When spending $3000 with a dealer, is it appropriate to ask for a bundle/discount?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Jacob Johnson, Jan 26, 2015.

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  1. I own a biz but myself a estimate a shoot fee and usage license of commercial assignment photography to ad agencies and clients direct but there is no way to have a set price anyway. And every of specs are different. We negotiate back and forth almost every time and it is usually a triple bid situation where they are considering three Photographers. However they don't alway book the lowest bid. I represent 8 artists and it varies so much but I do negotiate
     
  2. You can never ever haggle with an Apple Store but some Apple dealers occasionally offer 5-10%. Apple does however have an education store where items have a slight markdown.
     
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  3. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I respectfully think this is not a good business model for 2015. I think there's a way to compromise and not lose any real money on the deal. I know of dealers with non-discountable brands -- say, McIntosh or Audio Research -- where they'll say, "I can't technically give you a discount on these products, but if you have a trade-in, we'll give you a generous amount for it." Or they'll throw in a couple of hundred dollars worth of audiophile cables and accessories as an incentive. If this is a $3000+ deal, $200' worth of free cables is tiddlywinks, especially if the dealer cost is $100. And send a guy over to help install the system for an hour. That cost is negligible and worth a huge amount in terms of good will.

    If an audio dealer wouldn't budge on price, I think the consumer would be within their rights to whip out his or her iPhone and buy the exact same products over the net.

    I know of cases where people have walked into Mercedes dealers with cash and hammered the dealer on a $120,000 S550 coupe. Generally, the dealer will say, "hey, I can't discount it, but I'll throw in a 5-year extended warranty and free loaners worth $5000." Everything is negotiable.

    I have walked out of car dealerships with dealers dragging on my leg when I wasn't happy with the deal. I don't fight, I don't argue, I just leave. And I'm perfectly willing to compromise; I just won't settle for zero discount.

    Yep. In that Mercedes example I cited, I know a guy who brought in a Halliburton case filled with $100K in cash, and he told the salesman, "I'll let you keep the case, too." The dealer gulped and did the deal.
     
    The FRiNgE, GuildX700, Ash76 and 2 others like this.
  4. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Apple is the exception. They just posted their sales figures this week and they were through the roof. But I just bought an iPhone 6 a month ago and got a huge discount, so go figure. On a new Mac Pro or new iPad... not so much.
     
  5. googlymoogly

    googlymoogly Forum Resident

    People are funny...so this merchant won't make good a single bottle when you've bought whole cases of the stuff from him? Bad, bad business practice.

    My grandfather was a savvy small-town merchant, and was good for years at getting along with his customers, in constant good-humored negotiation. Give up a little here and there, in return for customer goodwill and repeat business. In his old age, he became very crotchety, and ran what had been a profitable business into the ground by foregoing the very negotiating principles he'd worked with for years.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2015
  6. We have things that we throw in that don't really cost our budiness anything, but have high perceived value amongst our buyers. I teach my guys to give these things, but always get something back in return (commitment to get a deal done by "x" date, willingness to give a public endorsement, etc).

    My point, if I have a point, is that people constantly expecting a discount on price causes sellers to over-inflate the price for everyone. Maybe the extreme hagglers win here, but everyone else loses and it can create toxic business relationships. Personally, I'd prefer to find a dealer I like and want to enrich.
     
  7. Ash76

    Ash76 Wait actually yeah no

    Agreed and it can cheapen your brand if it's always perceived as discounted
     
  8. gojira

    gojira Active Member

    Location:
    Kathmandu, Nepal
    I have been lucky enough to have always gotten all of my equpment at below retail cost without me having to buy online. I have always established friendly relations with certain dealers and in-turn have always given me gear at very good prices. Though I may haggle, I do end up getting a good deal and the dealer in-turn does get the sale and win me over as a regular and repeat customer.
     
    TommyTunes likes this.
  9. T'mershi Duween

    T'mershi Duween Forum Resident

    Location:
    Y'allywood
    Wow... Money from war criminals. Worse than drug money, that's for sure! :D
     
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  10. ggergm

    ggergm another spring another baseball season

    Location:
    Minnesota
    Great points, Brian.

    Back in the 1980s, my store was driven by the sale and the discount. We were what was called then a promotionally minded dealer. Every month there was a sale. We trained our customers to look for the deal. But as was mentioned earlier in this thread, it's the dog chasing his tail. You get more volume but margins drop. Even greater volume means lower margins still. It's a game you can't win and we had to back away. The only ones getting rich were the local newspapers, radio and TV stations running our ads.

