Haggling in stores

I have only ever tried haggling at Macy*s since once they gave me 15% off when they saw something wrong with a garment. I usually don't bother unless something is actually wrong with it though.

I work once a week in a shoe store which sells brands like Clarks, Florsheim, Mephisto, etc.

I see hagglers every time I work. I personally think it tarnishes your image if you really try haggling. It makes the person look cheap.

A lot of good people don't mind paying the extra premium for good customer service.

I hate haggling. My mother is a beast at it though. I've always felt haggling was okay for open markets not stores.

As for 25 years, I was an agent for several of the prized Italian tailored clothing brands often mentioned as well as a manufacturer of private label for the creme de la creme of retailors in the US both corporate chains (ie: Neimans, Saks, Barneys, etc) and independents (Louis, Bergdorfs, Korshak, Wilkes, etc). While they complain of high overheads the customary mark-ups range from 2.5 - 3.0 ie what that means is they buy for $1.00 and will initially sell for anywhere from $2.50 - $3.00. Now they all have more rational and justification than you could possibly imagine about the cost of doing business.

But these are the branded items! Private label???????? Buyer be aware, and be educated!

i made my whole living off haggling its exciting to me.. getting a deal.. using your wits to convince someone to lower there price... thrill of the chase.. craigslist? oh my.. being the one with the green.. and being able to walk.. no emotions.. as for stores like saks or neimans.. yea.. they have prices that they can lower down too.. its the sells guy who takes the commission hit.. if hes having a bad day or needs sells.. but also.. if he is qualified he will show no emotion and let you walk.. esp if he believes in his product.. but.. there is nothing in saks or neimans that i would even buy at 50% off.. a kiton suit for 5400$ guy sells to me for 50% off.. does me no good.. i cant resell it and make $$

i will go into off-saks and haggle there.. 2 years ago they had a over stock of salvatore ferragamo ties.. priced at 49.99 i think.. they were all the unique ones.. with ducks and rabbits all that other fancy stuff.. i asked the floor guy how many they had.. he said they had about 400-500 total.. i talked to the manager.. told him i would take them all for $25 each.. ended up being 400 ties.. 10k people start to think.. he goes in back.. few min later says yes.. we did a sale that was going to go on off a 50% off card he found.. then he goes.. wanna open a saks account and save 10%? i was like.. 1k for a credit hit.. sure.. i moved them all on ebay.. donno if u guys remember that.. i avg like $44 a tie before commissions.. took me a month to move them all.. and.. i never fronted a dollar.. saks loaned me the money on there card, that was the 10% deal.. and it was paid off in full when the bill arrived..

some people are just to proud to ask.. some arent..

on the flip side.. i also own a franchise business.. a haagen-dazs.. 2 of them in fact.. we dont haggle.. because i dont work there.. but if i was behind the counter and could close more sells... i would.. ohh.. and yes.. i did haggle to buy the franchises

you dont have to lie or make up stories to haggle.. you can do it honest and with a straight face..

parisvegas

and remember too.. saks, neimans.. if anyone reads the wall street journal.. they dont own the products.. the are on a totally different system with the vendors.. its not even like a +30 day like the standard.. saks got busted last year because they would lie to Ferre Spa and have them keep lowering the cost basis... then they would sell at full pop and say they discounted it.. took a while for the companies to catch on.. but saks took alot of heat.. look it up in google..

There are HUGE mark-up margins with apparel, and comparitively non-existent on automobiles, home entertainmet, and home appliances.

As I have been out of the business for several years, and not sure of current European wholesale pricing. When Canali was at it's peak their opening range Super 100's Serge/Gab was $395.00 (Cost) for a 3 piece suit and the average retail was $995.00 !!!

The same margins were used on Armani, Zegna, etc. The more obscure upper end brands that were NOT available in Department / Chain type Corporate Stores were whatever the market will bear. The biggest money makers were ties.... Italian ties from the Lake Como region were sold for private label ties in the range of $15 - $25 and regularly sold between $95 - $135. I have NO problem asking for a better price. I do however do it politely, and without fanfare quitely.

^^^ an inspiring story. Whenever I am in need of retail therapy I will go to Nordy Rack and sometimes buy 1k in ties and sell them on this forum. I pay retail but sometimes there are good deals. Some of the ties I break even on just in the spirit of SF. But it is fun to do. I've never tried haggling at Nordy Rack though one time I told a clerk there was a small hole in a sweater so he put a 25% sticker on it, easy as that.

Ah, but do you haggle with your tailor over bespoke?

there is a limit to what u haggle over.. bespoke and then the guy does a half ass job... i did it with dry cleaning once... and learned my lesson.. u get what u pay for.. so make sure its already made!

