In a perfect world, everything is priced at the most reasonable amount a customer wants to pay and haggling is not necessary, but unfortunately, most of the time the sticker price on products are meant to maximize the profit of the seller. When I first came to American I lived in Hawaii. My parents were graduate students and they worked part time at the tourist shops near Waikiki. Sometimes I would go there and do homework while they worked, and they talked about how much the tokens they sold cost the shop, and how much they charged the tourists. Most notably, my mother sold many fanny packs with tropical prints that cost $4.00 each wholesale. She was able to sell them for anywhere from $40.00 to $90.00 to tourists all around the world. She basically taught me that no matter where you are, you have to get the lowest price as you can as a buyer, and get the highest price you can as a seller. Since we are Chinese, we are very familiar with negotiating for a better offer when it comes to purchasing things, and it really surprised us that most people do not question the pricetags in America. It seems that culturally Americans are not accustomed to asking for discounts, and some people are even embarrassed to do so. From my experience, most sellers are willing to yield to the customer and give discounts if the customer just asked politely. There is really no shame in it, and on big ticket items you could save thousands of dollars by simply opening your mouth. Anyway, here are some stories from my family and I hope that they demonstrate why you should always ask for a better deal:

pfizer viagra free samples — A few years ago I went to Macy’s with my dad, and he really liked a couple pairs of shoes which were already on sale. He tried them on and decided to buy them. He went up to the saleslady and asked, if I buy both pair of shoes could I get a discount? The saleslady actually was really nice and smiled and took 10% off. He didn’t have to sign up for any cards or deals and he bought the shoes. So you can haggle at department stores.

pfizer viagra free samples — Recently my fubby and I went couch shopping for our new apartment. We decided to buy a leather sectional with a sticker price of $1799. I said to my fubby, “Lets see if they can give us a better price.” The fubby said, “okay, you do the talking. I know you’re shameless.” So all I said was, “what is the best price you could give us on that couch there?” The lady recognized us from a previous visit and actually cut down the price to $1499. If we didn’t ask at all they would’ve just sold it to us for $1799.

pfizer viagra free samples– My parents bought their first home in the East Bay back in 1999. It’s kind of funny because we moved to the Bay Area from Hawaii, and real estate in Hawaii was much more expensive than the Bay Area back then. So my parents thought everything was so cheap around here and found a house we all really loved after months of searching. So did my parents get into a bidding war for the home? Nope. They offered for slightly lower than the asking price. After the offer was accepted, my mom wrote another letter to the sellers about the condition of the carpets, and reduced the price a little more. I personally think that the American culture of not haggling contributed to the housing bubble at least a little bit. The artificial housing bidding wars of the past few years really inflated housing prices and in turn people had to borrow more money. What if everyone negotiated and offered reasonably? The current mortgage melt down might not be so bad if the fundamental housing price wasn’t driven up so much.

My fubby hates haggling because he thinks it’s a waste of time and he doesn’t really mind paying more. I agree with him that there is no point in negotiating prices for groceries or very small things. However, when you are purchasing something as large as a car or a home then you should never pay the full asking price. Negotiations may take time, but they can be as simple as asking, “What is the best price you could give me?” If the seller is obstinate and don’t give you a discount, you don’t lose anything, but if the seller opens up negotiations you could be saving some of your hard earned money. I really see haggling as a win-win situation for the consumer, and I hope more people just invest a few minutes in saving their money through haggling.

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