy no cables, ink, paper, printers, monitors, mice, keyboard, or other periphials.


4) You work there or are related to someone that does. Then you can get a discount wihtout having to spend a ton for a "discount" like I described in number 3.



Beyond those reasons, g'luck tyring to haggle at CC, or Bestbuy, or other major eletronic retailers. It's not going to happen without those circumstances I mentioned above.

 

[Deeko]

Step 1: Realize that Circuit City employees are not allowed to "haggle"
Step 2: Realize that the only way you will get them to lower the price on a non-open box item is to find it cheaper at another store
Step 3: If you're Indian there's a good chance you will ignore this and then proceed to bitch and moan at them for not lowering the price

edit: oh, and Circuit City employees stopped receiving commission in February 2003.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Wrong. These morons have no idea about the OP's financial situation.

The OP's financial situation has no bearing on the matter. This is where people like you get very confused when you walk into a store: the store, its managers, and its salespeople can give a flying sh1t about your financial situation. The price is what it is. If you can't afford it, you can't buy it. Period. Expecting a retail store to bend their prices to fit your personal budget is an absolute riot.

Originally posted by: dabuddha
And the stores do mark up the prices on items quite significantly.

Again: SO WHAT. This, too, has no bearing on the matter. the price is what it is. They mark it up according to what the market will support. It's not like they see you walk through the door and say to themselves "Oh crap... this guy knows about the 50% mark-up! Let's give him the REAL price!!!"

Originally posted by: dabuddha
I'm sure you would have gone in and gladly plunked down $350 for it :roll:

No, I would have gone online and purchased it at a discount instead of wasting my weekend making an ass out of myself in public. It's not a matter of caring or not caring what people think of you; it's a matter of going through a lot more trouble than you really need to.

Oh, I also wouldn't have paid tax and possibly avoided shipping costs, too.

I know you don't care what people think of you... good for you... but why go through the trouble? You're trying to cram the the pricing model of online retailers into the retail stores, and it doesn't work that way. You have Store.com trying to sell you ABC for $5, and Circuit City trying to sell it to you for $15. For some inane reason, you avoid Store.com and march into Circuit City demanding $5. WTF is the point of that??? At this point I could really care less if you get away with it or not (but 99% of the time you won't), but what the hell is the point of going through all that trouble? Just so you can hop on ATOT and brag about how you made a fool of yourself (and don't care), wasted your Saturday, and still paid sales tax?

No thanks!

The prices that you and I BOTH want to pay are already available from XYZ.com... but the masochists still want to raise hell with CC, BB, etc so they can get that price there instead. I'm sorry, but that's just idiotic.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Wrong. These morons have no idea about the OP's financial situation.

The OP's financial situation has no bearing on the matter. This is where people like you get very confused when you walk into a store: the store, its managers, and its salespeople can give a flying sh1t about your financial situation. The price is what it is. If you can't afford it, you can't buy it. Period. Expecting a retail store to bend their prices to fit your personal budget is an absolute riot.

Very true but you missed the point entirely. Plus the fact that you're wrong. Most managers will bargain with you on the price since they'll still be making a profit. Just because you're unsuccessful at it, doesn't mean it's not true 🙂

Originally posted by: dabuddha
And the stores do mark up the prices on items quite significantly.

Again: SO WHAT. This, too, has no bearing on the matter. the price is what it is. They mark it up according to what the market will support. It's not like they see you walk through the door and say to themselves "Oh crap... this guy knows about the 50% mark-up! Let's give him the REAL price!!!"

This does have bearing on the the whole point of this thread. Because the store marks up the item quite significantly, they will allow you to bargain with them. I have done it many times.

Originally posted by: dabuddha
I'm sure you would have gone in and gladly plunked down $350 for it :roll:

No, I would have gone online and purchased it at a discount instead of wasting my weekend making an ass out of myself in public. It's not a matter of caring or not caring what people think of you; it's a matter of going through a lot more trouble than you really need to.

Oh, I also wouldn't have paid tax and prossibly avoided shipping costs, too.

I know you don't care what people think of you... good for you... but why go through the trouble? You're trying to cram the the pricing model of online retailers into the retail stores, and it doesn't work that way. You have Store.com trying to sell you ABC for $5, and Circuit City trying to sell it to you for $15. For some inane reason, you avoid Store.com and march into Circuit City demanding $5. WTF is the point of that??? At this point I could really care less if you get away with it or not (but 99% of the time you won't), but what the hell is the point of going through all that trouble? Just so you can hop on ATOT and brag about how you made a fool of yourself (and don't care), wasted your Saturday, and still paid sales tax?

