Haggling

Mishra

Well I've been spending way too much time trying to find a washer and dryer for my new home. It is a mind numbing process talking to sales people as always. I still hate car shopping the worst.

I'm young looking so that plays into the whole scenario as well. I've been basing my savings attempt off of what my Dad saved at Lowes. He was able to get them to drop the price 200 dollars AND throw in a free deep freezer. He said he got the whole 'What can I do to sell you this washer and dryer?' line and they negotiated to get him that deal.

My experience has been pretty disappointing. It is hard to figure out if they are working commision or not.

1st- I tried out the scratch and dent warehouse they have in our town. The savings range from 150-200 dollars and there was only 1 choice for a matching washer and dryer front loader. I tried to haggle with the guy there and it was a no-go. I decided to try other stores as I thought I could get 200 dollars off a nice new model.

2nd- I was browsing around home depots small selection and the sales guy asked me if I was interested in the LG we were looking at. I said well I guess it depends on what kind of deal I can get. He just spewed out the price and free delivery so I left.

3rd- Sears was the next stop. Sears's was having a 20% discount on their Kenmore appliances so they had some OK deals going on. After being bugged by SIX different sales people asking me if I needed any help I finally went with a guy. I told him I was interested in the LG model but I wanted to pay 150 dollars less than asking price. He said well let me see what I can do. He had to go try and look up a comparable model on the internet that sold at a lower price. He didn't find one so he told me this is all I could do for me. I said OK and I'm not interested. I left without any resistance at all.... Do these people get paid commission? I would imagine for sure Sears would.

4th- Circuit City doesn't sell appliances anymore. Interesting eh?

5th- H.H. Gregg. I haven't done much shopping here so I thought I would give it a try. I called my Dad and asked him how in the world he got such a good deal. He said his pointers are to ask a young guy as they are more motivated to sell something cheaper and go at closing time to get the deals (they want to go home so they are willing to negotiate). I found a Samsung here that I liked so I went to talk to the sales professional. I decided to switch my style up at H.H. Gregg. First I tried talking to the younger guy but the old guy bitched at the young man saying he talked to me first. LoL So they exchanged looks and words and went on. Funny but I was happy that someone seemed motivated at least. I talked to him a lot more trying to waste his time. I chatted about what is this and what is that. Of course he said nothing new about the models but I told him I would walk around the store and think about it. I came back and we started negotiating prices. He gave me the 'I Can't go any lower' crap after lowering the total price by about 100 dollars. Then he noticed that they didn't have any more in stock. He checked with his sales manager and they were willing to offer the floor models. But without a lower price!!! So I told him I expected at least a 30-40 % price drop (off retail) for the floor model like they have in the back. I asked to speak with the Sales Manager and he only lowered it an additional 10%. After all said and done they were trying to sell me a 1,500 dollar washer and dryer floor model. They wouldn't drop the price so I walked. SIGH

6th- Went back to Lowes (been here earlier this week) and they just don't carry LG anymore (I guess they stopped 1-3 months ago?). The sales guy was just standing around and didn't care at all. I talked to him but he didn't seem interested in anything. So I left there to go home without an appliance. Again are these people paid commision? If not, why did they work with my Dad so hard... Confusing.

Man this is exhausting! I think I need to go back to scratch and dent because I'm just not getting the haggling my Dad was able to get. I also have been keeping a very close eye on craigslist because thats the best deal. But I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong or what.

blargoe

I think the appliance people in those stores are all on commission

sprkymrk

I think your dad got lucky. The sales people have some room to negotiate, but not the 30%+ you're looking for. If you can get 10% off the list price for a brand new model at a retail store you're doing good. They can sell them at list price most times. Your dad may have had good timing - many times these places will hold contests for their sales people offering vacations and prizes for whom ever sells the most xyz product for the week/month, especially models that will be discontinued soon. In these cases sales reps will give up their entire commision and are sometimes allowed to sell below cost.

Mishra

sprkymrk wrote:

I think your dad got lucky. The sales people have some room to negotiate, but not the 30%+ you're looking for. If you can get 10% off the list price for a brand new model at a retail store you're doing good. They can sell them at list price most times. Your dad may have had good timing - many times these places will hold contests for their sales people offering vacations and prizes for whom ever sells the most xyz product for the week/month, especially models that will be discontinued soon. In these cases sales reps will give up their entire commision and are sometimes allowed to sell below cost.

