First of all, thank you to everyone who helped made this past Friday’s free book promotion day a success! But now, as promised, my next non-promotional tip:
Now, let me preface this by saying that I completely understand the plight of those who hate to try and bargain – I was once one of those people who would be too shy to bargain with a street vendor in Mexico! The current economy has gotten me over this fear, however. After realizing how much more expensive retail prices were in comparison to online prices for the very same items, I started getting really fed up with stores. Don’t get me wrong – I know that retailers have overhead, and I don’t mind paying a little extra for the instant gratification of being able to have the item and use it today, but the magnitude of the price differences was getting to be rather appalling. I was so appalled that I . . . stepped outside of my comfort zone and decided to try and bargain with them; low and behold, it worked!
Bargaining with major retailers is a bit trickier than bargaining with a street vendor in a tourist-trap. The first thing you need is leverage. By this, I mean proof positive of what the competition is charging for the exact same item. If you come in armed with an ad from a competing retail store for the same product, there’s no question that they’ll price match – in fact, they may even price match on a store-brand version of a product, if it’s essentially the same product and quantity. If you don’t have that, be sure to come armed with your smartphone. You may want to download some barcode scanning apps that allow you to check prices from all over the web. I have an app called RedLaser on my iPhone, and there are plenty of other barcode scanning apps, the vast majority of which are free. Don’t rely on these exclusively, though – if you don’t get a barcode match, for some reason, when you scan the barcode of the item that you are looking at (in store), or if you don’t see a better deal on the results posted by the app, don’t give up. A quick and dirty Google search of the product name may turn up some deals, too.
However, with these results, your best sources of leverage will be the websites of other major retailers. I have used Walmart’s website with the most success, as they tend to have good deals and are a major retailer. You probably won’t have much luck pointing to the better deals on Amazon.com because 1) for online-only purchases, you must pay for shipping, generally, whereas in store, you won’t have to, so that’s a selling point for the retailer, and 2) you can’t have the item in hand that very same day if you buy on Amazon – another point for the retailer. However, if you show them Walmart’s website, and the item doesn’t say ‘online only,’ the retailer is not likely going to ask you to use the store finder on Walmart.com to check the stock and store prices of the local stores – it’s just too much work, and they do want your business. So, if you see a better deal on a competitor’s website (i.e., another retail store, especially the big chains), don’t be afraid to whip out your smartphone and show them the site – the odds are good that they will do a price match. One of my proudest shopping experiences was when I picked up an awesome piece of nerd gear from Microcenter for $17 less than their sticker price, upon whipping out my iPhone and showing them the price of the item on Walmart’s website. They matched Walmart’s price, in full.
And even if you see a better deal at an online-only store, such as Amazon.com, it still doesn’t hurt to ask them to match the price. Your odds of success with this approach increase dramatically if 1) the shipping offered online is fast and free, 2) the item is not something one typically needs right away, and 3) the price difference is significant. One time, I saw a pair of ski pants at an online-only store for $40 less than the same pants that I was looking at in my local ski shop. Note: I didn’t tell them that I needed the pants because I was going skiing the very next day, of course, and my other ski pants weren’t warm enough. While they were not willing to match the online-only store’s price, they did knock $20 off of their store price, and the shipping wasn’t even free through the online store!
For more advice on how to be a smart consumer, check out my Kindle books :-). Click to purchase or borrow (Amazon Prime members – see info. about the Kindle lending library) 20 Money-Saving Tips for Women.
asmartconsumer 