No thanks!

The prices that you and I BOTH want to pay are already available from XYZ... but the masochists of the world still want to raise hell with ABC so they can get that price there instead. I'm sorry, but that's just idiotic.

You ask why would I go through the trouble. For one thing, it leaves more money in my pocket. Plus it only took me about 10 minutes and it was all done on the phone. Personally, my time is not worth $1500/hr so it is definitely worth it for me to "haggle"

Bottom line, stores jack up the prices, they know this, and they do tend to let you bargain with them. If you don't have the gonads for it, then it's not for you.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Very true but you missed the point entirely. Plus the fact that you're wrong.

Err... ok.... 😕

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Most managers will bargain with you on the price since they'll still be making a profit. Just because you're unsuccessful at it, doesn't mean it's not true 🙂

Again, this isn't a matter of me being unsuccessful at it. I'm giving you my opinion from the standpoint of being at the other end of your "haggling". It's been awhile since I've been in the business, but I did spend 5 years doing it and I knew the ins-and-outs fairly well. Given the others here who are still in the business, it sounds like things haven't changed at all. Like we said: there are very special circumstances where you will get a deal (and they've been well-documented here), but they're few and far between, and very specific. If you're educated on what those circumstances are, you'll never have to work at getting the discount. Unfortunately, these circumstances give the illusion to some consumers that they've just successfully won a haggle session. That's not really the case.

Originally posted by: dabuddha
This does have bearing on the the whole point of this thread. Because the store marks up the item quite significantly, they will allow you to bargain with them. I have done it many times.

Sorry, but that's not the logic behind the pricing structure. I worked at CC and knew people working at BB, Fry's, and HH Gregg. I can't speak for the other chains like Sears, but it was policy in these stores to not negotiate pricing. Again, I did this for 5 years at various levels within the store. As a general rule (99.9% of the time), there was no negotiating outside the "special circumstances", regardless of how often people may have attempted it.

Unfortunately, sometimes you'll unknowingly stumble onto a product that the store desperately needs to move and they'll give you the deal you're talking about... but then you leave with the impression that it's generally acceptable and common practice. Sorry, but it's not. A savvy consumer knows the product he's looking at and whether or not he can get a deal on it. I'm not going to ask for a discount on a brand-spanking-new model because I know from ample experience that it's a fruitless fight and utterly pointless. How do I know this? Because I spent a great deal of time at the other end of that battle and I know how the stores operate. However, if the TV I want just went out of production, I know the store will want to move it. It will be very easy to get a deal:

Me: "Hey, this TV just went out of production... I'll relieve you of it for 20% off and free delivery."

CC/BB: "Ok"

Originally posted by: dabuddha
You ask why would I go through the trouble. For one thing, it leaves more money in my pocket.

When I said "go through the trouble", I meant why bother with CC and BB when you can buy the same stuff online for fractions of the price. Last winter I bought a new model 60" Panasonic LCD TV online for $1800, no tax, and $50 shipping. CC carried that model for $2600 (+ tax and delivery). Why in the blue fsck would I bother haggling with CC over that? Are there people out there who honestly think they can get CC to reduce their price by 30%, especially on such a hot-ticket item? This is what I mean by "why bother". Of course we ALL want to save money, regardless of economic status, but why go to so much trouble when you seriously don't have to?

"Well, if you saw such a great deal somewhere else, what are you doing here???"

It might be a cocky salesman response, but it's a pretty damn good point. If such a great deal can be had somewhere else, why are you still wasting your time? In my case, I had a great deal online, and I found it in seconds using pricegrabber.com. No phone calls, no running around all day on Saturday, and heck: no tax! I can't honestly think that I could have talked CC into knocking $800 off that! They would have laughed my ass right out of the store! Now that obviously doesn't bother everybody, but what's the point of the hassle? You already have the good deal somewhere else!

So, if you can buy an item at 70% of the retail price online, not pay tax and pay minimal shipping charges (if any), what is the point of playing phone-tag all over town (or worse)?

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Bottom line, stores jack up the prices, they know this, and they do tend to let you bargain with them. If you don't have the gonads for it, then it's not for you.

