I’m a naturally shy person so haggling with people over the cost of something is so not my style but I know that there’s money to be saved by haggling over a price so I try. Today I’m going to share my top tips on how to haggle and save money – no matter how uncomfortable you are with it at first.
Do Your Research so you know what is a good deal and what isn’t!
Arm yourself with advertisements, comparable pricing elsewhere and be educated on the product or service that you’re trying to haggle down to save money. Knowing your facts about the pricing elsewhere as well as what the value is will go a long way when haggling
Be realistic and don’t go in crazy low
A cheeky offer is acceptable but beware that you don’t cause offence by going in with a ridiculously low offer and trying to stand your ground. Take Facebook selling sites as an example, I had something up for sale for £20 which was worth double that really but someone sent me a message and offered me £7. I politely declined and gave a counter offer of £17 and the lady replied to say she had £7 left in her purse but would come and collect straight away if I sold her it for £7. Again, I declined but this time I didn’t give her a counter offer, I just said no thank you and within a couple of minutes I’d sold the item for £16. The £7 lady came back to me about ten minutes later to say she’d borrowed an extra £5 from her neighbour so could stretch to £12 and I took great pleasure in letting her know that the item had been sold.
Be kind to the person you’re dealing with – they’re just doing their job
Your first step to ensure your haggling efforts works is to be kind. No one wants to haggle with someone who’s rude and demanding. Learn to be kind and use your manners when you start haggling someone for a better deal- the nicer you are, the more someone will want to do for you.
Be confident (or at least act it)
Don’t shy away from the person you’re trying to haggle with. They are highly unlikely to accept your first offer so be confident and don’t let their no throw you off your game – there’s still a good deal to be had!
Time it right where you can
If you’re going to go into some serious haggling with a salesperson, you’ll want to go at the beginning or end of the day as, when I was doing my research, they seem to be the best times of day to grab yourself a deal.
Dial down your excitement
If you really want something that you’re trying to haggle down to save money, don’t show your excitement. The salesperson will know right away how interested you are in this item and be less likely to work with you on being talked down to a lower price.
Work your new-found haggle and save skills into your everyday life
Once you’ve mastered the skills to haggle and save money on everyday items, you can start to haggle your monthly bills. Call any places that you owe money and keep talking, haggle them down to a settlement deal or a better monthly rate and watch as your monthly bills are lowered quickly.
There are many areas in life where you can haggle and save money.
The best place to start is with your purchases is somewhere like your local Facebook selling site or even at a car boot sale. From there you can start to haggle with salespeople at a local shop and move onto haggling with your monthly bill holders to gain access to a world full of savings.
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