Edit: few things:
* Most important of all - don't be a dick. Be friendly, honest and don't waste people's time
* If you can, hold of your purchase until you get the deal you're looking for. When I got my macbook, I when to a number of places and in the end got free applecare and a free case.
* If you're buying white/brown goods (except computers), a simple "What price can you do on that?" will almost always see a 10% discount, sometimes way more.
* Some stock is in constant demand, and you'll almost never get a discount. Black mens trousers, for example.
* If something on offer, the person selling it want's to get rid of it, and will most likely negotiate. Best example is food at the end of the day. Walking past a stand discounting the remaining donuts for $6/box, but you've only got $4? Make an offer anyway.
er... think I'l stop before this looks like a post on Lifehacker or something :)
> * Some stock is in constant demand, and you'll almost never get a discount. Black mens trousers, for example.
The flipside is, if you're a guy and you're willing to wear light blue, pink, purple, and yellow, you can get some seriously great buys. You can get very high quality clothes in those colors for dirt cheap sometimes, which is why around half of my wardrobe is bright.
It takes a little aesthetic knowledge so you don't look ridiculous, but everyone should probably learn a little basic aesthetics anyways - it's one of those areas that a tiny bit of knowledge pays huge dividends.
Very true, but how does one go about gaining this knowledge?
Smashing Magazine (which doubles as good for web design).
Study the color wheel, read analyses of ways to use it.
Fashion websites.
Go to lots of museums.
Go to art galleries.
Flip through 2-3 fashion magazines per month at the bookstore.
Read book(s) on how to dress for different functions.
Go to high end stores and try things on.
Talk to artists, designers, architects, painters, etc. about why things look the way they look.
Take some art class, either crafting/doing-based, or art history.
Go with some sort of visual artist to a museum, and ask their thoughts about paintings.
Get a girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other who is an artist.
Any of those would help. The more you layer on, probably the faster you learn.
Also, study fashion/clothing advertisements. Scrutinize and analyze why they chose what they chose... many fashion ads will be regarded as high art in the distant future, because immense amounts of preparation, lighting, setting, and skill goes into making them. Almost anything that's in one is in it for a reason. Look at it and ask, "Why did they choose this? What are they trying to say/portray? Why this background/environment with that sort of clothing?" It's not instant gratification on the last one, but soon you start seeing the patterns. It's kind of beautifully awesome when you do.
Do you have any specific resources or tips on how this relates to clothing? I've done this, and tried to argue my case in color choices based on this, but generally I've been laughed at when I bring this up. (probably because other factors also come into play and I'm about as blind as a mole when it comes to choosing colors).
We're talking about art here more than science, so there's no breakthrough right answer like in mathematics. My experience is that I'm more savvy and I start to notice the patterns, but my skill level isn't high enough that I can lecture on the topic intelligently. It's like, after doing all this stuff I have intuitions when shopping for clothing and dressing, and I tend to get complimented on what I wear, which didn't happen before I studied.
I hate vague answers like that - I wish I could give you something more concrete. It's not the "oh you just have to figure it out" whimsical idealism, it's that I lack the skill to give a more cohesive and concrete explanation... apologies for that. If you know anyone who is an excellent photographer or painter, and is also good at explaining things analytical, they might be able to provide more answers.
One tenet of color theory.
(Experience is a harsh teacher.)
There are potential downsides (if it was his last one he might have missed the chance to sell it for full price, it might be seen as setting a precedent) but generally salesmen understand these and figure them into their reasoning.
What are "white/brown goods"?
Kind of old fashion but based on the typical color of these items (mostly from a couple of decades or more ago: washing machines and fridges are in many colors and A/V stuff is almost always black and/or silver)
According to Wikipedia, it seems to be mostly a UK idiom.
Huh. I've always heard those referred to (on the few rare occasions) as black goods. Maybe it's generational.
Yea, let's lay low. We don't want gnosis thinking we're another gawker site or something.
Got it late one evening early 2009 or late 2008. It's one of the first gen unibody Al macbooks. Conversation was something like
<gentle discussion on price />
"Hang on, let me go check with the boss"
[few minutes later] "We can't drop the price, but if you're willing to buy it right now we can throw in free Applecare and a free case"
"Deal"
This is where price discrimination comes in, and it is staggeringly effective: coupons, sales, discounts, etc etc. The great thing about fixed prices is that there are so many to choose from!
Think of it this way: a rich man is willing to pay up to $10.00 for the chicken breast that his family needs for dinner, but his blue-collar cousin can only afford $6.00 at the most. Had the grocery store only created one line with the price of $8.00, their revenue from these two consumers would be only the rich man's sale, 8 dollars. If, on the other hand, the store had two lines, one for $5 and one for $10, they can make 15 dollars from these two shoppers!
Hope that clears it up.
They almost certainly get more money.
They are selling the budget chickens to the budget customers at a profit. They are getting the same chickens at a larger profit to other people.
Even where I live (Melbourne, Australia) a very non bargaining place, some restaurant districts have bargaining cultures. If you play your cards right, you can get wine and dessert thrown in if you order the steak, site by the window before the dinner rush (makes the restaurant look full).
My point is that bargaining norms aren't necessarily evolved from necessity, it's often just cultural quirks. This video is poking fun at a particularly quirky subculture.
I am a bit more shifty as I normally have the target place chosen before I even leave home and will try to make sure the maitre d' seeing me chatting to next door so I can play him off against them.
It is all good natured and they expect it.
A near lifelong citizen of Fitzroy and Brunswick, I've noticed that locals have shifted heavily away from Lygon St - for me, I refuse to eat there simply because even after you've had a satisfying dinner, you can't walk down the street without being accosted by every spruiker you come across. Having to walk a couple of hundred meters continually chanting "no thanks, we just ate, we just ate" takes the shine from a good dinner. I'd rather pay for dessert and wine than run the spruiker gauntlet...
spruiker:
(Australian) One who promotes his own cause; one who toots their own horn.
(figurative) A person standing outside a place of business trying to persuade patrons to enter, or vigourously trying to persuade customers to purchase a their wares (ie. a fruiterer calling out the price of bananas)
then there's the gauntlet of death down the other end. we generally walk the back streets to avoid the spruikers
This is why always asking for a discount is worth it.
Historically, the consumer experience is actually the exception, not b2b. Up until fairly recently it was standard practice to haggle for everything you buy. It's only the rise of the middle class and of huge companies that sell goods/services to millions that brought about this new idea of fixed prices that aren't open to negotiation.