Good deals, better deals

[Kent Turb0]

Deleted

[Shane Martin]

1. Pay with Cash. It's much easier for dealers to deal with cash than credit cards plus they have to pay the fee on CC's.

2. Start low and work your way up to a point where you are willing to pay. If the dealer bends, then you're good.

3. Be prepared to walk away and give the guy your number. Dealers won't turn down money in hand.

4. If he stresses he can't come down, advise that you would like to know what he is offering above and beyond what any other dealer would offer to get you to pay that price. This is where freebies like cables and stands come into play.

This works for cars BTW also.

[aud19]

Yup those are the main points :T

A few others to add:

-You should ALWAYS be able to get at least 10-15% off of sticker which leads me to point two...

-Do your homework. Try to find out dealer markup and what others have paid. Doing a lot of homework on researching gear also means the salesmen has less work. As a salesmen would you rather sell a $500 item marked up to $1000 for $950 after 1 hour of work or for $750 after 5-10 minutes...?

-Practice

[Azeke]

Kent,

Both of these gentlemen have very good points.

Also, other things to consider:

1) Exchange policy-usually one year depending on dealer and equipment.
2) Replacement/repair/warranty policy-
3) Quality of Service- I am willing to pay a little more for my equipment if you treat me well, see #1 and #2, etc.
4) Ensure whatever policies are available that you have them in writing.
5) Never let them see you sweat 8) .
6) Everything is negotiable.
7) Price matching.

My quick thoughts, good luck.

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[Clive]

However, please remember that businesses can only pay their staff and overheads from the profits. The cost price + some tax is paid back to the distributor, so do not expect to get 20% off the sticker. They are in business to stay in business no matter how often you shop at that particular store :T

[gd]

Also / however / furthermore...

There are a fair number of retailers who will not discount, period... it's also good to have a Plan B -- i.e., be willing to walk away, and consider a completely different make of equipment... and state that willingness to your retailers.

Another way to leverage a bigger discount is to purchase more than one item from a single retailer (assuming they carry items you want)... if it's apparent you're trying to trying to get out with a big discount on a single mid-price item and won't be seen again in the near future, retailers won't give much, understandably.

Be willing to be flexible, and most retailers should respond likewise.

Otherwise, do your homework on specs and features... try to gain at least as much information as the guys on the salesfloor have.

[aud19]

However, please remember that businesses can only pay their staff and overheads from the profits. The cost price + some tax is paid back to the distributor, so do not expect to get 20% off the sticker. They are in business to stay in business no matter how often you shop at that particular store :T

A LOT of AV stuff has close to 100% markup, (sometimes even more than 100% markup, sometimes less) in which case there's a lot of room to bargain Speakers, in general, have at least 100% markup where as TV's have closer to 25%-50% (depending on price bracket).

This brings you back to "doing your homework". Usually with some good investigating you can get a pretty good idea of markup and what a fair price is for you and the dealer so you're not paying too much and they're still making some money Also as I said, the more homework you've done on the product, the less work and time the salesman has to dedicate to you to make the sale whic can tramslate to a better deal. (It allows him to move on to the next client and sale faster and make more money )

[Shane Martin]

and consider a completely different make of equipment... and state that willingness to your retailers

However if what you like is not going to be discounted consider the fact that the price being offered may just be reasonable to you. Do you haggle when you buy gas at the store? If it's a fair price to begin with, then don't let no haggling let you move on to something else. This makes you settle for not what you want.

[Kent Turb0]

Deleted

[KeithM]

*after yapping about why he went from selling Mercedes to Hondas because he likes to "help people", Tony the car dealer Nguyen finally gets to the pricing*

That is almost exactly what happened to my mom. Except she was looking at toyotas, then he moved straight up to new cars, then a new mercades.

Anyways, nice deal on those speakers.