You seem to think they jack up prices to leave themselves wiggle room. That's just not true. That's what car dealerships do, not consumer electronics stores. Stores like CC and BB base their prices on what it takes to move product, not to leave them room to haggle over price. It's also not about "gonads"; it's really just about knowing how to spend your time and money wisely. If you're hassling CC over consumer-electronics pricing (especially on new-model products), you are seriously fighting the wrong battle because there's a very easy win elsewhere (online). There's ZERO effort involved, takes a few minutes to place the order, and you haven't wasted anyone's time, especially your own.

Now, I want to reiterate that myself and others who have posted in this thread have been involved at both ends of these transactions and honestly understand how the pricing structures work and why they are what they are. A few of you are under the impression that haggling is the norm just because you've gotten a few discounts. The fact is, you probably have no idea WHY you got those discounts. You chalk up your success to having massive "gonads" or kick-ass negotiating skills, when you really just haggled over a product the store needed to move. You could have gone online, saved yourself a headache, and probably purchased a newer product model for less.

That doesn't sound very frugal to me 😕 .

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: MX2times

Originally posted by: andylawcc
you indian or chinese?

:roll:

Both...and black and hispanic too:roll:

in my personal experience they represent 95% of the hagglers. It's nothing racial just the way people normally sold/bought goods in their respective countries.

Welcome to America, I say

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Very true but you missed the point entirely. Plus the fact that you're wrong.

Err... ok.... 😕

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Most managers will bargain with you on the price since they'll still be making a profit. Just because you're unsuccessful at it, doesn't mean it's not true 🙂

Again, this isn't a matter of me being unsuccessful at it. I'm giving you my opinion from the standpoint of being at the other end of your "haggling". It's been awhile since I've been in the business, but I did spend 5 years doing it and I knew the ins-and-outs fairly well. Given the others here who are still in the business, it sounds like things haven't changed at all. Like we said: there are very special circumstances where you will get a deal (and they've been well-documented here), but they're few and far between, and very specific. If you're educated on what those circumstances are, you'll never have to work at getting the discount. Unfortunately, these circumstances give the illusion to some consumers that they've just successfully won a haggle session. That's not really the case.

Originally posted by: dabuddha
This does have bearing on the the whole point of this thread. Because the store marks up the item quite significantly, they will allow you to bargain with them. I have done it many times.

Sorry, but that's not the logic behind the pricing structure. I worked at CC and knew people working at BB, Fry's, and HH Gregg. I can't speak for the other chains like Sears, but it was policy in these stores to not negotiate pricing. Again, I did this for 5 years at various levels within the store. As a general rule (99.9% of the time), there was no negotiating outside the "special circumstances", regardless of how often people may have attempted it.

Unfortunately, sometimes you'll unknowingly stumble onto a product that the store desperately needs to move and they'll give you the deal you're talking about... but then you leave with the impression that it's generally acceptable and common practice. Sorry, but it's not. A savvy consumer knows the product he's looking at and whether or not he can get a deal on it. I'm not going to ask for a discount on a brand-spanking-new model because I know from ample experience that it's a fruitless fight and utterly pointless. How do I know this? Because I spent a great deal of time at the other end of that battle and I know how the stores operate. However, if the TV I want just went out of production, I know the store will want to move it. It will be very easy to get a deal:

Me: "Hey, this TV just went out of production... I'll relieve you of it for 20% off and free delivery."

CC/BB: "Ok"

Sorry but I have quite a few friends that work in retail stores at various levels of management. They have told me themselves that the bottom line is that the manager has the ability to lower the price for a customer. That's what this whole thread is about. I have done it many times at various stores. From getting them to drop the prices or giving me a huge discount on the warranty or free delivery, etc..

Originally posted by: dabuddha
You ask why would I go through the trouble. For one thing, it leaves more money in my pocket.

When I said "go through the trouble", I meant why bother with CC and BB when you can buy the same stuff online for fractions of the price. Last winter I bought a new model 60" Panasonic LCD TV online for $1800, no tax, and $50 shipping. CC carried that model for $2600 (+ tax and delivery). Why in the blue fsck would I bother haggling with CC over that? Are there people out there who honestly think they can get CC to reduce their price by 30%, especially on such a hot-ticket item? This is what I mean by "why bother". Of course we ALL want to save money, regardless of economic status, but why go to so much trouble when you seriously don't have to?