Just to clarify I'm not looking for 30% off. That was only the floor model they were trying to stick me with. I actually only asked for 150 dollars (about 10%) off the LG model at Sears and didn't get anything. Thanks for the post.

darkerosxx

Or your dad lied to make himself look cool? just kidding...but it happens in movies!

sprkymrk

Mishra wrote:

sprkymrk wrote:

I think your dad got lucky. The sales people have some room to negotiate, but not the 30%+ you're looking for. If you can get 10% off the list price for a brand new model at a retail store you're doing good. They can sell them at list price most times. Your dad may have had good timing - many times these places will hold contests for their sales people offering vacations and prizes for whom ever sells the most xyz product for the week/month, especially models that will be discontinued soon. In these cases sales reps will give up their entire commision and are sometimes allowed to sell below cost.

Just to clarify I'm not looking for 30% off. That was only the floor model they were trying to stick me with. I actually only asked for 150 dollars (about 10%) off the LG model at Sears and didn't get anything. Thanks for the post.

I'd have gone with the 20% off Kenmore.

BeaverC32

You should have stipulated you get the appliances when you made your initial offer on the house...one less headache to contend with while adjusting to being a homeowner. Anyway, good luck on finding those appliances!

Mishra

BeaverC32 wrote:

You should have stipulated you get the appliances when you made your initial offer on the house...one less headache to contend with while adjusting to being a homeowner. Anyway, good luck on finding those appliances!

The house was a foreclosure and an investor bought it at an auction. I bought it off of him and it came with a fridge/dishwasher/garbage disposal/and stove. So there wasn't a washer and dryer available sadly but at least it had the other appliances!

drainey

Sprkymrk has a good point. Alot of the discount chains will give good discounts to move surplus stock of discontinued or soon to be discontinued items. This could have been part of the reason for your dad's successful deal.

Also when shopping at the various stores look for additional discounts like another 10% off when you purchase with the store's branded card such as a Lowe's charge card. I bought a rather nice LG stove from Lowe's. It was on sale for 15% off and I got another 10% off by opening (and using) a Lowe's charge card account for the purchase. Which gave me a total of 25% off a $1100 range, which equates to about $275 in savings.

eMeS

I've found two ways to go with things like this:

1) Spend time haggling. I've had reasonably good success, and I've found that it's much easier to get add-ons like warranties or delivery/installation for free than it is to get straight cash.

The problem is, usually the time spent haggling costs more from an hourly standpoint than the amount saved. I sense from your post that you're running into the same thing.

I prefer not to haggle...it's a drain. IMO negotiation is compromising based on mutual benefit, whereas haggling means that the benefit that one party will receive is accepted, they just want the other party to accept less mutual benefit. Two different things IMO.

However, my preferred method is:

2) Pile-on rewards program benefits when making any type of purchase like this. I usually start at a website like MyPoints, and work it out several different ways, ultimately paying with my Amex Blue (which is the best rewards program IMO). Although I think retailers look for ways to prevent stacking of rewards, I've been successful a number of times at stacking different rewards equating to several hundred dollars in discounts on major purchases. Recently in the case of a small purchase (1TB hd) I made at Best Buy, I started at My Points, paid with Amex (which was offering 3 for 1 points for purchases at Best Buy) and then used my Reward Zone when I picked the item up.

Also, any kind of interest and payments free programs are good things, as they are basically paying you to commit to buying their items at a later date. Only take this route if you know you will have the cash to pay it off.

Option 2 tends to work best for me on things like this, as it allows me to maximize the amount of money that I save while minimizing the amount of time spent saving it. I did this on a tv in late 2007 and saved over 15% on the price.

Also, if I am having anything done to the house, I tend to go through Home Depot Expo. I don't negotiate much up front on these things, because I know based on prior experience that they will miss their delivery dates or otherwise screw something up during the project, or all of the above. I will tend to push for extreme delivery dates/timelines with the sales people, as they will say whatever they have to to book a sale.

I have about 400sf of 3/4" wood flooring in my study/entryway that overall cost me less than $500 for material and installation because of Home Depot being inept coupled with my willingness to push any advantage to the extreme. The original cost was ~$2300.00.

MS

astorrs

eMeS wrote:

Also, any kind of interest and payments free programs are good things, as they are basically paying you to commit to buying their items at a later date. Only take this route if you know you will have the cash to pay it off.

