Haggling.

amistupid

I've saved a lot by just politely asking sales people, "Is that the best you can do?"

Yesterday, by simply asking that question, I saved an additional £20 on top of their other deals from a high street opticians; an 8% saving on that transaction and a further £20 reduction at a high street jewellers, which was a 10% saving on that transaction.

My partner, who always pays the full 'ticket price', cringes a little when I go into haggle mode but I don't feel at all embarrassed.

Are you a haggler?

LadyhavershamLost

Successfully haggled 20% off my Sky bill and a reduction in line rental!

Pooky

Yep, it's free to ask so I always do.

Nomoonatall

I try, but I usually end up apologising for asking! I'm a bit rubbish at it.

ERICS_MUM

I ask, especially if there are signs up advertising sales on other goods - I pretend innocence and ask if the goods I'm buying are also reduced. I often get something off even if what I'm buying isn't in the sale. More likely in 'private' shops rather than chain stores.

samsmoot

If I think something is overpriced in a 'local' shop I'll sometimes say it's "a bit more than I wanted to pay". Does work occasionally.

katkin

I've never thought to haggle in shops, I must try

It's a lot of fun on holiday in countries where haggling is part of their culture, so I'll give it a go at home.

Haggling for insurance or internet is much easier, maybe because it's on the phone. Hubby just negotiated a new broadband deal, haggling the price down quite a bit. He's much better at it, especially with garages.

Ballymackeonan

A friend - originally from Yorkshire - set up a shop here in rural Northern Ireland, and found that she'd priced things too low as everyone haggled and expected at least 10% off the ticket price. So she adjusted prices up the next year...

I find that I haggle much more effectively in France than here, as since I'm concentrating on getting the numbers correct I lose all my inhibitions about haggling too hard! Best haggle so far at a flea market was from €120 to €50!

missbiggles1

Haggling's for fleamarkets and car boot sales, not for shops.

Sam_Fallow

I even haggled for my house.

I got on really well with the couple selling it and sat down with them on the second viewing.

'We're looking for this amount.'
'What if I offer that amount.'
We settled on the other.
Then opened a bottle of brandy.

Done deal.

Larumbelle

It depends where I am shopping, and on the item. At my local market, especially the butcher I go to and the old-style greengrocer, it seems almost expected, the traders clearly enjoy themselves and you get a bit of cheeky banter along the way. You build up a bit of a relationship with the sellers that way too, far from being 'that person' I have found that often they have good deals 'out back' that only get offered to regulars, will throw extra stuff in without asking, or will mention if they've got something they need to get rid of that they think I might negotiate to take off their hands for them.

It's a long time since I've needed to buy white goods, computers or similar, but I would always either get the price haggled down or extras thrown in. Often the salespeople will get far more commission on insurance than the item itself, so you can use the insurance as a bartering tool. As long as you can negotiate to save more than the cost of the insurance, it's a good strategy.

Even in the big national chains, if something is reduced I will ask if that's the lowest price. You would think that chain stores would be no good for this but I find some are very receptive. With damaged / end of lines they frequently just want the 'clutter' out of the way. I will also ask if there is any discount if I buy a lot of one thing, and I am surprised how often the answer is yes.

When the two are combined - end of line is reduced and there is a lot of it - the saving can be phenomenal. A while back one homeware / household chain had balls of eyelash yarn reduced from £2 to 50p. When I offered to take them all if they could drop the price further, they suggested 5p per ball. I took what I needed (I had still paid less in total for what I wanted than if I had paid 50p per ball) and donated the rest to the hospital knitters, who were over the moon with it and raised a lot of funds by knitting and selling teddies. Another time a DIY chain had loads of bolts and other fixings reduced from between £1.50 and £4 to 5p each. That was a huge bargain already, but when I half-jokingly asked how much for the lot, they said 1p each as long as I accepted the computer stock level. Neither of us wanted to count them up, there were over a thousand of them! There were enough to last a DIYer several lifetimes, but I am part of a community group that will use them up in projects, and it saved them a fortune. Obviously this only works if you actually need and want that much of one thing, or know that you can donate it to an organisation that will.

I have found that the secret is not to ask for a specific discount, let them name their price, because I wouldn't dare be cheeky enough to suggest the price they sometimes offer! If what they offer is not as low as you were hoping, you can always use it as a starting point.

Haggling relies on confidence, and these days I have severe anxiety and probably would struggle to be quite so cheeky! I would say though, if you can, just ask. The worse that can happen is they say no.