Any luck haggling over prices at Best Buy?

[kalkin84]

Originally Posted by Blinkman987

Maybe you should educate yourself on what relocation is, or are you too busy ironing your screaming bald eagle shirt to let people know that AMERICA IS NUMBER 1!

What do they even teach people in school these days? With an education like that, no wonder so many college graduates turn to retail management. *sigh*

Before mods lock this, you are what is known in english as a "moron," or one irrationally ingrained in his own delusions. I recommend a history class (or 10) for you, preferably taught by someone who knows what he or she is talking about, but i guess you don't have much experience there. Why don't you go ask the japanese for a start?

I seem to recall jadedeath confining his comments to the last 60 years; what have we done to the japanese in the last 60 years? Well, wrote their constitution, rebuilt their country, and allowed them to grow in to the second largest economy on the planet (btw, we're #1 still, FYI). ya, shame on us, sorry Tojo. The only thing here that is "disgustingly offensive" is your soft cry-baby bleeding heart. Try thinking with your head, it is much better suited to the work. As the Chopper would say, " HARDEN THE **** UP!" Haggling is a third world practice. Why? because it occurs most commonly IN THE THIRD WORLD!

Back to the original topic: Haggling over prices.

Good luck. At full list prices TV's typically have between 20-35% profit (most is when a new model is released). "Video" equipment (DVD, BD, etc) is typically less, usually 15-25%. So, when your local big box store has a sale of $400 off a $2000 list TV, or 20%, the store is not making enough money on the TV already to justify its existance but then you want MORE off? ...LOL. Good luck. It is managerial suicide to take further discount. That said, there are a fair few managers out there (more at CC than BB) that are willing to put their job on the line like that. One side of the coin is that you as a consumer need to do the best for yourself as you can. The other side is that the manager/salesmonkey you're talking to is probably under immense pressure not to let you walk, and by discounting items to make the sale he may very well be losing his job too; you could say you cost someone his job to save yourself $200... feel good? (Note: i do not subscribe to that latter philosophy)

The stores make their money on wires (40%-60%) and speakers (50%-60%) and will usually be willing to discount those to close a deal. As an aside, it boggles my mind why BB devotes 4-8 pages of their weekly add to low margin (and generally low quality) TVs and 1 page or less to high profit audio gear. Any nicer home theater store staff will insist that the audio portion of your system makes up 2/3 of your total viewing experience... so why the hell are pairing a $3000 TV up with a $400 excuse for a sound system? The path to home theater zen (and a successful business) is paved with speakers, processors and amplifiers, not TVs. But i digress...

Know the margins on what you're looking at, you will be able to get very good deals on this stuff. For example, your ~$150 2m M*nster HDMI cable (better picture/sound through advertising!)... it cost the store $60. you can wag that little tid bit in front of the guy if you he offers you only $10 off or some such. What's worse in my opinion is that the lesser quality no-name/store-brand cables are typically 90% profit or better... no joke. One trick that they've tried on me is to offer to throw in my "high-quality" wires only to then hand me a belkin or some other aweful <$10 piece of string. Do not be surprised or offended however if your salesman won't budge on that BD player you want, or the TV that is already on sale.

Lastly, as has been posted previously the sales monkeys have no incentive what so ever to work on your behalf; they get paid regardless. You breaking their balls for a discount will not generally serve any purpose other than pissing off the salesman. Some places the "senior" monkeys have some limited negotiation powers, but usually you will need a manager. Make it clear that you're willing to buy now if the price is right, and be willing to walk away if it isn't. This whole thread is about taking retail to the level of car sales, but if that's what you want, then do it right.