I LOOKED the vendor on Sixth Avenue in the eye as he demanded $1.25 for a small bottle of Poland Spring.
“Be serious, that’s a dollar!” I said, my voice dripping with incredulity.
“No, no, $1.25!” he protested.
I slapped a single on his metal cart with bravado. George Washington stared up at the man as I scowled at him. “A dollar! That’s my final offer!” He took it.
Beating down a price is something most Americans associate with either buying a car or acquiring local artifacts on exotic vacations. But the art of chiseling can pay off in New York City.
According to Indiana-based Esquire writer Tom Chiarella, who for the latest issue of the magazine spent three months of his life haggling for everything from hot dogs (the guy wouldn’t budge) to TiVo (he wrangled $80 off a subscription by falsely telling the salesman he had a narcoleptic son who kept falling asleep during his favorite shows), almost everything is up for negotiation.
“Just make an offer,” is his credo.
For practice, I started on Canal Street, where dozens of stores peddle belt buckles with your name on them.
Chiarella had some advice. “Canal Street is a tight little community, so make sure you get the name of the guy who has made you the best offer. These guys probably all know each other. You can add to your credibility if you name names when you are quoting prices you have been offered. Asking someone their name is a good way to build a relationship so they’re more likely to cut you a deal.”
By assiduously dropping names all over Canal Street, I scored two belt buckles for $14 (the starting price was $12 for one).
Raising my sights, an iPod mini with a price of $299 in the Panasonic store on Broadway caught my eye. I swiftly befriended the manager, Ben, and before long he was down to $249 (the same price, I later discovered, the unit sells for online at apple.com).
“Can you do any better, Ben?” I asked. He shook his head.
I crossed the street to another electronics store, knocked another nine bucks off, then went back to Ben to see if he could compete. Of course he could. For $240 the iPod was mine. He could even take off a few dollars more if I paid in cash.
Haggling happens all the time, Ben told me. “You just have to work it out so everyone gets a price they’re happy with.”
Would he have gone any lower? “No. $240 is almost cost.”
It was time to kick it up a gear. Uptown on Fifth Avenue I tried to get the price down on suits in Brooks Brothers, Faconnable, Jil Sander and Hugo Boss. Each time I was directed to the “sale” rack with a sneer.
I asked the guy at Hugo Boss if they ever negotiate. “Well, the new stock has just come in, so we wouldn’t reduce it for a few months. And that one” – he pointed to the suit I was admiring – “will go really quickly.”
Sly, my friend, but you don’t fool me. I put it back on the rack and resolved to wait. I similarly struck out at Tourneau, the watch store, trying to buy a $2,600 Pannerai watch.
I had expected to be able to negotiate prices at the Diamond District on 47th Street, but as I played sellers off against each other to drive a certified one carat diamond ring down from $4,800 to $3,400, Ari, then Eddie then Dimitri applied such pressure that I almost bought a stone to escape. Was the high security as much to keep undecided customers in as bandits out?
I wasn’t expecting such flexibility at Harry Winston jewelers, where I was ushered into a back room, seated at a desk and shown an incredible ring with a flashy yellow diamond in it. The price was $25,000.
“Hmm,” I said (this is one of Chiarella’s favorite haggling words) and began to talk about my wife who the diamond was supposedly for. After a few minutes I pounced.
“Is the price fixed?” The saleswoman looked a little taken aback, but she soon produced a calculator and offered me the ring for $23,000.
“Hmmmm. I was hoping for something more like $20,000,” I ventured. She offered me $21,500.
“It’s a slow time of year,” she said, as I made my excuses and left, amazed that I had just been offered a discount of more than 10 percent.
There was still one more haggle left in me. My laundry service charges me $1 a pound, plus a flat $2 on top of that for wash and fold – for a total of $200 a month.
Just over a month ago, however, a new laundry outfit just opened a block away, with the same prices.
Couldn’t they offer me a better deal if I switched my account to them? The woman behind the counter said, “No no, no.” The rent, the location, even the cost of disposing of waste water prohibited it.
But she would call her manager and get back to me.
When that didn’t happen, I went by a few days later. “No, sorry,” she repeated.
There was no deal on wash and fold – but she could do same-day service for no extra charge. And how would I like 20 percent off my dry cleaning?
Considering I spend about $30 a week, a $6 savings sounded good to me. All in all I had negotiated discounts worth almost $5,000.
And I’ll never pay more than a dollar for water again.
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‘Asking someone their name is a good way to build a relationship so they’re more likely to cut you a deal’ – Tom Chiarella
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Haggle
We named our price on a Mini: Amount saved: $59
Chiseling paid off at Harry Winston: Amount saved: $3,500
Don’t Haggle
Hugo Boss wouldn’t budge.
No deal on a Tourneau watch.