Now more than ever, everything's negotiable.
Thanks to the slow economy, Americans are asking for -- and usually getting -- lower prices on a wide variety of goods and services.
A new poll by Consumer Reports found that more than 66 percent of Americans have tried to negotiate a better deal in the past six months, usually with great success.
The item in the survey with the most price flexibility was hotels: 83 percent of those who asked for a better rate got one.
"People have a very high success rate with hotels because if they don't rent that night, they don't get anything," says Greg Daugherty, executive editor of Consumer Reports.
Eighty-one percent of those who haggled over cell-phone bills or clothing were successful. And more than 70 percent of those who asked for better prices on clothing, jewelry, new cars, airfares, appliances, electronics and furniture got them.
Hagglers were successful 62 percent of the time with credit-card fees and 58 percent with medical bills.
Although they weren't in the survey, cable companies are well known for dealing, especially if you threaten to jump to a competitor.
Linda Feehan of Kentfield, Calif., says that when she signed up for Comcast's bundled service in 2007, it was $99 per year before taxes. "The next year, they tried to raise it to $138. I got it down to $113.95," she says. "This past year they tried to raise it to $149. Now I'm getting it for $129.99. And they threw in an extra cable box and high-definition."
In this economy, "you would be hard-pressed" to find something that is not negotiable, Daugherty says.
"At high-end stores, they are trying hard not to get into this game because it goes against their branding," he says. But if you can pull a supervisor out of earshot of other customers, you might be able to strike a deal. The best time to bargain is late in the month, when salespeople might be trying to meet quotas, or during slow hours, when they have more time to talk.
If the price is already rock-bottom, the seller might not be able to cut it more but will throw in free delivery, installation or accessories.
Daugherty, who is remodeling his kitchen and laundry, got a better price on a washer and dryer by offering to buy both at the same time. "In the case of our kitchen cabinets, they didn't come down on price but they did haul away the old ones for nothing. That was worth a few hundred dollars," he says.
Many hate bargaining because "they fear rejection and embarrassment. In this environment, you are more likely to succeed. And people expect it," Daugherty says.
Erica Kain of Pleasant Hill, Calif., who buys most things secondhand these days, agrees. "People are more willing to make deals now," she says. And when she's selling things her daughters have outgrown, "I'm the same way."
Kain says she "used to be horrible" at haggling but has improved, thanks to her husband's guidance. "I learned the value of the silent pause," she says. "I have learned to figure out how much I'm willing to pay, make an offer and then sit there. The mistake is if you keep babbling." If you start giving reasons why you should pay less, "they can argue you out of it."
She recently bought some cloth diapers on eBay. She told the seller, "I have this much in my PayPal account. That's all I'm willing to spend, including shipping." She got them.
Sandra Leyva of San Leandro, Calif., also has become a better bargainer since becoming an event planner at the University of California-Berkeley. "When I first got here, I was kind of timid. It was hard to ask" vendors for a discount, she says.
What she learned is that "you have to be armed with the knowledge of what it is you are trying to get. Do a comparison. Get on the Internet." When you make an offer, "come in with information, notes, documentation. If you go in and you are not informed, the people are going to say, 'Are you kidding me?' "
Leyva took that approach recently when she was planning a high-school graduation luncheon for her son. The first place she visited wanted to charge extra for a separate room (really a room divider), tax and gratuity, drinks and cutting the cake she brought in. It also offered a fixed menu for each price point. The final tab would have been $1,700 for 60 people.
When that place was unwilling to negotiate, she kept shopping for one that was. She finally found a restaurant that was willing to charge a flat fee of $1,200. It even let her choose four entree options.
"I haggled, but it was in a fashion where I wasn't trying to take advantage of her business. I was trying to be realistic," she says.
Consumer Reports offers more tips for getting a deal:
-- Be patient and be nice. Demanding a discount rarely works. It's harder to resist a smile than tough talk.
-- Read the ticket. Inventory tags often contain date stamps that tell how long an item has been in the store. A salesperson might help you locate and decipher the code. Retailers are often more willing to cut the price on merchandise that has been on the sales floor for a long time, the magazine says.
-- Offer to pay cash. That saves the merchant transaction fees on credit-card purchases.
-- Be ready to walk. "The most persuasive weapon you have in your haggling arsenal is your ability to walk away and spend your money someplace else," it says.
(E-mail Kathleen Pender at kpender(at)sfchronicle.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
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