Tired of inflation? You may be able to haggle online, negotiate a lower price

[agate]

According to this article in Consumer Reports, there are ways of haggling online in order to get a better deal on purchases.

I'm inclined to put things into an online shopping bag or cart and let them sit there for quite a while before making up my mind. I've noticed how sometimes I'll get e-mail reminders about those shopping bag items and sometimes a price reduction happens my way. If you make a strategy of this, according to the article, you can often get better deals.

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As for the other type of haggling recommended--by offering to give your credit card information at once if the item's price is reduced by a certain amount--I don't know if I could bring myself to do that. I really hate haggling, even though it's the way business is still done all over the world and has always been done.

But I'm getting to the point where rising prices are making many necessary things out of the question.

I've been using the same winter coat for 22 years now. It seems to be in great shape still--no problems with worn-looking places, no tears--but I'm getting chillier and chillier outside. I recently looked up a Website that sells good clothes at reasonable prices and found that it would cost me twice as much now to get a coat like the one I bought 22 years ago.

I'm now paying $40/month for Internet, and that's a special rate, in effect for another 11 months, but then it will end because it's a federal program that wasn't renewed.

Not to get political here but in 11 months it will cost me $80/month for Internet, and that seems astronomical, considering that back around 2000 there were ways of being online for free.

I had Freeinet, whose motto was "Because the Internet was meant to be free." It's long gone as an ISP but at the time you could get a certain number of hours a month at no cost though there was an annoying ad banner to put up with.

So I may be getting over my reluctance to haggle. Does anyone have experience with online haggling?

[Virginia]

I buy a lot on line but have never thought of haggling. I never figured you could, since in most cases you are not dealing with a live person.

Agate, that is an awfully large increase for Internet service. Are there any others in your area that you could possibly check out to try and get a better deal? Of course you do have 11 more months at this rate, but a little while before it runs out I would be looking around.

[Howie]

I'm relieved in a way, but I'm with Comcast, and pay $49 a month, and feel that's way too much. Sorry you pay more, but glad in comparison, I'm getting a good price.

I've found better prices, but they are like WebTV, and you have to wait to get online until traffic lightens, and that may take 10 or 15 minutes to get online. Life is too short for that, and with Comcast, I'm online instantly, and put the computer in "sleep" mode to eat, etc. I only turn it off when I sleep at night.

[nuthatch]

No experience with haggling but I'm like you about putting things in my cart. I sometimes get emails reminding me I left something in my cart and offering free shipping to kind of "nudge me" into completing the purchase. I don't give my credit card number on-line to individual stores. I use Paypal instead. Most sites take Paypal now and that way, my credit card number is not spread all over the net.

$40 is too much to be paying for internet service. There are lots of cheaper internet service providers, especially in a city like where you are. I don't live in a big city area but still found a provider that has high speed DSL for 19.95 a month.
Check out this article for some tips.
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Now, if I could just get that Direct TV bill down. It keeps crawling up and up. I don't watch much TV, but DH . . . that's one habit I 'd like to break him of!

[Lazarus]

According to this article in Consumer Reports, there are ways of haggling online in order to get a better deal on purchases.

I'm inclined to put things into an online shopping bag or cart and let them sit there for quite a while before making up my mind. I've noticed how sometimes I'll get e-mail reminders about those shopping bag items and sometimes a price reduction happens my way. If you make a strategy of this, according to the article, you can often get better deals.

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

As for the other type of haggling recommended--by offering to give your credit card information at once if the item's price is reduced by a certain amount--I don't know if I could bring myself to do that. I really hate haggling, even though it's the way business is still done all over the world and has always been done.

But I'm getting to the point where rising prices are making many necessary things out of the question.

I've been using the same winter coat for 22 years now. It seems to be in great shape still--no problems with worn-looking places, no tears--but I'm getting chillier and chillier outside. I recently looked up a Website that sells good clothes at reasonable prices and found that it would cost me twice as much now to get a coat like the one I bought 22 years ago.

I'm now paying $40/month for Internet, and that's a special rate, in effect for another 11 months, but then it will end because it's a federal program that wasn't renewed.

Not to get political here but in 11 months it will cost me $80/month for Internet, and that seems astronomical, considering that back around 2000 there were ways of being online for free.

I had Freeinet, whose motto was "Because the Internet was meant to be free." It's long gone as an ISP but at the time you could get a certain number of hours a month at no cost though there was an annoying ad banner to put up with.

So I may be getting over my reluctance to haggle. Does anyone have experience with online haggling?

Sorry Agate but I have no experience with online haggling.
But, I do have a couple of related things to say....
First. I use Amazon a lot. I had been looking for really warm winter parkas as the one I use lost its hood. I did not know,what to do with so many choices.

The next day I found a pop up on my iPad. It was an Amazing Deal...something like that...for one of the coats I had been looking at. If I bought it within the hour it was $60.00 instead of a couple of hundred.

So, I started reading what verified buyers had to say. The coat got good and detailed reviews. People often tell the size they bought and tell their weight and height. Boy is that useful. I read everything and ordered it. It came today and really was a perfect great deal. I will wear it to Saturday market and be toasty warm.

About haggling. This does not relate to you. It's just that at the farmers market I sell organic food at very low prices which I have not raised in years. It annoys me when people start haggling before they even know the price/value of what they are buying. It is such an insult to offer a producer a lower price when that producer is already giving you an enormous break. I do have customers who are very thankful and realize what I am selling at way below average prices. I appreciate this so very much.

[nuthatch]

Here is a couple more links to look into.
Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

[nuthatch]

I hear ya, Lazarus! I have been cleaning out closets here, and while a lot of clothes and things go to Goodwill, I have been listing some new with tags still attached or nearly new items of clothing on Ebay with a low fixed price or best offer option. I am amazed at how many people offer you less than 1/3 of what you were asking! I realize that shipping adds to the cost, but I don't make any money there and have actually lost money a few times because of shipping and fees. I don't mind a halfway reasonable offer to consider, but many of the offers leave me feeling insulted instead. I've gotten so that I ignore those offers! I don't like haggling.

[agate]

Many thanks for the helpful links! I am indeed looking into alternative Internet providers--and made it clear to Century Link, my current provider, when I called to find out if I was under contract to stay with them. (I'm not, luckily.)

Linda, I agree that haggling seems insulting to the merchant. It would be like saying, "I'm special and deserve special treatment!" I think of the merchant's price as THE price unless I'm otherwise notified.

Sometimes I might point out a problem with a product, and the merchant brings down the price, for which I'm grateful. But haggling often seems to be making an effort to find things to complain about just so as to get a better deal.