Tuesday, March 31, 2009

What Do We Have to Lose?

Last year, Recession Girl was shopping with her friend from Argentina. He was picking up a camera case at Circuit City for his dad. The camera case cost $100, which seemed a little pricey, but was comparable to other similar items, and had already been marked down. We just planned to pick it up and get out of the Saturday Circuit City madness. We called Senor Argentine to confirm that we were buying the right case and we told him the price. Immediately, he said, "Tell them, I'll pay $80." We slightly snickered at his wishful thinking. Not wanting to burst his bubble by telling him that's just not the way it works at a chain mega-store in NYC, we just paid the $100, but told Papi it was $80.

Apparently, we were wrong. Times have changed and we are moving back toward the negotiating market - even chain stores where you would never dream you had the power to talk down.

Check out this article about one man's search for savings—where (and how) he could haggle himself a pretty substantial deal (i.e. a magical $300 discount "in the system" that could be applied) - and brush up on those barter skills you haven't used since Spring Break '99 in Cancun:
http://nymag.com/guides/cheap-living/negotiate.

No comments:

Post a Comment