This post was mentioned on Twitter by brokeinthecity: Haggling: Who does it? http://bit.ly/bLMeVI #money #fb…

You always have a choice about letting go of your cash money – unless your getting robbed of course!

Great Post!

If I’m shopping at a big box mart, I’ll ask for a discount if an item is damaged but fixable (missing a button, wobbly leg). I’ll also ask if a part is missing (belt that goes with pants missing). Especially if its the last thing in my size/last item in stock. I work at American Eagle and we’ll discount a damaged item by 10%, but the drawback there is that the item is NOT returnable. Some people will go for this, some would rather pay full price and take the item that isn’t damaged.

I even haggle on things like rent. If I happen to know through some research that one apartment is renting for a higher price than comparable apartments in the area, I’ll ask the landlord if there’s any way they could come down on rent. That gets more tricky though, because some buildings will offer more amenities than others, and some are just nicer than others. That’s a case where I’d ask where that extra rent is going, and why it helps to make this particular building better to live in. Also, some landlords will reduce rent if you provide a service for them, like snow removal or lawn care. Never hurts to ask.

As far as more independent stores go, haggling is a given, I think. Especially when buying a grouping of items. Most merchants (at least in my area) are more than willing to give you a deal for buying more than one of something, especially if they form a set. Some are willing to take things out of a set and sell it to you for a reduced price. For instance you want FB’s necklace and earrings. They’re selling them separate anyways. You ask to have them split. They’ll do it, but like FB said, it would be a reduction of maybe 2 or 3 dollars – not that much but still savings. Or if you only wear one earring, some places are willing to split up sets.

Like I said, it never hurts to ask, even if you get turned down. Sometimes like a previous poster said, they’re already pretty underpriced in terms of cost to produce.