I work at a furniture store and every day I have customers tell me “Ok well I have to measure.” or “I’ll be back!” This means nothing more than “have a nice life” in the sales world.
If you actually tell the salesperson the truth like “I’m looking to spend about $500 less than that” or “I just don’t like the style of the furniture you have” will often lead you to save a lot of money or you finding something you do like. How?
Because we sales folk work off a profit margin. If it costs us $100 to get a chair, we’re going to sell that chair for whatever we can over $100. Most often the sales tags are 2-3 times the cost. So just divide the cost in half and bargain with them. Say “I see that table is $500. Is there any way you’d be willing to sell it for $250?” They’ll say no, the lowest they can go is $400. And now you just saved $100. If they refuse to go down in their price, just say thanks and leave. They’ll get the hint.
Most furniture companies are able to get hundreds of pieces of furniture, it’s just impossible to have it all on the floor. So if you tell them you don’t like the style of furniture you see, most likely they’ll have about 20 different catalogs of stuff you can choose from. Even if you don’t buy, you’ll still let them know that their selection isn’t appealing.
Just remember- Most of the time they aren’t going to say “no” when you ask for a reasonably lower price, so long as you’re willing to pay for it in full or at least putting a large percentage down.
- Ask what cash prices are. Some places will give you huge discounts for cash.
- If you want to take some time and mull over your decision or even go to other stores to compare, have a salesperson write down the deal that you’ve negotiated. You can use this to leverage other stores.
- Buy furniture in bunches. Don’t go to one place for a mattress, the other for a table, and another for a couch. If you’re going to buy a lot of items, make that clear to the salesperson. “I’ve just moved here and I’m too tired to deal with multiple stores and I’d like to buy all my stuff from one place. Give me the best deal and my business is yours.”