Even though most of us transact by card these days, there are times when a bit of cash can come in handy. Turn your attention to the rugged looking guy in the riding coat which in no way would I wish you to think in anyway depicted Oldmovieguy, I gave up smoking years ago. But rather look at the coat which is from the Marlboro ‘Classic’ range and is called a riding coat. Since the weather turned a bit nasty on us a few weeks ago I realised my old coat was just not up to the job as it was a bit light weight, ok for summer and the odd shower but not much cop in a blizzard. So I went of to seek the Australian ‘drizabone’ coat but something about it did not quite fit, so I left it. Then a friend told me about the Marlboro range and after a bit of a ‘google’ found a stockist. The coat you see is the coat I bought and very pleased with it I am indeed. It’s warm, stylish, waterproof in the extreme and, being 6’4″, keeps 90% of me dry.
But to the point of the blog, apart from me passing meself of as a rough and rugged outdoor type hewn from granite and teak. The price of the garment was a tad OTT in my opinion and I suggested as much to the salesman. If he had shrugged his shoulders and clammed up that would have been that but I had timed my visit to be one hour before closing on a Wednesday, which is usually the slowest day of the week. He hemmed and hawed a bit and dropped the price a bit and I feigned indifference, said I would think about it and walked smartly out. I took a coffee and visited a cash point drawing enough cash to cover what I felt was a fair price, and put this cash in my pocket away from the rest of my cash and cards, this is important. At Fifteen minutes before closing I returned and asked to try it on again, which I did so, pulling an assortment of faces in the mirror as I picked and fiddled with the coat and not showing much enthusiasm. I took it off and went to pick up my other coat as if to leave and it was then he said what I had been waiting for, ‘let me see what I can do with the price sir’, and he started to fiddle with his calculator and gave me a price which was OK but I like to haggle. I hesitated and then drew out the cash, his eyes lit up and his mind banked the sale. I then said that I would pay cash rather than use a card so that would save him the card fee and then handed him the cash, as he took I told him how much was there and he looked a bit hesitant, so I urged him to take it saying it was worth it for the both of us, he hesitated again so I pickup my coat, took back the cash and headed for the door saying sorry we could not do business. Before I made it to the door he was by my side saying he would bag the coat up and holding his hand out for the cash, which I happily gave him. So pick your moment, use a little bit of theatre, and you too could be walking away with something you want at a price that suits.
Boadicea's Chariot 
After all those years in the Far East, I always haggle – my daughters hate shopping with me 🙂
Same here bravo, I’ve had Mrsoldmovie walk out before now, strange creatures women.
Bravo: I’m with your daughters on that one. I hate haggling but the menfolk will persistent with this tactic 🙂
Araminta
I was trained as a salesman in the old school, Standard Triumph at Coventry. Haggling is just selling in reverse, can’t help it.
I understand this, OMG and my husband is the same. He even continued to haggle in a shop when after an hour, our very small daughter, only recently potty trained, decided she had had enough and peed all over the carpet.
Well, yes, it did cramp his style somewhat, but he still walked out with the “whatever it was” at a good price but he did reckon he could have done better without the “help” 🙂
I haggle over plants as it is a market I know well.
But I don’t haggle much, just tell them the fair price and offer it in cash, take it or leave it.
One wins some and loses some. Can’t do the beating about the bush.
Sorry about that!
I find it excruciatingly difficult to haggle.
When can I book your services, please OMG?
I learnt long ago to never buy anything without attempting to reduce the price, even in the UK or Australia. A discount for cash? For buying more than one article at the same time? After all, the worst they can say is “No”, and it’s surprising how often they say “Yes” and take 5% or more off.
Boadicea was originally reluctant, but she is an experienced veteran now. She survived markets in Egypt without being ripped off, and acquired several things during her time in China without paying tourist prices. She reckons she ended up paying no more than twice what a local might pay – and that’s without any Mandarin beyond “Hello” and “thank you”!
pseu 1
No need to feel embarrassed. For starters next time you’re buying a fairly expensive item (pair of shoes, handbag, clothes ?) just tell them you want 10% off and be prepared to walk away. You’d be surprised how easy it is after the first couple of times. It’s really good fun.
Jazz – that’s the thing, one has to be prepared to walk away. It doesn’t sound convincing if you aren’t and you’ll get nowhere!
boadicea
You’re absolutely right you must be prepared to walk away. As an experiment I once tried haggling for something I didn’t really want….a Japanese cranked paring chisel (don’t worry about it). It became so cheap that in the end I had to buy it and it turned out to be quite useful.
I went into an Indonesian market one time. I wanted a piece of their traditional weaving, I really, really wanted it!
I had a rough idea of how much ‘locals’ paid – about £2, which frankly was ridiculous considering how long the thing took to weave – but I certainly was not prepared to pay the original asking price of around £50.
I don’t speak Indonesian so I took a bit of paper and pencil out of my hand-bag and wrote down the equivalent of around £1. The stall holder and I silently passed the bit of paper and pencil backwards and forwards, until I reached the price I was prepared to pay, £6. He shook his head, went to take the paper, but I made a great show of beginning to return the paper to my handbag…
At which point he nodded and there was a huge sigh behind me… about 30 odd people had been watching the transaction and I hadn’t noticed a thing!
I’m still not sure that I would actually have walked away – but I did manage to convince him that I would, which was all that mattered.