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27803. judithathome - 12/9/2013 2:31:32 AM Keoni made a break for it today...to Sam's...and came home with Danish cookies, Belgian chocolates, and 3 pounds of summer sausage.
Just the basics, ma'am. 27804. arkymalarky - 12/9/2013 2:42:42 AM Yum! 27805. iiibbb - 12/9/2013 9:10:22 PM My wife and I have been trying to do more to support local businesses.
For the first time I got up the gumption to haggle. They were nice about it but declined. The introvert that I am just felt weird and awful.
They listed the price at $340 ea. I need two, so they offered to knock off 10%.... so $306 ea
Amazon has the same thing for $267 ea.
So I sent the store an email with a link to Amazon and said I wanted to support local, so I pitched the store to sell them to me for $290 ea. I wasn't even asking for a price match because this store does some local goodwill that I support.
They said "No, they can't compete with Amazon."
I dunno. It's hard to justify the $70+ difference.
I was never a good haggler. I hate negotiating prices. 27806. iiibbb - 12/9/2013 9:11:46 PM At first I wasn't sure if I needed 2 or 4... the store was willing to give a 25% discount for 4. 27807. iiibbb - 12/9/2013 9:12:04 PM Maybe I should've offered cash. 27808. arkymalarky - 12/9/2013 9:51:22 PM That might have done it. I'm a poor haggler and so is Stan. I feel the same way wrt local, but it's hard. And we know most of the local business owners, so there's guilt to go with awkwardness. Forget Walmart--Amazon is going to rule the world. 27809. judithathome - 12/9/2013 10:36:22 PM If you buy from Amazon, though, you have to figure in the shipping costs, too...unless you belong to Prime...which you have to pay to do. 27810. iiibbb - 12/9/2013 11:22:12 PM We're prime... so shipping is paid for. Prime more than pays for itself because we get free content for kindle.
If they'd come back with an offer I'd take it... but now I think I'll just let it drop and go buy some less-expensive but necessary accessories there. 27811. arkymalarky - 12/9/2013 11:29:32 PM Prime is great. $80 a year. I just ordered Stan's Christmas and it will be on our porch Wed. No tax. Great selection, super easy, competitive pricing, and great service. Saves me from dealing with Walmart and trips to Hot Springs or Little Rock. It can be dangerous for the undisciplined, though. 27812. robertjayb - 12/10/2013 2:16:05 AM Yea Prime! I'm a fan and of late somewhat addicted, adding to my stock of unread books and collecting gadgets. Must get a grip.
As a rural route farm boy who grew up poring over Sears and Montgomery-Ward mail-order catalogs and then looking out for the mailman every day for a couple of weeks for the goods, I enjoy ordering stuff via Kindle at 3 a.m. without getting out of bed.
Arky is correct. I have used those exact words to tell spouse that Amazon will rule the world. And right now that is okay with me. 27813. arkymalarky - 12/10/2013 4:42:01 AM That one click is so great and terrible. On my kindle fire I can do all my shopping in a flash. And it's scary how often (like always) they have whatever obscure item you can conceive of when you're free associating in the middle of the night. 27814. iiibbb - 12/10/2013 6:03:03 PM I thought about following up with a cash offer... but then decided that if he wanted to haggle he would have countered.
Being open to haggling is probably not a good precedent for him to set... hard to say whether he'd gain or lose sales overall. 27815. judithathome - 12/10/2013 10:18:30 PM Forget sales...if he has no customers, he takes a loss on everything, regardless.
When I was in business, I never paid more for any goods than I could make three times what I paid. I did give discounts but never to the point that it would bother my bottom line.
Of course, I was in a rather unique business, retail but not really....
27816. alistairconnor - 12/18/2013 3:13:19 PM Yep, your local retailer really cannot compete with Amazon and their supply chain. He would literally be losing money if he matched prices.
It really bothers me that I buy so much stuff from them. Particularly that in Europe, they have so much latitude to shift money around and end up paying no company tax -- no local company can compete with that; also that they have been flouting French employment law in their local logistical operations. 27817. judithathome - 12/19/2013 1:01:05 AM Just face it...local businesses cannot compete with on-line companies. They simply can not.
When you need to purchase something, just put yourself in an independent retailers' place and see if what you paid for the product and what you feel (or KNOW) you have to receive back in order to "make money" on it is worth it...look at it as if what you paid for the product is worth selling it for more or less than what you paid for it.
Retail and resale are cutthroat businesses...I am astonished at anyone who attempts to start a business these days. 27818. arkymalarky - 12/19/2013 2:19:46 AM I don't think Amazon is out of the red yet, though. They spent so much for so long, and I don't know what their bottom line looks like. On another note, I LOVE my new phone. What you see here is exactly what I said. 27819. iiibbb - 12/19/2013 4:51:29 PM I didn't ask him to match the Amazon price. I asked him to match a discount he offered me but with me only buying 2 units instead of 4. 27820. iiibbb - 12/19/2013 4:53:53 PM I also clearly gave an opening for a counter offer... the retailer just dropped it altogether. 27821. judithathome - 12/19/2013 7:45:13 PM Look, I was just trying to explain things from the viewpoint of the vendor...having been one before, I thought it might give you a different perspective or at the very least, help you better understand why the person might have been reluctant to cut his profits and/or bottom line.
Imagine yourself having a business where you price things at a point YOU think is fair to both you and the customer and then everyone who walks in the door wants you to cut that price "just for them" and will walk out the door and possibly publicize the fact you aren't willing to "deal" to anyone who might be thinking about coming into your shop...it's a delicate line to tread.
He many never sell those things you were interested it...that might give you a secret thrill but enough interactions like that for HIM will shut his his business down. It's not easy being a small business person.
27822. iiibbb - 12/19/2013 8:28:41 PM That's why I didn't insult him by countering my own offer.
I made my pitch. Felt weird about it. Ordered from Amazon because I don't have tons of extra money to throw around.
I will make it up to the vender the best I can by buying a few small-ticket items.
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