I just experienced “Discount Domination,” where luck and skill combine for major savings. Right before school started, I visited a big-name retailer to help a friend buy an office chair. After bouncing in the seats and adjusting the knobs, my friend narrowed it down to just one. Alas, the floor sample was the only one and nothing else was in stock. The tag on the (empty) shelf stated $139.99. Hefty. This is where my useful tricks come in:
1) I asked for reductions because the chair was used. Even though this chair was in pristine and maximum knobby efficiency, others had sat on it. A 10% discount was quoted by the salesperson for the floor sample.
2) I pulled up the store’s official website and got a price quote. Joy! Website listed the same chair at $118.99.
3) I read the store’s policy about in-store pickup. This store had a free in-store pick-up policy. The fastest way to get this information is to add the item to the shopping cart, which will link to pick-up policies and estimated shipping costs.
Now, the trick with these three steps is to use them in the right order. In the first phase of Discount Domination, go after the easiest discounts. We showed interest in the chair and asked for a discount for floor samples. This is the easiest negotiation because it’s quick and painless.
Then, onto the second phase to ask for more complicated discounts. In our case, I loaded the product description on my iPhone and asked to meet the online price. The salesperson took down the details and checked with his manager. Oh, the suspense!
In the end, all three methods had worked. Fifteen minutes later, we got the final price tag to $107.10 (total savings: about $23 or 24%). I wanted to zoom out the store, rolling on the new wheelies.
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