Last week, the CheapToday thrifty shopper Lulu started her 3-part series on not taking “No” for an answer. She’s got some great tips in the first installment about getting what you want from people over the telephone. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series because I have a lot to learn when it comes to, as Lulu calls it, assertive shopping.
The only place I’ve really tried to shop assertively is at the flea market. For some reason, it just feels right to stand there in the humid Florida heat, sweat pouring down my face, trying to talk a fresh vegetable vendor down in price on the basket of tomatoes I want to buy.
I generally get the short end of the stick in these situations. The vendors seem to know that my sweat isn’t just from the glaring sun—they know it’s actually from performance anxiety. They squint their eyes as though their lids are heavy with consideration, scrunch their mouth up to one side, then sadly hang their heads slightly and shake them slowly from side to side.
“Nope, can’t reduce them there ‘maters, what with the drought and the gas prices we gotch ’ere.”
So, I pay full price and walk away with my ‘maters, happy that I at least tried to score a discount, even if I failed miserably. Eventually, disappointment creeps in and I vow to do better next time.
I guess that’s why I like shopping on the web so much. There is no opportunity to haggle so I never feel like I failed in scoring a better deal. My comparison shopping and discount resources are enough to help me sleep at night, comfortable in the knowledge that I paid the lowest possible price for that watch / DVD set / hoodie / whatchamacallit. Here are some of the cheap deal resources I use before I buy:
Comparing Prices: I like to use BizRate, NexTag, or PriceGrabber to compare prices on products.
Unbiased Opinions: Visit Epinions before you buy so you know you are getting the best product and brand.
Biased Opinions: I sign up for store e-mail newsletters and RSS feeds for those unadvertised specials. Sometimes you can score something really special that the rest of the world will never know about.
Additional Discounts: Once I've decided what store I'll be purchasing from, I check my email to see if I've gotten any email discount codes or special deals from them that could also be applied to the purchase. If you re less lazy than me, you can set up a separate email for these types of communications--it'll make it easier to find what you're looking for. Also, if it's a store I have a store credit card for I check my mail to see if I've gotten any cardholder special deals recently that I can use to increase my savings.
Yolander Prinzel
Photo of a squirrel assertively scoring himself some dinner by Flickr user Fowlbotz.