always ask for a discount

You'll never get a discount if you don't ask.  That said, I've found if you remain a loyal customer to local places you don't have to try to get deals, they work with you when they can.  Big online retailers that don't answer the damn phone can suck it, I'm gonna get what I can get because when they can they'll give it to you from the wrong end.  Rock Auto comes to mind

Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:

wae said:

If it's a sizeable purchase, I'll always ask if they'll knock off something if I pay in folding money. 

I had to check but my average sale is about $1k and I am not sure why anyone would give a cash discount unless they want to do some things under the table. My time is worth money and depositing cash wastes that and the additional few % is already baked into the cost of doing business, so no real gain to be had (again unless avoiding uncle sam). My point is as a business owner, sometimes this gets annoying. I do ONE sale a year and honestly, I will likely not do it in the future. Now every day is Black Friday pricing  or Presidents Day Sale! or whatever ploy. 

Having talked to small-biz owners, the cost may be baked in but the ones that are willing to cut a little bit off the price for a folding money deal realize that there's the processing fee and percentage that they don't have to give to the bank, they don't have to worry about a chargeback later on, and instead of the bank holding their money for 30-60 days, they have the money right now.  Some folks find those things advantageous and some don't; I make no value judgement there.  But if you're going to charge me full freight no matter how I pay, then I'm going to use the way that benefits me the most and if it adds to your transaction cost, I don't really care. 

z31maniac said:

Would you mind sharing the name of the app for Amazon you're using?

There are several, but I use Honey.  Works on Edge/Explorer, but I don't think they have an extension for Chrome.  It used to work on Firefox, but I haven't had that browser for a few years.  App for android works as well.  Tracks prices in Amazon, automatically applies coupons, neat app.

Asking politely if there is any discount for your volume purchase is one thing, but if you get huffy and demanding when there isn't, they should give you a 'shove off' discount - a badge to wear that says  "I'm A Keep Chunt"

I work for a large state agency. A large chunk of our funding comes from sales tax and so I try to shop locally. As the community is paying my salary I should at least give something back to offset some of  my salary.

There are some exceptions; the parts person at the retail giants tend to have less knowledge than me, so rather than schooling them on my old cars I just get online and order the parts. Some things simply aren't available locally.

As for the original topic; I think it comes down to knowing your status as a buyer and the position of the supplier.  

There was a 'leave the cart' tactic thread in one of the hunting knife forums I frequent. However, as a former business owner/operator, I don't intentionally use such tactics.

Tom1200 said:

I work for a large state agency. A large chunk of our funding comes from sales tax and so I try to shop locally. As the community is paying my salary I should at least give something back to offset some of  my salary.

There are some exceptions; the parts person at the retail giants tend to have less knowledge than me, so rather than schooling them on my old cars I just get online and order the parts. Some things simply aren't available locally.

As for the original topic; I think it comes down to knowing your status as a buyer and the position of the supplier.  

With the Wayfair decision, your state is now getting sales tax revenue from online sales. Ironically, it's more likely that a large online retailer will have reached nexus in your state than a small shop, so it's more beneficial to the state for you to order from Amazon than from some guy who sells 50 parts a year.