Call me Mr 10%

“Can you do 10% off for cash?” is our standard “just give me the item so I can go home” line. I hesitate to call it bargaining. It just seems to be accepted practice, like “would you like fries with that?” or “would you like a bag?”

Can you still work out the floor price of an item at Harvey Norman from the code on the price sticker? Haven’t been there for a while. Made for some interesting conversations:

“Can you do 10% off for cash?”
“Nah, mate, we only make like, $5 on this.”
“Really? Coz this code says you’ve got a $400 mark up on it.”
“Oh. Yeah, OK, 10%.”
“No, now I’m thinking more like 15%, and a box of CD-Rs.”

mooo_cow said :

http://www.camerastore.com.au/Panasonic+DVD+Recorder+with+250gb+HDD+DMR%252DXW350_details.htm

It would have cost him an extra $3 to purchase from there!

Thanks Jim.

I also used to mistake the two constantly.

But, I used the have the cleanest clothes, the only problem was all my dishes would brake.

LOL

peterh said :

ok. there was a way to see what is the lowest price for hn – the electrical tickets used to have 3 numbers in the top corner, one was invoice – and was the invoice number, not important. line 2 was IC – really important number. it is what HN buy it at. you won’t get the item at this price. but it is nice to know what they paid for it. there is another number – FC – this is the floor cost, the absolute lowest they will go to sell the product. or so they say. We always took the IC & the FC into consideration when buying from HN, and never paid retail.

for a lot of retail products, computers and other IT, there is bugger all margin in it for anyone. 10% off ticket price is rare, and if you can get it, well done you. Most items heavily discounted are end of life, as the store cannot afford for the albatross to sit on the shelf, gathering dust, so they mark it down to sell it quick.

Anyone know how to break the code at the Good Guys? When I ask for their best price they look at the small numbers on the tag, whip out a calculator and give the price. I assume their invoice cost is there somewhere and then they add whatever percentage it is to make their profit.

Its strange that we can negotiate the amount we pay for good off business men/women but the same business men/women cant negiotiate the best deal on paying people like us. given the prices they recieve will effect their income it is just another way that businesses are looked at always as the bad guys (read coffe or death for example) we always look for the nest way to get the best for ourselves.

Bosch and Miele seem to lead the reviews and tests in washing machines, too, especially for front loaders. Maytag is also becoming popular here (every american has a giant Maytag). Avoid LG.

If you are on Whirlpool and have access to the Gadgets forum, there’s a LOT of threads talking about washing machines.

Sorry Nosey, it was a dishwasher, not a washing machine. My bad (I have a mystifiying tendency to confuse the two, probably an additional symptom of domestic blindness). I can give you up-to-date advice about the best brands of dishwashers based on the Choice info (Bosch and Miele leading the pack by a huge margin), but my knowledge of washing machines is about 10 years old (used to live with a bloke that fixed washing machines).

There’s a Choice article on buying washing machines here: http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id=102342&catId=100168&tid=100008

Also … when did my life get so boring?

Jim Jones..

I am in the market for a new washing machine as mine stopped mid cycle.

Any recommendations based on the Choice information?

Looking at a top loader but will consider front loader.

Well done Pommy Bastard. 1.5 hours for a saving of $96 is well worth the effort in my opinion.

Just goes to show what bargaining will do. I tend to take a different approach, which is to front up and say “I want X kind of thing, what can you show me that you can do a great deal on right now”.

It’s a bit hit and miss, but you’d be surprised how often you get something that does what you want for a discount. I also buy cars this way, and got almost 20% of RRP when I bought my Berlina. We took this approach for a new washing machine last year, and ended up getting a model slightly smaller than we had thought we wanted, but paid HALF what we thought we would need to. And it turns out the size is fine for us.

If you can’t get 10% or more off then you’re being ripped off.

PS. It wasn’t bragging, just a genuine astonishment at how low they went. (JB had them for $991, but may have price matched if I’d have pushed.)

I’d not boast about Andrew Fintoff’s demolition of the Aussie side, not here, not me….

mooo_cow said :

http://www.camerastore.com.au/Panasonic+DVD+Recorder+with+250gb+HDD+DMR%252DXW350_details.htm

I reckon I’ve seen these for less at JB Hi-Fi in the city as well.

Lamest retail thread ever. 😛

Pommy, if I were you I’d be bragging about the cricket. Not this.

peterh said :

are you making reference to the FC=30+ SC25% markup rule? helps if you buy from a distie in very large bulk…. the discount is massive. and the rrp is the same, as the discounts that HN receive allow them to start at RRP and work their way back.