"Well, if you saw such a great deal somewhere else, what are you doing here???"

It might be a cocky salesman response, but it's a pretty damn good point. If such a great deal can be had somewhere else, why are you still wasting your time? In my case, I had a great deal online, and I found it in seconds using pricegrabber.com. No phone calls, no running around all day on Saturday, and heck: no tax! I can't honestly think that I could have talked CC into knocking $800 off that! They would have laughed my ass right out of the store! Now that obviously doesn't bother everybody, but what's the point of the hassle? You already have the good deal somewhere else!

So, if you can buy an item at 70% of the retail price online, not pay tax and pay minimal shipping charges (if any), what is the point of playing phone-tag all over town (or worse)?

I guess the reason why we people take the time to negotiate/haggle is because most retail stores have a pricematch policy which includes a 10% bonus if you find a lower price. When you're talking a price difference of hundreds of dollars, this can be quite a bit.

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Bottom line, stores jack up the prices, they know this, and they do tend to let you bargain with them. If you don't have the gonads for it, then it's not for you.

You seem to think they jack up prices to leave themselves wiggle room. That's just not true. That's what car dealerships do, not consumer electronics stores. Stores like CC and BB base their prices on what it takes to move product, not to leave them room to haggle over price. It's also not about "gonads"; it's really just about knowing how to spend your time and money wisely. If you're hassling CC over consumer-electronics pricing (especially on new-model products), you are seriously fighting the wrong battle because there's a very easy win elsewhere (online). There's ZERO effort involved, takes a few minutes to place the order, and you haven't wasted anyone's time, especially your own.

Now, I want to reiterate that myself and others who have posted in this thread have been involved at both ends of these transactions and honestly understand how the pricing structures work and why they are what they are. A few of you are under the impression that haggling is the norm just because you've gotten a few discounts. The fact is, you probably have no idea WHY you got those discounts. You chalk up your success to having massive "gonads" or kick-ass negotiating skills, when you really just haggled over a product the store needed to move. You could have gone online, saved yourself a headache, and probably purchased a newer product model for less.

That doesn't sound very frugal to me 😕 .

A lot of my friends (the manager ones 🙂 ) told me that they do jack up the prices quite a bit in order to make a huge profit on some of the items. But a result of doing this also allows the manager to sell the item at a lower price. A majority of the customers won't bother haggling/negotiating with the CSR and so the stores make off with quite a bit of money. Do you really think the memory stick which is being sold everywhere else for ~$120-130 and whose MSRP is $299 really costs Staples anywhere near the $349 price they're charging for it? Do you really think Worst Buy and Circuit City really paid hundreds of dollars for crappy Monster cables/products?
I will agree with you to a point about your new tv model example. But even with a new model, you can always negotiate with the CSR/manager.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: jbourne77

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Very true but you missed the point entirely. Plus the fact that you're wrong.

Err... ok.... 😕

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Most managers will bargain with you on the price since they'll still be making a profit. Just because you're unsuccessful at it, doesn't mean it's not true 🙂

Again, this isn't a matter of me being unsuccessful at it. I'm giving you my opinion from the standpoint of being at the other end of your "haggling". It's been awhile since I've been in the business, but I did spend 5 years doing it and I knew the ins-and-outs fairly well. Given the others here who are still in the business, it sounds like things haven't changed at all. Like we said: there are very special circumstances where you will get a deal (and they've been well-documented here), but they're few and far between, and very specific. If you're educated on what those circumstances are, you'll never have to work at getting the discount. Unfortunately, these circumstances give the illusion to some consumers that they've just successfully won a haggle session. That's not really the case.

Originally posted by: dabuddha
This does have bearing on the the whole point of this thread. Because the store marks up the item quite significantly, they will allow you to bargain with them. I have done it many times.

Sorry, but that's not the logic behind the pricing structure. I worked at CC and knew people working at BB, Fry's, and HH Gregg. I can't speak for the other chains like Sears, but it was policy in these stores to not negotiate pricing. Again, I did this for 5 years at various levels within the store. As a general rule (99.9% of the time), there was no negotiating outside the "special circumstances", regardless of how often people may have attempted it.

