Can you negotiate the price of tiles? (original style tiles inparticular!)

R&C

I have fallen in love with some Mosaics made by Original Style called 'Mother of Pearl'...







but at nearly £800 per sqm :eek: I'd need atleast a 80% discount to even think about buying them!

It did get me wondering though if you can negotiate in a tile shop, or do they always quote a fixed price? Don't want to make a fool of myself asking for a discount if they don't generally budge!

Any tile experts out there who know of any 'wow' type tiles that are maybe not so expensive? We're only looking for about 2sqm to make a bit of a feature in what otherwise is going to be quite a small 'natural' coloured/tiled bathroom.

mikey72

R&C wrote: »

I have fallen in love with some Mosaics made by Original Style called 'Mother of Pearl'...

but at nearly £800 per sqm :eek: I'd need atleast a 80% discount to even think about buying them!

It did get me wondering though if you can negotiate in a tile shop, or do they always quote a fixed price? Don't want to make a fool of myself asking for a discount if they don't generally budge!

Any tile experts out there who know of any 'wow' type tiles that are maybe not so expensive? We're only looking for about 2sqm to make a bit of a feature in what otherwise is going to be quite a small 'natural' coloured/tiled bathroom.

I'm a fool, but a fool with money. I don't care what they think of me really. I always ask, usually you can get something. Trade is 20 to 50% less than retail, so they can still make a profit on you. If they won't budge, they won't see you again anyway, so even if they laugh, (which they won't), remember you'll be keeping your money to spend somewhere else.

Doozergirl

Original Style have a factory outlet on the outskirts of Exeter. Not sure if they have any others but worth googling for - I googled ont he offchance and by complete coincidenece H was off to Exeter the next day! You may not find the exact tiles you are after but you will find lovely ones as if you like their stuff, you like their stuff!

We got tiles retailing at £100 psm for £33. I was happy with that!

R&C

Thanks Mikey - good to know what kind of discount I might be able to push for.

Doozergirl - They have a factory store in Gloucester which is our nearest but still 2 hours away. I really want to take a visit because I like so many styles in their brochure but there are no decent tile shops round here with a huge selection of original style mosaics. I'm working on the OH to agree to make the trip, mainly by telling him he'll literally save £100's

Alan_M_2

Original Style are produced by Winklemans (I think) and sold under licence as Original Style. A little searching and maybe even a trip to France could buy you what you want.

Try Waxman Ceramics, they are Uk distributors for Winklemans, so you may be able to find what you want "unbranded" but actually the same product and possibly even from the same producer.

The problem you have is there is a single manufacturer of this product and single distribution network, that doesn't lend itself to discounts.

Trade discounts on Original style are slim and not the 20% to 50% suggested as this is a closed shop supply line. Still it's worth asking, but what you've chosen is a Bentley of quality, sure you can discount a Bentley but 10% of a large sum of money still leaves a large sum of money.

R&C

Many Thanks Alan, I have dropped them an email!

cally1_2

I was offered 10% off today while looking at tiles in a shop, without even asking for it!

never_enough

I'm with Mikey72, I ask for a discount with most things nowadays & have had varied degrees of success. Although as Alan says it would still leave a large amount to pay.

27col

I cannot believe that any tile is so attractive that someone would pay £800/sq. meter, especially if they cannot afford that sort of money. If it was me I would move on and find a tile that I liked and could afford.
People seem to get into this ridiculous "must have" mode and all common sense flies out of the window. If I see something like that I think " that's nice, but it's not worth what they are asking." at that point I can walk away and never lust after the object again.

R&C

27col wrote: »

I cannot believe that any tile is so attractive that someone would pay £800/sq. meter, especially if they cannot afford that sort of money. If it was me I would move on and find a tile that I liked and could afford.
People seem to get into this ridiculous "must have" mode and all common sense flies out of the window. If I see something like that I think " that's nice, but it's not worth what they are asking." at that point I can walk away and never lust after the object again.

If i was willing to pay the £800 per sqm, then I wouldn't have bothered posting!

27col

Perhaps I did not make myself very clear. Firstly, I was saying that I did not think that any tile is so nice that anyone would pay £800/sq. mtr. I am not in the band of people who could even consider paying that much. The notion that you might get 80% discount is a bit fanciful to say the least. As to asking for discounts in general, well you can only ask. I probably did not express myself very clearly. I am not really knocking the op. Just the general idea of so-called "must-have". I will stop now, before I dig myself in any deeper.