Don't be afraid to negotiate

[ssmith1627]

I've seen some threads where you guys have talked the sales guys down in these stores but I'd never done it myself -- other than buying a GMC biscuit joiner on clearance and getting it marked down further because of missing parts.

But I had a pretty good experience tonight at Lowes. They had a 14" Delta bandsaw that was missing the v-belt. They weren't on sale that I could see, just marked at $429. Now it may go on sale next week and I'll hate myself over this. But with this unit missing a part, I asked what they could do. He made a call and it sounded like they looked up the cost on the unit and then he made some comment about cost plus 10% but I never heard what that # actually was. I offered him $300 and he countered with $320 and I took it.

That's cheaper than the Rigid BS at HD and not a whole lot more than the HF 14" BS so I felt pretty good about it. I'll get a link belt from Woodcraft and try that with the saw. I was worried other parts would be missing but I've gone through it all and so far so good.

Just wanted to share the experience.

Steve

[MilDoc]

The worst any store can say is NO. I recently bought a new Weber grill at a store. Asked if they would throw in some accessories free since their price was above Amazons. Showed them a print-out from Amazon. Got a table, and a Slide-Aside free.

When I bought my RAV4 locally they hesitated to come down to my price. All I said was, "Dallas is 2 hr away and has 5 Toyota dealers." They agreed to my offer.

Ask. Offer. Negotiate. Depending on where you live, you never know.

Never be afraid to negotiate... "no" might be the answer, but so what?

Learned this from a friend in the 80s.

[Ed62]

Congratulations, Steve. It never hurts to ask.

When Sears was selling the BT3K, I looked at the floor model. Then I told the salesman I'd take one. He came back with "Sorry, but that's the last one we have". It was put together properly, and all parts were there. I asked him what kind of price he would give me on it, and he said he could knock off $50.00. Jokingly I told him to knock off another $100.00, and he had a sale. He called someone on the phone, and I walked out of there thinking I stole the thing! Don't remember the final price, but it was a *lot* more than a $50.00 discount.

Ed

[betacrash]

while we are talking success stories. i was going to buy a cub cadet tractor of of a lady here at work (3000 series) Ive seen this model sell for over 2500 on ebay. she was only asking 500. but i thought, ill just offer 400. she took it. saved me 6 hours of working.

[BigguyZ]

When I was first buying tools to get my shop together I was always looking on CraigsList. I never buy something from there without first offering maybe 30% less at least. It may sound cheap, but honestly the reason I'm looking on CraigsList is that I can't afford much in the first place. I've gotten some great deals- a Bosch angle grinder for $30. A Grizzly 14" BS with 6" riser for $200. My Craftsman TS for $200. Pawn Shops are also a potential place for a good buy. I've had some so-so deals, some good deals, and some great deals from pawn shops. It all depends on who you buy from.

My favorite deal though is probably for my Beisemeyer fence + Powermatic rail system. Woodcraft was having a cleanout sale, and the fence was $50, and the 53" rails were $60. Can't beat that.