Unfortunately, sometimes you'll unknowingly stumble onto a product that the store desperately needs to move and they'll give you the deal you're talking about... but then you leave with the impression that it's generally acceptable and common practice. Sorry, but it's not. A savvy consumer knows the product he's looking at and whether or not he can get a deal on it. I'm not going to ask for a discount on a brand-spanking-new model because I know from ample experience that it's a fruitless fight and utterly pointless. How do I know this? Because I spent a great deal of time at the other end of that battle and I know how the stores operate. However, if the TV I want just went out of production, I know the store will want to move it. It will be very easy to get a deal:

Me: "Hey, this TV just went out of production... I'll relieve you of it for 20% off and free delivery."

CC/BB: "Ok"

Sorry but I have quite a few friends that work in retail stores at various levels of management. They have told me themselves that the bottom line is that the manager has the ability to lower the price for a customer. That's what this whole thread is about. I have done it many times at various stores. From getting them to drop the prices or giving me a huge discount on the warranty or free delivery, etc..

Originally posted by: dabuddha
You ask why would I go through the trouble. For one thing, it leaves more money in my pocket.

When I said "go through the trouble", I meant why bother with CC and BB when you can buy the same stuff online for fractions of the price. Last winter I bought a new model 60" Panasonic LCD TV online for $1800, no tax, and $50 shipping. CC carried that model for $2600 (+ tax and delivery). Why in the blue fsck would I bother haggling with CC over that? Are there people out there who honestly think they can get CC to reduce their price by 30%, especially on such a hot-ticket item? This is what I mean by "why bother". Of course we ALL want to save money, regardless of economic status, but why go to so much trouble when you seriously don't have to?

"Well, if you saw such a great deal somewhere else, what are you doing here???"

It might be a cocky salesman response, but it's a pretty damn good point. If such a great deal can be had somewhere else, why are you still wasting your time? In my case, I had a great deal online, and I found it in seconds using pricegrabber.com. No phone calls, no running around all day on Saturday, and heck: no tax! I can't honestly think that I could have talked CC into knocking $800 off that! They would have laughed my ass right out of the store! Now that obviously doesn't bother everybody, but what's the point of the hassle? You already have the good deal somewhere else!

So, if you can buy an item at 70% of the retail price online, not pay tax and pay minimal shipping charges (if any), what is the point of playing phone-tag all over town (or worse)?

I guess the reason why we people take the time to negotiate/haggle is because most retail stores have a pricematch policy which includes a 10% bonus if you find a lower price. When you're talking a price difference of hundreds of dollars, this can be quite a bit.

Originally posted by: dabuddha
Bottom line, stores jack up the prices, they know this, and they do tend to let you bargain with them. If you don't have the gonads for it, then it's not for you.

You seem to think they jack up prices to leave themselves wiggle room. That's just not true. That's what car dealerships do, not consumer electronics stores. Stores like CC and BB base their prices on what it takes to move product, not to leave them room to haggle over price. It's also not about "gonads"; it's really just about knowing how to spend your time and money wisely. If you're hassling CC over consumer-electronics pricing (especially on new-model products), you are seriously fighting the wrong battle because there's a very easy win elsewhere (online). There's ZERO effort involved, takes a few minutes to place the order, and you haven't wasted anyone's time, especially your own.

Now, I want to reiterate that myself and others who have posted in this thread have been involved at both ends of these transactions and honestly understand how the pricing structures work and why they are what they are. A few of you are under the impression that haggling is the norm just because you've gotten a few discounts. The fact is, you probably have no idea WHY you got those discounts. You chalk up your success to having massive "gonads" or kick-ass negotiating skills, when you really just haggled over a product the store needed to move. You could have gone online, saved yourself a headache, and probably purchased a newer product model for less.

That doesn't sound very frugal to me 😕 .

A lot of my friends (the manager ones 🙂 ) told me that they do jack up the prices quite a bit in order to make a huge profit on some of the items. But a result of doing this also allows the manager to sell the item at a lower price. A majority of the customers won't bother haggling/negotiating with the CSR and so the stores make off with quite a bit of money. Do you really think the memory stick which is being sold everywhere else for ~$120-130 and whose MSRP is $299 really costs Staples anywhere near the $349 price they're charging for it? Do you really think Worst Buy and Circuit City really paid hundreds of dollars for crappy Monster cables/products?
I will agree with you to a point about your new tv model example. But even with a new model, you can always negotiate with the CSR/manager.

and the answer is once again either pricematch or GTFO

 

[geno]

I used to work at CC, and while I didn't see any price adjustments on new items other than for pricematching, I did see haggling on open box items.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: geno
I used to work at CC, and while I didn't see any price adjustments on new items other than for pricematching, I did see haggling on open box items.

