Bargain Boo: Haggling for Horror

eBay score

Any which way I can save a penny or dollar, I'm all in.  Repurposing common household items and tools, great deals at thrift stores, eBay's massive market place or my personal favorite, free items either left curbside or found in nature all enable us to build out our haunts without going broke.

You can take the savings even further if you're willing to haggle.  I know it can make some people uncomfortable.  It's not really in our nature to enjoying hearing "no" and often we're concerned about insulting people.  I've got to tell you, the more I haggle the better it gets.  There are opportunities to negotiate better prices in ways you may not have realized as well as the means to improve your odds sometimes right under our noses.

Use these tips for more than just Halloween shopping, too.  Although other than grocery shopping, what kind of shopping is there?

eBay - I buy and sell a lot on eBay so I'm giving this advice not just as a buyer, but a seller.

First off, make good use of the "Make an Offer" feature if the listing is open to it.  As a seller, we want to sell stuff and if we've said we're open to offers, we mean it!  Make us an offer!  If we've had the item awhile, we're likely to jump at the chance to finally get whatever it is out of our house.

Which brings me to "View all revisions."  All listings have an area that allows you to see revisions.  It's found in the Description and is highlighted blue.  In the pic below it's purple because I've selected it, I wanted to be sure I had found us a good example.

This handy feature holds the key: data.  Here you're going to see how long the item has been up, what the seller changed, if the price dropped, by how much, how often, etc.  Has the item been up for ages, dropping steadily in price?  If so there's a pretty good chance the seller wants it gone and will accept a low offer.  So let's see what our example has been up to:

Okay, so this item hasn't been up long, but they've changed the Buy It Now Price a lot.  Also, they are currently offering it at a 42% off.  So I'm going to make an offer that is just slightly under that price.  They clearly want it gone but given they're promoting a discount, they likely are close to their low end limit of what they'll accept.  I'll let you know how I do.  UPDATE:  Not bad, wound up at 48% off original list price.  The free shipping meant they weren't willing to go lower. I've done better but still, not bad.  I'm happy with the price I paid total for the item and that's all that matters.

I've seen items up for over a year and offered half of what they had it listed for.  Wouldn't have been able to afford my wedding if I hadn't!  Then turned around and resold most all of it on eBay again and turned a small profit.

On that front - look for items that might need a bit of work, too.  Unpolished silver often sells for far less than polished as it just doesn't present well in pictures.

Make sure you are keeping your shipping costs in mind when making an offer.  You don't want to find yourself happy with the purchase price only to get dinged with shipping costs.

Best. Craigslist. Find. Ever

Craigslist - I could be wrong but I pretty much assume anyone using Craigslist understands that it's all about the haggle.  I don't presume to ever get paid what I listed something for and likewise, never simply just pay what someone is asking.  So of all places to not feel weird haggling it's Craigslist.

When someone is having a hard time getting rid of an item, the tend not to remove previous listing but simply post a new one, lowering the price.  If you find something you like, scroll back through the results to see if it's been listed before and take note of the time passed and price drop.  I then offer them whatever price they would be at if they had to post it 2, even 3, more times and we usually wind up somewhere in the middle.

For example, say the listing started at $60 and every 5-6 days they've dropped the price $5.  It's now been 15-18 days and it's listed at $45.  Another 10 days they'd be at $35 so I offer $25 or $30.  When things sit there for a while, folks start to worry it won't sell at all and most sellers on Craiglist are there because they're trying to get rid of stuff and/or make quick cash.


Secondhand Stores, Yard Sales, etc - These two techniques work in kitchen supply stores as well.

Dust equals discount in my book.  Dust means it's been sitting there.  A while.  You can see it, they can see it, everyone knows what's going on.   We'd practically be doing them a favor to take this thing out of their store for them.  Make an offer!  Heck even point out that it's so dusty they must have forgotten they even had it.

Buy a lot, pay less.  A "lot" as in a group of stuff.  Gather up what you think you may want, do some quick math and offer less.  To increase the odds of victory even more, offer a nice round number that makes life easier for everyone.   If the total adds up to $24, offer $20.  If it's $26, offer $20.  People seem to like $20's by the way.  $20, $40, $60.  They know you likely have exact change and they don't have to make change.  Even if it's $75 offer $60.  You've got nothing to lose except savings.

Be willing to let things go.  If they don't take the bait at first, start sliding things aside you could live without and see if you can get them to come back to the table.

My kitchen store is a fan of "lots."  They've given me discounts without even asking simply to make their lives easier.  So gather up some dusty Arabic Tea Pots and cake stands and start making some deals!


10 Days till Halloween...