Negotiating a deal.

[alanfromderby]

Just wondered how people have faired with negotiating a reduction in price - or gettiing extras thrown in. I am looking at buying two laptops in a few weeks time, and obviously want to get the best possible deal.

[Shanks]

I quite often have luck with this if you don't demand it. If you don't ask you certainly won't get But take the gentle approach and explain that you would be happy to give them the business but somewhere else is offering a slightly better deal. Don't demand a price match unless they offer it but just suggest that a few disks/paper/printer whatever you want at the time would 'help' secure the deal that day. Tell them so and so have said they will provide 'x' because you are buying two at the same time etc.

It's always worth a shot and if you're happy with the item at the advertised price what can you posibly lose?

Cheers, Shanks

ps. push for a third lappy and we'll split the difference

I'm a king of bartering. I just love it. I find it helps is you don't care if you buy it A)today B)from that shop.

I got this 3 weeks ago for £850 including wall mount and cover kids love it (I do not watch telly personally).
Currys - Shop for Flat Panel TV - Matsui 42P900 Exclusive 42'' Plasma TV

Get 30% of servicing for wives car until out of warranty then 50% off as when I brought it I argued they had 2 bites of my pie.

To be a true master you have to know when bills are due and targets (if applicable) periods are ending. Also I often find instead of going for money go for freebies. PC world and Dell (telephone) always always do deals just go though to business division (both have bad stuff said about them but then again show me one that does not). Pick a low spec laptop then ask for RAM, HD upgrade, XP pro etc (plus dell free delivery) get written quotes from both (fax for dell).

[blueskies]

I never pay full price for PC's or parts. The method I tend to use is to go into the shop with 80% of the cost of the thing I'm trying to buy in cash (important). I then tend to go into the shop late afternoon, preferably on a monday-wednesday (business tends to be quieter). Ask for what you want, and let them give the spiel about all the features while nodding and saying it's exactly what you want (boosts their ego a bit). Tell him/her that iit is exactly what you want but you had thought it would be a bit cheaper than that and your not sure if you have quite enough on you. Take your money out of your pocket and start counting it saying You wish you had brought your plastic with you. Ask if he/she can give you discount for cash. If he won't take that then say "I might have a bit more in the car, how much would you accept?"

This tends to work better with independant retailers as even the managers in PC world have very little bartering power.

Works excellently on Tottenham Court Road in London because of the intense competition.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[big blue one]

it is actually unlawful for a shop to offer a better deal for cas. in fact the store would rather you took credit.

on the line of getting a discount. yes it is possible. wouldnt expect any more than 5% but on the currys/pc world till system, there is one thing to look out for.


when the salesperson scans in the item , watch the till screen for the 'customer offers' button to light up blue. this means there is a deal to be had, so make sure they press that button to see what goodies are in store for you!

[blueskies]

I believe it is lawful for them to give discounts for whatever reason they choose. They must not add a surcharge for using another method of payment without advertising the fact they do. It depends heavily on their method of handling credit card transactions as they must advise all customers of how much they pay the CC company by way of handling charge. Hence the sign posted in all major retailers.
"A credit card handling fee applies on all credit card transactions of X.X% The amount paid remains the same regardless of method of payment" or words to that effect.
Whether it is lawful or not, independant retailers offer the discount.
I personally very rarely use mainstream suppliers of equipment due to the very limited powers of staff to alter the prices. Whatever you can buy in PCWorld is normally available at the same price or cheaper from independant retailers if you ask the right questions.

The PC I'm typing this on cost me £600 to build 2 years ago. The list price for all the components in PCWorld (as I used them for price comparison at the time) was £900 and only 2 websites managed to beat the price.

[Rich44]

It's not unlawful to discount for cash, besides if it was they can discount anyway and lie about the reason, what they are not allowed to do is add a surcharge without informing you (as posted above) as for anything else its entirely up to the retailer how they carry on on their business.