Yup.

1. Open box items
2. Out of production/old models
3. Large quantities or huge purchases (accessories, warranties, etc)

Any other time, go online.

 

[BriGy86]

im going to have to take jbourne's side on this one

 

[HumblePie]

A lot of my friends (the manager ones ) told me that they do jack up the prices quite a bit in order to make a huge profit on some of the items. But a result of doing this also allows the manager to sell the item at a lower price. A majority of the customers won't bother haggling/negotiating with the CSR and so the stores make off with quite a bit of money. Do you really think the memory stick which is being sold everywhere else for ~$120-130 and whose MSRP is $299 really costs Staples anywhere near the $349 price they're charging for it? Do you really think Worst Buy and Circuit City really paid hundreds of dollars for crappy Monster cables/products?
I will agree with you to a point about your new tv model example. But even with a new model, you can always negotiate with the CSR/manager.

Sigh, the only products with a built in high margin are periphials, car audio speakers, protection plans, installaion, and repair services. Those are the products with high markups as you put it. Here, let me show you some fun examples....

USB cable. Standard 6 foot usb cable of no maor brand sold in CC or BB or just about anywhere for $25 bucks. At one point, 2002 and before when it was commission based, and for 1 year AFTER it was no longer commission based at CC, the employ cost for that cable was $3. That means, any employee could waltz right in there and buy that cable for $3. However, at the end of 2002, employee "price" had changed. That cable now costs an employee $18 and as such a normal customer isn't going to get much of a discount at all because it shows up in the system as COST being $18. The original cost didn't change for Circuit City but it did change for the store. Tecnically, each and every store gets it's wares from the main CC corporation and are given a cost. That cost is paid by each individual store. This is how franchises operate. The selling price hasn't changed but the way the store does business has. Why? The pay structure changed. Before, if a CC store sold that cable, they would have to pay CC corp $3 for a new one, and a percentage to the employee (commission) and to the manager of that employee. Back in the day, employees, the local store, and managers had plenty of wiggle room but they didn't always like to wiggle because anything they took off was money from THEIR pockets.

Now, since everyone is hourly, the minimum price for the store is $18 on that cable so if one is sold, that is how much corp gets paid for that while the store gets $7 and the employees and managers get zero. Not so much wiggle room anymore. Some items, you'd be surprised, are sold near cost, at cost, or even below costs the majority of the time. These are the big dollar items with plenty of periphials to go with it. Computers, TVs, Camcorders, and game consoles are examples of this. You go in looking for a discount on a Camcorder and you might as well talk until you are blue in the face. It's not going to happen. Buy an extra battery or two, a bag, protection plan, tripod, extra storage media, a USB cable, some TV cables, and anything else that camera can use and you might, just might get a discount. Usually not though but it depends on how much you are buying.

This gets back to option 3 though of circumstances where you can haggle some. Then again, you are overpaying on almost every item so it's easy enough to give a discount. Overpaying on 1 item compared to an online site isn't going to get you a discount. Walking into the store to buy a USB or monster cable and expecting it cheaper then the lister price isn't going to happen. Even then it still a crap shoot as to getting the discount. I've also NEVER EVER heard of someone getting quoted on a discount price over the phone and bothering to haggle. Dude, you called anyone in my store, the most you'll get out of us is directions to the place, what we have in stock, and the price off the tag. Anything else and you are going to be disconnected mysteriously all of a sudden or if we are being polite have an urgentcustomer in real life with cash in hand to deal with. We don't and aren't suppose to do anything else on the phone. Based on the fact you said you talk to people on the phone for a deal and use internet sites as competition... LOL, I know at this point you are full of sh~t. Seriousy, stop posting because you are making a fool out of yourself.

 

[spidey07]

You can haggle at CC and best buy and other retail chains.

You don't have to pay retail, nor should you. They will deal with you. At least the ones in kentucky.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: spidey07
You don't have to pay retail, nor should you.

www.pricegrabber.com

 

[alkemyst]

depends on how hot she is...some of the hotter chicks will at least make you wait until their shift ends no matter what your offer is. However, once you get up to about $50-60 most will come back to your car for an hour or so.

The best approach is to wait until she is alone at the register or on the floor.