The paying the debt off before the time alloted runs out piece is really important or the $3000 TV you got on sale for "15% off" could end up costing you around $3300 (the interest rates are usually retroactive and ridiculously high - upwards of 25-30%).

eMeS

astorrs wrote:

eMeS wrote:

Also, any kind of interest and payments free programs are good things, as they are basically paying you to commit to buying their items at a later date. Only take this route if you know you will have the cash to pay it off.

The paying the debt off before the time alloted runs out piece is really important or the $3000 TV you got on sale for "15% off" could end up costing you around $3300 (the interest rates are usually retroactive and ridiculously high - upwards of 25-30%).

Agreed...paying these things off within the grace period is a must...seems like standard chain retailers always have those crazy high interest rates like that..

cbigbrick

Kenmore appliances have a very good rating. I would have taken the 20% and asked for free delivery, installation and removal of old appliances. DONE!

Plantwiz

Walk in with the cash and feel free to show it.
Tell them you want a deal.
Don't worry about leaving with your money and no appliances.

It takes time. You'll need to do your homework on the product and you can also look for year-end, scratched, returned, etc..... to help reduce the price.


Many of the places no longer work on commission. Some will offer their employees a SPIF for a specific sale, but it's usually when they sell you the warranty (which is a ripe off anyway).

If they put the sales manager between them and you....call the sales manager out. It may be they don't have much room...so have delivery tossed in as part of the deal. $1500 for washer/dryer....sheeze...you buying a Cadillac? Then again, I don't care for all the 'extras'...all it needs to do is wash (preferable 3 cycle) and dry. Should be $400-800...tops. IMO...but that's all we paid for new. I love Sears for appliances, but they were out of stock the day we were looking and unfortunately...that day we couldn't wait. Lowe's had worked a great deal and delivered the next unit later that day (got lucky on a truck in the area...otherwise it would have been next day).

Patience

KGhaleon

or just buy it already and stop being a girl.
Seriously.

I'm sure you could make back that money with the time you've wasted negotiating a price.

Daniel333

Wow! I have not thought about appliances in 2 years.

Sears varies by region (worked there for 6 years) some are on commission, some are not. Some can argue over prices, some would get fired for even asking. It depends on how good their management was able to hide it in the books. So hit or miss, just directly ask and they'll tell you.

LG/Goldstar/Samsung appliances carry the highest margin of appliances with Whirlpool having the lowest. Expect deep price cuts on the Korean appliances as high as 50% off MSRP and stern pricing on the American ones where ever you go.

I'm a huge Whirlpool fan with Laundry items, btw. Most Kenmores are built by Whirlpool. Some are made by Frigidaire (bad) so ask.

We actually priced many GE and Kitchenaid products OVER MSRP. Sears would get away with it because the model 1234A would be have 3 oven racks but our "special" model 1234B came with 4oven racks. But were otherwise the same thing. Careful there.

General rules apply though, ask to see how much THEY paid for it and negotiate up from there. Bottom it's not how much you get off, or how much you pay but the over all value of the product. Have you selected your models yet?

Mishra

Plantwiz wrote:

Walk in with the cash and feel free to show it.
Tell them you want a deal.
Don't worry about leaving with your money and no appliances.

It takes time. You'll need to do your homework on the product and you can also look for year-end, scratched, returned, etc..... to help reduce the price.


Many of the places no longer work on commission. Some will offer their employees a SPIF for a specific sale, but it's usually when they sell you the warranty (which is a ripe off anyway).

If they put the sales manager between them and you....call the sales manager out. It may be they don't have much room...so have delivery tossed in as part of the deal. $1500 for washer/dryer....sheeze...you buying a Cadillac? Then again, I don't care for all the 'extras'...all it needs to do is wash (preferable 3 cycle) and dry. Should be $400-800...tops. IMO...but that's all we paid for new. I love Sears for appliances, but they were out of stock the day we were looking and unfortunately...that day we couldn't wait. Lowe's had worked a great deal and delivered the next unit later that day (got lucky on a truck in the area...otherwise it would have been next day).

Patience

Nice post! Thanks Plantwiz

Mishra

KGhaleon wrote:

or just buy it already and stop being a girl.
Seriously.

I'm sure you could make back that money with the time you've wasted negotiating a price.