    Instead, we went to a quarterly promotional plan. We'd still have something going on the off months but maybe it was a B-stock buy-in or a car stereo contest with subwoofers on sale. They weren't major promotional events where before, each month they were. It took a couple of years to get the public to catch up but the cycle was broken and our margins rose dramatically. Sales fell but not that much, propelled by the home theater and car stereo booms in the 1990s. Nothing works better for a stereo store than having something new to sell.

    What I really like about your post, Brian, is the trade aspect. Give and get. The easiest thing to give in on is price but for many, it is not the answer. A busy professional will often take a higher price if it saves him or her time. The solution is not always the lowest price and it took me years to figure that out.
     
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  11. tricka

    tricka Member

    Location:
    Sydney
    If you really feel you must....
     
  12. nm_west

    nm_west Forum Resident

    Location:
    Abq. NM. USA
    It's a must to the savvy buyer. :agree:
     
  13. Jacob Johnson

    Jacob Johnson Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    Went in yesterday and ended up getting a great deal without even saying a word about it. I knew there was a reason I dug this place!
     
  14. nm_west

    nm_west Forum Resident

    Location:
    Abq. NM. USA
    ^^^^^^^ :righton:
     
  15. TommyTunes

    TommyTunes Senior Member

    It depends, if you spend
    If you bought an iPhone without a contract from an Apple dealer and got a huge discount.
    i have to say i don't believe it. I buy every iphone release in huge quantities for my business and even with an Apple business account there is no discount on iPhones, period.
     
  16. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Vidiot probably handed over his Halliburton case filled with shekels.
     
    TommyTunes likes this.
  17. Yes it is usually only a discount or actual deferral via a renewed contract with carrier. I've never sen an actual iPhone discount except maybe a $20 Walmart or Best But thing..
     
  18. Ash76

    Ash76 Wait actually yeah no

    JB Hi-Fi here may occasionally have 5 or 10% off Apple products though most of their sales will exclude Apple products
     
  19. Jack Flannery

    Jack Flannery Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    If they weren't on a knife edge, I would be able to go into a showroom in the forth largest city in the US. But they are mostly gone so I guess that 50% markup, wasn't.
     
  20. Veltri

    Veltri ♪♫♫♪♪♫♫♪

    Location:
    Canada
    Same end result. You've in effect already provided the customer with the discount by not over marking up the price. A shopper of audio hardware will understand the difference.
     
  21. Bart

    Bart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    I don't negotiate every time I buy from my local B&M. We had a discussion about discounts at my first purchase (a system), and now on every other purchase I get the same discount. Literally, I say 'give me the Bart deal' and/or 'just do the best you can' and I get that discount. "Give me the best price you can" is a pretty low-key negotiation, and it gets me a reasonable discount. The store seems totally fine with it, so who am I to complain??

    (I could probably get another 2% if I paid cash, but I use plastic.)
     
  22. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    High end companies as a rule don't discount. Cables being thrown in or discounted and/or accessories is where you can haggle.
     
  23. If I were running a HiFi shop, the #1 thing I'd offer instead of a discount is guaranteed trade-in value.

    x if < 12 months, x minus 20% <2 years, etc

    I'd suspect that this would have extremely high perceived value amongst audiophiles and enthusiasts, while also all but guaranteeing repeat business. Win-Win. My current dealer is very generous with this and I suspect I'll buy from him for a very long time because of it.
     
  24. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    High End Audio as a rule is limited distribution.And thusly sold through fewer outlets. Examples, many know here. Krell, Audio Research, McIntosh, Conrad-Johnson, Plinius, Bryston. Just to name some. In the middle, Bose and Bang & Olufsen. Usually list price on those. Dealer demo units or models just discontinued, have wiggle room on price. Brands like Yamaha, Pioneer, Pioneer Elite, Onkyo, Sony, JVC, NAD, Cambridge Audio, Denon, and Marantz, and similar are wider distribution and can be had at lower price points. And can be had from more retail outlets. And often at discount from list prices. Not cast in stone but some examples.
     
  25. Nate

    Nate Forum Resident

    Ok- am I going to be the first to wonder out loud if you could have done even better if you did say something?
     
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