Can you still bargain over price?

[Ajanta]

Shopping for a personal laser printer (Brother 5250DN). I appreciate
all the online tools, price comparisons etc. (pricegrabber gives me my
best total price including tax and shippping), but am curious if there
still are places where you can call and bargain with someobody for best
price in the old fashioned way?

I called a few places and people on the phone seemed like plain order
processors reading off a screen, not like salesmen with any kind of
discretion.

 

[Todd H.]

Shopping for a personal laser printer (Brother 5250DN). I appreciate
all the online tools, price comparisons etc. (pricegrabber gives me my
best total price including tax and shippping), but am curious if there
still are places where you can call and bargain with someobody for best
price in the old fashioned way?

I called a few places and people on the phone seemed like plain order
processors reading off a screen, not like salesmen with any kind of
discretion.

CDW.com evidently has some play in their pricing, though not much.

 

[Ajanta]

: CDW.com evidently has some play in their pricing, though not much.

What I find quite intriguing that one retailer (c-source.com) gives me
different price via price grabber, frrogle, and phone. Differences are
not huge, but still puzzling.

 

[measekite]

: CDW.com evidently has some play in their pricing, though not much.

What I find quite intriguing that one retailer (c-source.com) gives me
different price via price grabber, frrogle, and phone. Differences are
not huge, but still puzzling.

I POSTED THE REASON LAST WEEK. THE ACTUAL VENDORS HAVE THE EQUALAVENT
OF A SALE FOR VARIOUS COMPARITIVE SHOPPING SITES LIKE PRICE-GRABBER.
WHEN YOU LINK TO THEM FOR ONE OF THESE SITES YOU GET DIFFERENT PRICES
THEN GOING TO THEIR SITE DIRECTLY. YOU MAY ALSO FIND THAT THE MFG MAY
OFFER SPECIAL REBATES FOR ON SELLER THAT IS EXCLUSIVE TO THAT SELLER.

 

[George Kerby]

I POSTED THE REASON LAST WEEK. THE ACTUAL VENDORS HAVE THE EQUALAVENT
OF A SALE FOR VARIOUS COMPARITIVE SHOPPING SITES LIKE PRICE-GRABBER.
WHEN YOU LINK TO THEM FOR ONE OF THESE SITES YOU GET DIFFERENT PRICES
THEN GOING TO THEIR SITE DIRECTLY. YOU MAY ALSO FIND THAT THE MFG MAY
OFFER SPECIAL REBATES FOR ON SELLER THAT IS EXCLUSIVE TO THAT SELLER.

Superglued you Caps key, eh?!?

 

[measekite]

Superglued you Caps key, eh?!?

NOPE. I SPILLED AFTERMARKET INK ON IT AND GOT A KEYBOARD CLOG. I THINK
I AM GOING TO HAVE TO SEND FOR THAT EPSON AFTERMARKET CLOG MANUAL TO SEE
WHAT CAN BE DONE :-D

 

[Joel Kolstad]

Shopping for a personal laser printer (Brother 5250DN). I appreciate
all the online tools, price comparisons etc. (pricegrabber gives me my
best total price including tax and shippping), but am curious if there
still are places where you can call and bargain with someobody for best
price in the old fashioned way?

It's very unlikely you'll be able to bargain your way to a better price in
person that you'd find just searching the Internet to start with. Internet
stores have little overhead compared to a brick & mortar store, so unless
there's something unusual going on (customer return, demo model, you convince
the store if you like them you'll be coming back for 1,000 more, etc.), they
realistically will have a very hard time meeting -- much less beating --
Internet prices.

I called a few places and people on the phone seemed like plain order
processors reading off a screen, not like salesmen with any kind of
discretion.

A lot of places are like that today... you're looking at buying a $250
printer, and at that price level there's just not enough margin that stores
are able to hire folks with a lot of sales training or technical background
(although you certainly do get lucky sometimes and find some college kid who
is an enthusiast and knows a lot). If you were shopping for a $2500 printer,
they'd I'd expect you could find more people to bargain with, get informed
advice from (even if it's somewhat biased!), etc.