Bartering for PC bits works well where there is intense competition like above but our local PC shops wont barter at all thats the price take it or leave it.

Personally I wouldnt buy a laptop from PC World even with a discount as their after sales service is terrible.

How much are you looking to spend? Asus laptops are excellent value and come with a 2 year warranty direct with Asus so if you have a problem you deal straight with them and they are excellent too.

They are the biggest suppliers of laptops to be resold as they offer the best margins, so if they offer the best margins you get the best prices and the best scope for a discount.

For example the best you can do from Acer for example is 5% tops but with an Asus one you can get a decent 10-25% markup on it so theres scope for great prices or a good haggle.

www.microdirect.com do some good deals on the Asus lappies

[StudentInDebt]

"A credit card handling fee applies on all credit card transactions of X.X% The amount paid remains the same regardless of method of payment" or words to that effect.

I think this is more of a VAT dodge as the company that the x.x% goes to is always "retailers finanance company ltd", under EU regs banking charges are VAT exempt so the retailer parent company only pays 97.5% VAT to the government. I thought this practice had been stopped but maybe not.

[alanfromderby]

I am looking for two laptops, duo-centrino preferably - need to be able to get onto WIFI in europe. Mainly used for accessing internet, could do with Windows XP pro and MS Office including Publisher, and have a budget of around £1500.

Allan are you still looking

[alanfromderby]

Yes....and by the end of next week I will have the money too!!!!

[Thailand]

I took the PC world performance tut in exchange for a small discount of £27.97, having read the notion somewhere on here. I was always going to cancel it the next week, and after finding out he'd lied through his skin about payment dates - I didn't feel so bad about it

[falcon185]

[quote=Zooman]I'm a king of bartering. I just love it. I find it helps is you don't care if you buy it A)today B)from that shop.

I got this 3 weeks ago for £850 including wall mount and cover kids love it (I do not watch telly personally).
Currys - Shop for Flat Panel TV - Matsui 42P900 Exclusive 42'' Plasma TV

Hi Ashley,
think you got done there my old mate, the link you provided for the plasma TV says its £498

Bazza

[Raindancer]

some nice tips there peps!

I usually know how much an item costs before i venture into store. If i am looking for a discount, i will take cash with me. One pocket will have the amount i want to buy the item for. And the other pocket will have loose fiver's.

I try to visit the store at quite times (More time to chat to the staff) and also late in the day, when they are more likely to be tired and home time is around the corner. always keep it freindly and non threatning in anyway. Ask how there day was, and just general chit hat.

Then tell them how much you like the item, and that you only have X amount of cash (while counting it out) Usually, this works for me. If they want to haggle you can say your not to sure if you have any other cash on you and riffle through your pockets and pull out 1 or 2 fivers. 9 times out of 10. This works for me,

Dont be afraid to haggle.

[blacksheep1979]

Stores are also far more likely to throw in extra goods than knock money of the price - especially own branded goods which have a very large mark up on.

[Templehead]

Originally Posted by Zooman

I'm a king of bartering. I just love it. I find it helps is you don't care if you buy it A)today B)from that shop.

I got this 3 weeks ago for £850 including wall mount and cover kids love it (I do not watch telly personally).
Currys - Shop for Flat Panel TV - Matsui 42P900 Exclusive 42'' Plasma TV

Get 30% of servicing for wives car until out of warranty then 50% off as when I brought it I argued they had 2 bites of my pie.

To be a true master you have to know when bills are due and targets (if applicable) periods are ending. Also I often find instead of going for money go for freebies. PC world and Dell (telephone) always always do deals just go though to business division (both have bad stuff said about them but then again show me one that does not). Pick a low spec laptop then ask for RAM, HD upgrade, XP pro etc (plus dell free delivery) get written quotes from both (fax for dell).

its £297 mate

[alanfromderby]

Originally Posted by Templehead

its £297 mate

Of course the item in question was bought more than 7 months ago, so one would expect it now to be at a clearance price.