Haggling on price for something that you want to buy can be a very smart thing to do. It can save you money and it can really make your purchase worth getting. However, there are some places that you will likely be more successful at bargaining. Where are these places? Do you know where the best places are to haggle on price? I’m going to tell you some of my favorite places to practice your bargaining skills.
1- Can I bargain at the grocery store?
The grocery store is one of the harder places to bargain on price for something, but that’s not to say that you can’t do it at all. Although it’s one of the harder places to do it successfully, it can be done if you pick your battles wisely.
So how do you do it? If you’re thinking you can just go in there and bargain down the price of milk, sorry no, that’s not happening most likely. But you can get discounts in other ways. If you find a damaged item then you could ask for a discount on the item. Although this isn’t something I normally go out looking for, if I do see something I will usually go to the customer service desk and ask them if they would discount this item because of the damage. Sometimes they say yes, and sometimes not. It is a strategy that works though.
Another thing you can do is have the store price match a competitor’s store on price if they do such a thing. Walmart has their own app which has their “savings catcher” within the app where you can scan your receipt after you make your purchase and then it will look for advertised deals in your area to see if any of the prices were less somewhere else. This can be an easy way for people to “price match” groceries.
2- yard sales, of course
Everyone should know that you can bargain at yard sales. If you’re not doing it then you should definitely start now. Actually, yard sales are some of the best places to practice your bargaining skills. You’re likely to get a lot of the items for less than their sticker price if you ask for it. Especially if you can tell that they are a motivated seller. It does depend on the seller sometimes though. If you have a hard seller that has firm prices then you may not have any luck, but I would always give it a try.
3- Online ad purchases from Craigslist or Facebook etc
Are you scouring the Craigslist ads looking for a new coffee table? Do you not like the prices that you see for all that furniture? Well, instead of whining about it you can send out some feeler emails to see if the seller is willing to negotiate.
If you see a coffee table selling for $100, and you think it’s worth less than that, or maybe you have no idea what it’s worth but you don’t have $100 to spend, then what you should do is send them an email (or text or whatever method the seller asks for) and in the email ask them if they would be willing to take something like $50 for it. You never know what they might reply. They very well could say yes right off the bat, or if they’re a good seller they will come back at you with a discounted price.
Your email doesn’t have to be that long. Just saying something like this,
“Hi, I’m interested in your coffee table. Would you be willing to take $50 for it? Thank you for considering.”
A short quick, polite offer is all you need to get the ball rolling. Then wait and see what you get. You might be surprised at how easy it is to bargain down prices this way.
4- Anything that is expensive to start with
I mean anything. If the price starts out high, then there’s almost always room for negotiation. Things like contractor jobs are a good example. I just finished bargaining a lower price on my wildlife removal service. I also bargained for a lower price for my tree trimming.
Don’t forget the big items like your car or house. It should go without saying that you can bargain on those items. But it doesn’t have to be that expensive to bargain. Something like a new couch, furniture, or bed can also be bargained. These places have huge markup and a lot of them expect you to try to bargain a little. Don’t let them down.
One thing you should never forget is that you usually don’t have much to lose if you try to bargain. Unless it’s some unique item that you can’t get somewhere else then you shouldn’t be afraid of bargaining and losing out. There will always be another deal.