How do you negotiate prices at a furniture store?

[hollytheteacher]

There are a few furniture stores around here that we've visited and right when we walked in the door they have mentioned things like "the price tag sticker is not the final price, feel free to talk to us about lowering it" etc.

We are not yet ready to buy ( we are following dave ramsey and getting out of debt, but once we are I am saving up to buy a new bed), but for when we are, how do you KNOW for certain you are getting the very best price...

Does anyone here have good negotiating skills? What is the best way to do it?

[ChetMC]

Negotiatin

Can you talk to people who have bought things there? The places that I know of that negotiate price have a bit of a reputation for how much they will come down.

For example, my uncle had an idea what the rock bottom price was at one store. He walked in with that much cash for what he wanted, and said "this is how much cash I've got, I'll walk out of here today with the mattress if you'll sell it to me for this."

It also costs businesses to use credit cards, so make it clear that you're interested in the cash price.

[mom0810]

I have never negotiated price on furniture. Didn't know you could. We just bought a new sectional sofa and that would have been good to know.

[Kristine233]

My husband is a pro haggler, he learned it from his dad. My FIL wont even buy a car unless they haggle the price and throw in free mats and baseball hats or some other freebies, lol. I don't think it really just applies to furniture, I think it applies to anything.

We shop around first and know what we want and what things are priced for at various shops. We also check out sales and discounts at other stores and watch to see what their discount trend is. Then go into the store you want to buy it from and tell them its priced as XYZ at the other store or you say such and such on sale recently at their store, are they willing to knock anything off. If you purchase multiple items at once they are even more willing to adjust the price. %10 is common.

As an example: we recently did this with our computer purchase. We knew we wanted 2 aluminum Macbooks, a great investment. They are pretty expensive at $1300 a piece so we wanted the best deal we could get. We looked around and knew we wanted to buy in person to save on shipping. We also knew Apple offers a student discount but we have no Apple store here. We called Best Buy and told them we were driving an hour and a half to their store to purchase 2 computers. (which we were, we live in the middle of no-where) We wanted to make sure there was a manager on duty in that section and that they had what we needed in stock. When we showed up the manager greeted us as we walked in and assisted us with the entire process. He gave us Apple's educational discount on our computers (something not offered by Best Buy), had our monitor-adapters over-nighted to us at no extra charge (they were out and that was a deal-breaker for me). We then talked about MobileMe and how it would be awesome for us and our busy family. We then walked over to the printers and decided we needed a new wireless printer. The printer rep was in the store and between him and the manager who sat there and haggled between themselves we ended up with basically a free year of MobileMe and a discount on the printer as well. We told them we couldn't justify the cost of both and they both wanted the sale so they made it work so it was only like paying for one. Then, with the Best Buy rewards points from that purchase we got the cost our our Office software for school mostly paid for in our next visit. We had the best customer service with that visit too, the manager was awesome. But we basically called ahead and said "Hey, I'm coming in and wanting to spend a good chunk of money. Treat me right and we'll spend more."

[1growingsprout]

DH and I decide on what we want and how much we want to spend. A bit of research online for actual costs etc will get you loads of info. It seems this day and age everyone is running some type of sale so you really need to know the true price vs the sale price.
For example I occasionally shop at Kohls store but EVERYTHING is 30% off.. so the pricetag is not reflectice of the selling price IMO.... When something goes 50% off at Kohls IMO its really only 20% off the regular selling price.(approx)

[pitter_patter]

Rather than thinking about the "best price" for an item, I focus on what I'm comfortable paying.

[lovebug]

you do it much like you would a car. i have saved our family 1,000s upon 1,000s. i negotiate EVERYTHING and i do mean EVERYTHING!!! electronics, groceries, jewelry, clothes, furniture, cars bedding, you name it and i have gotten the price down.

1. i always do my research. i know what i can get the same or close to the same idem for at other stores or online.

2. i always use cash
3.i always deal with the manager or the like and cut out the middle man
4. i always ask to see invoice as to what THEY paid for the idem... this woks well for cars.
5.i always go in KNOWING my bottom line. i will not pay a cent more for it!
6. if they cant meet my needs i move on!

i will tell you a great line is "wow that is expensive" lots of the time when i use that line the sales person does all the work for me and most of the time they fall below what i was thinking and if they dont i say it again at the counter offer.

even if the come back at my price that i was thinking in my head (NEVER GIVE YOUR BOTTOM LINE) i will ask for more to make sure i am getting the best price. depending on the price i will come in accordingly lower...

hope this helps if i think of more i will post again

can you tell, i LOVE to get a good price!

oh... and you cant be afraid! you have to know that NO MATTER what the sell it to you for they are making a profit! so just know you are not taking any food off any ones table you are just putting more on yours!

[lovebug]

oh... and you will have to let us know how it goes at what you tactic was