 

[bmoag]

China.
Unfortunately when you buy something in China even though the packaging and
the item look genuine there is a good chance they are counterfeit.

 

[zakezuke]

Internet stores have little overhead compared to a brick & mortar store, so unless

there's something unusual going on (customer return, demo model, you convince
the store if you like them you'll be coming back for 1,000 more, etc.), they
realistically will have a very hard time meeting -- much less beating --
Internet prices.

Well printers fall under the model of you'll be back for more... more
ink which odds are you'll spend more money on the ink than the printer.
It's rare but sometimes I find printers cheaper in the stores than
online... the problem is it's never the printer *I* actually want.

Dell from what I hear on www.slickdeals.net does do some haggling...
but this is pretty much not something i'm into. I hate buying cars for
this reason.... tires too for that matter except from costco.

 

[Randy Howard]

measekite wrote

I POSTED THE REASON LAST WEEK. THE ACTUAL VENDORS HAVE THE EQUALAVENT
OF A SALE FOR VARIOUS COMPARITIVE SHOPPING SITES LIKE PRICE-GRABBER.
WHEN YOU LINK TO THEM FOR ONE OF THESE SITES YOU GET DIFFERENT PRICES
THEN GOING TO THEIR SITE DIRECTLY. YOU MAY ALSO FIND THAT THE MFG MAY
OFFER SPECIAL REBATES FOR ON SELLER THAT IS EXCLUSIVE TO THAT SELLER.

Your keyboard is broken. Please repair it. This is not 1975.

 

[me]

: CDW.com evidently has some play in their pricing, though not much.

What I find quite intriguing that one retailer (c-source.com) gives me
different price via price grabber, frrogle, and phone. Differences are
not huge, but still puzzling.

Some places might use it as a way to monitor advertising, for instance
the supey-twist 2.3 might be advertised at £99.95 on abc.com and at
£99.99 on xyz.com thus they can attempt to monitor the effectiveness of
each sales channel.

 

[irwell]

Well printers fall under the model of you'll be back for more... more
ink which odds are you'll spend more money on the ink than the printer.

How true this is. I just bought the ip6600d for about $155, after the
$25 rebate.
The printer came with 6 ink cartridges.
The lowest price for the 6 ink cartridges I have found
is $76 delivered, they have a chip built in, so clones have
not appeared yet..
So if you deduct the $76 from the $155 it looks like
the printer has sold for only about $80, so how much did
it cost to make?

 

[measekite]

How true this is. I just bought the ip6600d for about $155, after the
$25 rebate.
The printer came with 6 ink cartridges.
The lowest price for the 6 ink cartridges I have found
is $76 delivered, they have a chip built in, so clones have
not appeared yet..

WHEW

So if you deduct the $76 from the $155 it looks like
the printer has sold for only about $80, so how much did
it cost to make?

87 CENTS

 

[measekite]

measekite wrote
(in article <[email protected]>):




Your keyboard is broken. Please repair it. This is not 1975.

I LIKE CAPS. IT IS EASIER TO READ ON BY CELLPHONE

 

[Mike Rosenberg]

I LIKE CAPS. IT IS EASIER TO READ ON BY CELLPHONE

Well, online on _computers_ the use of all caps is the equivalent of
shouting. You can keep doing it, of course, but you do so at the risk
that we won't keep reading your posts.

 

[Tim Streater]

Well, online on _computers_ the use of all caps is the equivalent of
shouting. You can keep doing it, of course, but you do so at the risk
that we won't keep reading your posts.

Up with lower case, and down with upper case. As the case may be.

-- tim

 

[measekite]

Up with lower case, and down with upper case. As the case may be.

-- tim

THERE ARE PERSONALITIES ON THIS NG WHO WILL READ MY POSTS IF I TYPE IN
50 POINT POLKA DOT. IT IS EASIER FOR ME AND I LIKE IT. I REALLY DO NOT
CARE WHAT THEY DO IN CHAT ROOMS SINCE I NEVER GO TO THOSE MORONIC PLACES.

 

[me]

Up with lower case, and down with upper case. As the case may be.

Up then down with mini-skirts!