How to Negotiate Anything

Chain-Store Items

Consider this: The salesclerks at chain stores generally don’t have the authority to give you a discount, but a manager does.
 
Try this: If you’re buying a big-ticket item ($200 or more), ask a manager for a discount, says Eugene Fram, a professor of marketing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, New York. If you’ve seen the item in the store for a while, say so. Some stores have codes on price tags that will show the manager how long the product has been on the floor. “The longer it has been hanging around, the better the deal you can get,” says Fram. For smaller purchases, ask a clerk if she knows when the item is likely to go on sale, or ask her to call you when it is marked down. You could also tell the cashier you forgot the coupon from the weekly circular. He will probably have an extra.