If you’ve ever been astonished at the prices Peters of Kensington can sell at, apparently what they do is buy container-loads of crystal and china etc from Royal Dalton et al, and pay cash. The discount they get for doing that enables their retail prices.

Go on the last day of the month and you’ll find a bit more flexibilty as well.

LOL at mooo_cow!

I have a friend who works at Harvey Norman. You’d be astounded by the mark up on products.

Actually, no, that was the wrong word, try, ‘repulsed’.

are you making reference to the FC=30+ SC25% markup rule? helps if you buy from a distie in very large bulk…. the discount is massive. and the rrp is the same, as the discounts that HN receive allow them to start at RRP and work their way back.

ok. there was a way to see what is the lowest price for hn – the electrical tickets used to have 3 numbers in the top corner, one was invoice – and was the invoice number, not important. line 2 was IC – really important number. it is what HN buy it at. you won’t get the item at this price. but it is nice to know what they paid for it. there is another number – FC – this is the floor cost, the absolute lowest they will go to sell the product. or so they say. We always took the IC & the FC into consideration when buying from HN, and never paid retail.

for a lot of retail products, computers and other IT, there is bugger all margin in it for anyone. 10% off ticket price is rare, and if you can get it, well done you. Most items heavily discounted are end of life, as the store cannot afford for the albatross to sit on the shelf, gathering dust, so they mark it down to sell it quick.

Never pay ticket price for any item in any large retail store like Harvey Norman et al. In my experience they will always come down in price, even if you just say you saw it cheaper elsewhere.

Holding up actual cash can work wonders, too. Not always, but it’s worth a go if you have it. Years ago during an Ikea foray at Moore Park Supa Centa, I wandered in to Bing Lee to see if my Birthday Money would extend to a surround sound system for the TV/DVD.

A very motivated sales guy came up and began selling, but even the cheapest LG system in a box was about $150 more than I had. I got my money out to see if it was only $250 in there, or if I maybe had an extra 50 dollar note in there, but hope, all I had was $250.

“Oh, that’ll do” said the sales guy. Holy crap!

I had a similar experience at DFO (I assume that’s what you mean)

Was out there shopping and went into an electrical outlet that I’d never heard of before (I think it’s the only one in Canberra).

I was looking for a blender at the time and the cheapest I had seen it for was about $155 online. Saw it in the shop for about $190. Asked if they could do any better and they said $164. Straight up, no price matching.

I know you’ll think I’m mad for spending that much on a blender (good cocktails are important) but that’s a saving of nearly 14% just for asking!!!

If you include postage for the online store I’m sure $164 is cheaper.

Ask and you shall receive.

Re: percentage markup, you can get away with whatever people will pay…
For the purposes of retail your minimum markup on purchased stock needs to cover all your costs of acquiring and selling goods, (including business costs like staff wages, premises, personal costs and return on investment), compared to what you can charge in the market place.
(IE: selling below cost in the long-term will put you out of business)

Maximum markup is whatever the market will bear, but if you’re making obscene profits its going to attract competitors who will do it cheaper.
So people try and aim for a sweet spot of still making a reasonable profit while not scaring away a large share of customers.

DFO stores in general look like a pretty barebones operations.

http://www.camerastore.com.au/Panasonic+DVD+Recorder+with+250gb+HDD+DMR%252DXW350_details.htm

Fair points Steve. However, it wasn’t half a day, more like 1 1/2 hours, and I bought one off the net the last time, and ended up sending it back and for to get “corrected.”

Jim; Panasonic DMR-XW 350

http://www.cnet.com.au/panasonic-dmr-xw350-339295676.htm

Well done – I’d like to use that as the basis to buy the same thing, can you let me know the model number? I’m guessing you got one with dual digital tuners and all that jazz.

The missus subscribed to ‘Choice’ magazine; one of the services they offer is, if you contact them and tell them what you’re shopping for, they’ll do a ring-around and find the best price for the product. We had to buy a new washing machine when the old one died, and Choice not only organised the best quote, but had the supplier contact us and organise delivery/payment. Saved a bundle and didn’t have to spend too much time running around haggling (although the research was still time consuming).

I personally would value half a day of my time running around Fyshwick at more than $96, particularly when the right places will give a similar discount without all that hassle, and that is before you even consider using the internet to hunt down a (probably larger) bargain.

Still, well done.