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Negotiating Price with Dealers?

Columbo

Columbo

pfm Member
Is this common or do they tend to not budge from RRP? Talking stuff in the £2-7k range.

Got my eye on some speakers I was hoping were going to pop up second hand but seems unlikely they will, but hesitant to pay full asking on account of being a tight bastard.

Any advice gladly welcome, thanks very much
 
Too many variables on that I would suggest. You never know though whether new or 2nd hand, what are the speakers?
 
Paul L said:
Too many variables on that I would suggest. You never know though whether new or 2nd hand, what are the speakers?
Click to expand...

Serhan Swift Mu2 MkII

Seen some MkI go seconds, there was a pair on here I considered. But not the MkII
 
Columbo said:
Is this common or do they tend to not budge from RRP? Talking stuff in the £2-7k range.

Got my eye on some speakers I were hoping were going to pop up second hand but seems unlikely they will but hesitant to pay full asking on account of being a tight bastard.

Any advice gladly welcome, thanks very much
Click to expand...

I've found if you ring around there's often some movement, if you want a subtle way of approaching it ring and say I see you x,y or z in stock ... I can't really run to the cost of a new one, do you have any ex-demo ones available.

Opens the door to a discussion .... you can always go back at a later stage and say you raided the piggy bank and can go to full price.
 
Negotiating is mutual give and take. You mean haggling.

Many years ago I wanted to buy an expensive watch. I asked "do you take Amex?", he replied they did, "what's it worth to use Visa?" I countered. He panicked and gave me 15% off, I was hoping for 5! Is there a way to make savings they can pass on to you?
 
20% discount here, straight offer from my end to pick up what I was buying with no dem required.
 
If you don't ask then you don't get!

Some dealers will also happily let you know they have ex-dem units coming up at various future points but different dealers have different policies.

The mark up on Hi fi is pretty big (100% at least) so it's there to be taken off
 
Nothing wrong with asking “what’s the best price you can do”. Or, “got any offers coming up “
got me a few quid off in the past.
 
My rule of thumb is
Maximum 10% discount on new sealed box stock (physical stock)
Special orders Nil
Demo units up to 40% (mainly to regain investment to buy newer model )
Pretty sure that’s a retailer model
However we have lot more retailers now being distributors or exclusive dealers who generally have more margin
I have seen crazy deals up to 50% done
 
Depends on the individual dealer, whether they're the distributor/dealer, the price of the items, etc.
Most will not turn down a reasonable cash offer IME.
 
For me it’s about developing a relationship with a dealer over time. I don’t want a discount; I want them to stay in business so they and hopefully the manufacturers are around to fix my kit if it should need repair.

A couple of times I’ve been given free cables or speaker stands and that’s accepted with gratitude:)
 
When I was at Sevenoaks between 99 to 06 the margins were pretty good, 45% to 50% off retail on most Sevenoaks 'approved' brands but back then we used to get better margins than independents as there were about 50 stores. Staff deals were even better, I remember buying Tag McLaren, Nordost for example at 60% off retail. Interconnects from other brand could be upto 70% in some cases. Naim and Linn were around 45% for staff as I bought several bits. 😁


We had a 'duck 'n dive' list that gave us profit margins based on discount given.

We wouldn’t stock anything below 35% usually. Musical Fidelity for example was always around 45% but dropped significantly when they moved to China manufacturing.

There was also the restrictions in selling, we weren’t allowed to sell Cyrus for example as another dealer in the city sold Cyrus so it was all very political.

Most people asked for 10% discount but obviously that affected my commission!

I expect the current 30% is based on the economic times of the present day.
 
I was a retailer for thirty years and every goon on the planet reckons they know what your margin is and their estimate is always far more than it actually is.
They also completely forget that you have overheads.
I frequently offered deals to customers, who had been good enough to support me over a period of time and I also turned down a lot of business from chiselers I would never have seen again.
Often however there is some reasonable middle ground to be found. Be polite, be reasonable. It will soon become obvious where the bump stops are.
 
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