Come on now... Haggling is a skill that if learned can save you a lot more money than just on a washer and dryer. It's good to know not a waste of time.

Mishra

Daniel333 wrote:

Wow! I have not thought about appliances in 2 years.

Sears varies by region (worked there for 6 years) some are on commission, some are not. Some can argue over prices, some would get fired for even asking. It depends on how good their management was able to hide it in the books. So hit or miss, just directly ask and they'll tell you.

LG/Goldstar/Samsung appliances carry the highest margin of appliances with Whirlpool having the lowest. Expect deep price cuts on the Korean appliances as high as 50% off MSRP and stern pricing on the American ones where ever you go.

I'm a huge Whirlpool fan with Laundry items, btw. Most Kenmores are built by Whirlpool. Some are made by Frigidaire (bad) so ask.

We actually priced many GE and Kitchenaid products OVER MSRP. Sears would get away with it because the model 1234A would be have 3 oven racks but our "special" model 1234B came with 4oven racks. But were otherwise the same thing. Careful there.

General rules apply though, ask to see how much THEY paid for it and negotiate up from there. Bottom it's not how much you get off, or how much you pay but the over all value of the product. Have you selected your models yet?

The Whirlpool's I have ran into aren't that great but it was one of the lowest models. So I just decided to go with a LG or Samsung because they seem to be built really well. I don't want to buy a washer and dryer every 5 years. Since Kenmore is now made by everyone else I just thought I would stray away from their brand. But it's really hard to make a judgement on a brand when you haven't really experienced anything but the lowest model Whirlpool. Everyone has their opinions 'Sears sucks now', 'Whirlpool has cheap parts' but I'm really just looking for the best price/energy savings model.

dynamik

Maybe you should try showing a little more skin...

Mishra

dynamik wrote:

Maybe you should try showing a little more skin...

Which would in turn be showing a little more hair. And I don't think showing a little more hair is a good idea. >_<

Ricka182

I recently used Craigslist....I got a Kenmore Elite HE stackable set with dryer rack...both for $900 in my truck. There weren't really heavy, just a bit awkward to move. I also had to change the orfice to accept gas over propane, which was kind of a pain in the arse, but it's done and they work. I think the HE part really helps, as I've had them since April, and am still using the same bottle of detergent......

Mishra

Ricka182 wrote:

I recently used Craigslist....I got a Kenmore Elite HE stackable set with dryer rack...both for $900 in my truck. There weren't really heavy, just a bit awkward to move. I also had to change the orfice to accept gas over propane, which was kind of a pain in the arse, but it's done and they work. I think the HE part really helps, as I've had them since April, and am still using the same bottle of detergent......

Yeah I've been watching craigslist like a hawk. Nothing to come from there quite yet.

cacharo

Mishra wrote:

Ricka182 wrote:

I recently used Craigslist....I got a Kenmore Elite HE stackable set with dryer rack...both for $900 in my truck. There weren't really heavy, just a bit awkward to move. I also had to change the orfice to accept gas over propane, which was kind of a pain in the arse, but it's done and they work. I think the HE part really helps, as I've had them since April, and am still using the same bottle of detergent......

Yeah I've been watching craigslist like a hawk. Nothing to come from there quite yet.

Are you looking for giftcards on craigslist? I always try to score 10-20% off on the giftcard before I even enter the store to find that deal. People with 1k+ in giftcards are usually pretty anxious to free up that money. Of course you have to beware the scammers, but if you are thorough and have the card reissued in person just before the deal, you should be safe.

snadam

actually I just bought a new washer/dryer and fridge for my new house not too long ago. For the washer/dryer, my realtor hooked me up with his appliance guy he sends his business to and he gave us a good deal on the washer dryer we got. Id say he knocked off 25% and delivery was $20 less and the wiring kit was free compared to everyone else. So perhaps thats an avenue you can go even though I know you got the place through an auction or something from what I can remember. For the fridge, I went to the 'scratch and dent store' and we haggled a bit; but nothing aggressive.

from my experience as a customer AND an employee at Lowe's; its really really really hard to haggle at the big stores. You can throw in free wiring kit or free delivery, but to adjust the price on appliances is tough. Not saying that its impossible, but management does not like to haggle actual dollar amounts; at least from my experience. If you want to haggle, then you are better off at a private sale or a smaller appliance chain in your area.


oh and Mark, that fireworks quote was priceless in the other thread :P