Most people don’t bother trying this, but it often works like a charm. Just asking a simple question like “is that the best price you can do”, or “can you take $50 off that if we pay in cash right now” often results in a 5-10% discount.

If you use your credit card, merchants pay around 5% in charges. If you pay cash they should always give at least 5% discount.

I agree that this type of strategy may not work well in larger stores such as Wal-Mart or anywhere else where the cashier is powerless to help close the deal. You might just need to ask someone else. If you can ask the department manager or store manager directly it would be worth trying for a better price whenever you are purchasing large quantities, clearance items or floor models.

Typical store employees will have no leverage and seldom care about the store’s bottom line, so this approach works best in two situations:

1. When you are dealing with store management/owner, i.e. someone who cares about the store’s bottom line and thus has a business interest in completing the sale, or

2. When you are dealing with a commissioned saleserson, i.e. someone who has a personal interest in completing the sale

I have had fantastic luck doing this at larger electronics stores such as Best Buy. It works particularly well when purchasing discounted open box items. It has worked so well for us over the years that whenever we are shopping for a bigger ticket item (laptops, televisions, stereos, iPods, etc.) we always check what sort of open box items are available before we even consider anything else.

Original idea for this post courtesy of Adventures in Money Making: Join an engineer in his search for passive cashflow and his quest to gain freedom from the 9-to-5 job.