Originally Posted by parisvegas

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i made my whole living off haggling

its exciting to me.. getting a deal.. using your wits to convince someone to lower there price... thrill of the chase.. craigslist? oh my.. being the one with the green.. and being able to walk.. no emotions.. as for stores like saks or neimans.. yea.. they have prices that they can lower down too.. its the sells guy who takes the commission hit.. if hes having a bad day or needs sells.. but also.. if he is qualified he will show no emotion and let you walk.. esp if he believes in his product.. but.. there is nothing in saks or neimans that i would even buy at 50% off.. a kiton suit for 5400$ guy sells to me for 50% off.. does me no good.. i cant resell it and make $$

i will go into off-saks and haggle there.. 2 years ago they had a over stock of salvatore ferragamo ties.. priced at 49.99 i think.. they were all the unique ones.. with ducks and rabbits all that other fancy stuff.. i asked the floor guy how many they had.. he said they had about 400-500 total.. i talked to the manager.. told him i would take them all for $25 each.. ended up being 400 ties.. 10k people start to think.. he goes in back.. few min later says yes.. we did a sale that was going to go on off a 50% off card he found.. then he goes.. wanna open a saks account and save 10%? i was like.. 1k for a credit hit.. sure.. i moved them all on ebay.. donno if u guys remember that.. i avg like $44 a tie before commissions.. took me a month to move them all.. and.. i never fronted a dollar.. saks loaned me the money on there card, that was the 10% deal.. and it was paid off in full when the bill arrived..

some people are just to proud to ask.. some arent..

on the flip side.. i also own a franchise business.. a haagen-dazs.. 2 of them in fact.. we dont haggle.. because i dont work there.. but if i was behind the counter and could close more sells... i would.. ohh.. and yes.. i did haggle to buy the franchises

you dont have to lie or make up stories to haggle.. you can do it honest and with a straight face..

parisvegas

That's awesome! It's like you're drug dealing, except with clothes.

I'm surprised to hear that the markup for high end garments is only 300%. I know someone that works for a jeans manufacturer down in Central America. They make jeans for Wrangler, Lee, etc. He says he sells jeans to retailers in the U.S. for $1 to $2 a piece, who then mark it up 10 times.

Basically haggling is difficult to me and I dont like it- but in my experience its much easier with ppl who also produce what they sell than with those who are mere employees...course there are discounts and stuff but I actually dont feel comfy with those and esp. then either the company affiliation of the subordinate or the greed of the in-between merchant comes forth; I dislike that modernistic sales-attitude basically. So I recommend to buy clothes at a bespoke tailor and watches at a watch maker. (well, ideally.)

Parisvegas, now that's what I call haggling!

One very annoying aspect of haggling on Craigslist.. I'll have someone agree to pay me the asking price, they'll meet me, and then start haggling. They think they have leverage because I'd be wasting my time if I don't sell. Sometimes I take the offer, other times I tell them to go fly a kite. But it's annoying when the deal has been made and they haggle.

HomerJ

Clearly they do not know what they are doing if they negotiate over the phone.. then meet.. i did it a few weeks ago on craigslist.. was a quick profit deal.. guy had 475 dvd movies.. all grade A titles.. well we all know with commissions u cant sell dvds on ebay (that is actually my roots of ebay career cd's and dvd's) anyways he wanted 3$ a movie ($1500 and NO LESS).. he has been getting emails and calls all day from shop owners at $2 a movie and just frustrated when he paid 10-15 each for these like they are embarrassing him.. i do not discuss any money on the phone.. i go over there with the pure intent to buy them at $2 a movie.. it was just for kicks.. i had $1000 in pocket.. then another $240 seperated in my friends wallet in groups of $40's.. just depending on if and how many boxed sets or disney he had.. he had some pretty good movies.. some still sealed.. i hit him at 1000.. he was like ughh.. now i pull out the 1000.. which is nice.. lots of 20's followed by some 100's.. need a stack.. my friend had the 240, i made the motion to be only able to find 3 stacks.. we came out with $1120 and that was all the cash we had.. take it or leave it.. on the way home i dropped the dvd's off to a amazon reseller for $1800... i got to keep the racks too 2.40 a movie.. several boxed sets.. just the emotion.. the silence in the air.. for some reason u offer them a price and u just stand there and look so confused and KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT for 60-120+ seconds or until he breaks..

Originally Posted by jtsouth

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Anyone try to bargain on Savile Row?

You could try. They will tell you very diplomatically to look at another fabric book or a cheaper fabric but I don't believe they will reduce prices for workmanship. They know they aren't going for volume sales like abercrombie, and really those Savile Row firms aren't making all that much.