There was a time when a consumer could sometimes get a better deal on services, interest rates, fees and even products/items at some stores/shops.

Does anyone have a success story for a recent reduction of cost?

 

 

Yeah DH did. The savalge store had Coleman gas camping stoves. REally nice ones. Online they are $149. They were priced at $62. DH got it for $50. He talked to the guy for a long time the the price came down. It will be to use if power is out in summer. Winter , we have the wood stove. It has a cook pot, grill,  a warming pot. Babs

The thing to keep in mind is if you attempt to haggle in this day and age at a retail store please accept no for an answer the first time.  The vast majority of employees at a large retailer do not have the authority to haggle prices.

This happens to DH very often and people get very rude with him when he states that he is unable to do anything with the price.  It is set by a corporate office.  The only thing he has the authority to do is price match with a stated competitors price.

I haggle frequently when I buy something, it never hurts to try.  I bought a large-screen TV about two years ago from the big blue box store, and haggled the price down by nearly $300 (and the TV was already on a clearance price).  It didn't hurt to ask... I just asked the manager if the price was the best he could offer me.  He said it wasn't, so I told him I'd found the same TV online for (insert price) and wondered if he could do something in that range... it turns out he could!

I've also recently haggled down the price on new tires for my car. They gave me an out the door price, and I'd already shopped around to know it was the best price in town. Just for the heck of it, I asked if they would take $50 off the total.  As it happened, they would.

At flea markets, I always offer a few bucks less than I'd be willing to pay for an item.  I'm not trying to be super-haggler, but if you don't ask for a lower price, you might be leaving money on the table.  It's nerve-wracking at first, but once you get into the habit it kind of turns into a sport!

Many places will give a small discount, usually around 10% if the item you are buying is a little damaged. Even if it's just the box that is cosmetically scratched. It doesn't hurt to ask. I used to work at Target as a cashier a few years ago and was able to make those price adjustments. Recently I needed some fresh herbs. There was only one left of what I needed at my local grocery store and it was a bit wilted. I asked if they were going to charge the full price for it and they said "No, you can have it for free". These are small things but I know I've been able to haggle larger things. Anytime I buy something, especially if it's a floor model I ask.

I did that a couple of years ago to get my garbage removal service to lower their fee to match a competitors. Instead of $77 every quarter, i pay $200 a year. (My new home has free garbage dumping because we are close enough to the village limits!)

I haggled a couple of time with the manager at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore, but now he always gives me SOMETHING off the sticker price. He also gave me 200 feet of wood moulding. Call it a frequent-buyer discount