There’s been an interesting thread running over on Money Saving Expert about haggling in high street stores. Although we might think that most stores would not budge oin their prices, the experiences of some of the money savers on Martin Lewis’ message boards suggest that’s not always the case.
The list apparently includes such names as Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Boots, MFI, B&Q, Harrods, Waterstones, Specsavers, Dixons, John Lewis and TK Maxx. It just goes to show that you’ll never know if you can get a discounted price unless you have the bottle to ask!
Sean at Money Swindon posted some tips on how to haggle recently (more tips here), which includes my favourite: “don’t be afraid to walk away. If they want the sale they’ll negotaite”.
The thread on the Money Saving Expert site about haggling is really interesting.
There are also several threads on the site about a new website, called haggle4me.com, which lets shoppers list the things they are about to buy and invite other users to find, or haggle, them a better deal. In return for information about how and where to buy the shopper pays the haggler who finds the biggest saving a fee equal to 20% of the saving. The more the shopper saves the more the haggler earns… everyone’s a winner!
It’s a great idea and a lot of MSE users, including myself, are regulars on the site. Check it out.