Want to save $6-$6,000? Just ask

I love getting a bargain, but for whatever reason I am extremely uncomfortable asking for a bargain. Growing up, I used to hit the garage sales with my mom and she had no problem haggling the sellers down to a price she considered reasonable. You’d think seeing her succeed time and time again would have driven home the importance of asking for a deal, but usually it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Years later I studied abroad in London and I distinctly remember a weekend trip to visit the leather markets in Italy, where haggling is practically an art form. I was so uncomfortable playing the game that I simply decided not to buy a leather jacket (hey, leather jackets were all the rage back then!) – I was too nervous to haggle but thankfully also too practical to pay the overblown prices. Of course, then I had to sit by envious as my friends showed off their new purchases and recounted stories of the amazing discounts they’d received.

Slowly but surely, I’ve been trying to get over my hang-up because recent examples have shown me it can pay – and sometimes pay big – to simply ask. For example, earlier this week I was looking at some colorful coin purses that I thought would make great Christmas presents for my friends with a gift card enclosed inside. They were $7 each and yet my budget for my friends’ presents was $20 each…and a $13 gift card would be a little awkward. Since I wanted to buy three of the purses, I thought the sales clerk might be willing to give me a “bulk” discount. I took a deep breath and approached her with an offer to buy three of the coin purses for the price of two ($14).

Rather than look at me with disdain, she simply countered with three for $15 which was actually my real goal since I could then add a $15 gift card to each for an even $20 present. Simply by asking, I saved $6.

For those of you who scoff at $6, a better example might be when I refinanced my house in September. Initially I “locked” in a rate of 5.75% but in talking with my broker she told me I had one option to lower that rate during the 30-day loan initiation period. In the weeks that followed, I watched the rates and shopped around for a few other quotes from brokers around the country. One based in California (not my state of residence) claimed he could get me a 5.625% rate and lower closing costs. I trusted my current broker and I wanted to stay with her but I couldn’t ignore the opportunity to save nearly $6,000. Swallowing my nervousness, I called her up and asked why the other broker could offer me a lower rate and lower closing costs. At first she hemmed and hawed with some possible explanations but when I faxed her the good faith estimate, she offered to go back to the loan company to negotiate a lower rate. The result: a 5.625% fixed 30-year mortgage and even lower closing costs than the broker in California had promised.

My need to be liked often prevents me from asking, but I try to remind myself it’s not personal. Three options are possible when you simply ask:

Worst case: they say no and you pay the price you would have paid inititially.
Better case: they counter back with a price that’s higher than you asked for but below the original price
Best case: they accept your offer

Looking at the above, two of the three options result in savings…I’m not a gambling expert, but I’d say those are pretty good odds and well worth the initial discomfort of asking.

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