Last night's Financial Peace University class was on getting a better deal when you're out shopping. Dave talks about how almost every other country in the world barters for items. We are one of the few countries that almost always pays retail.
We have a son that is always bartering for things. He's very good at it and he's only 18! I, on the other hand, am like Sharon Ramsey and find it embarrassing. I'd rather pay full price than try to talk someone down. I don't "do" conflict. ;-)
How about you? Do you bargain for prices? What items do you barter for?
April 8th, 2011 at 01:05 pm 1302264330
April 8th, 2011 at 03:40 pm 1302273622
April 8th, 2011 at 04:12 pm 1302275570
We always haggle over big purchases. Even the big department stores have some wiggle room (free deliver or waive the sales tax - can't count how many times we have asked and received those kind of discounts). Furniture and cars are the biggies that are always negotiable.
I am always surprised on Craigslist how few people do haggle. I always ask for more money than I expect. About 50% will just take it. 40% will ask to pay less. 10% will show up and then tell you all they have is x dollars (less than agreed price!). I couldn't do it - it's kind of annoying. But the buyer is there with cash and you want the thing sold - usually we just let it go. (Actually, dh did that to someone recently. I don't think it was on purpose, but the seller didn't have change so just knocked the price down to $20 instead of $30 - something like that). I think you can run the gammit from ruthless and aggressive to very passive. For America we are probably on the aggresive side, but probably pretty passive hagglers in the grand scheme of things.