Thursday, March 24, 2011

Haggling 201

Well, the Haggling 101 post was such a big hit I thought I'd share some advanced pointers for those of you on the accelerated path. Or one more pointer, anyway:

HAGGLE DON'T: Try to De-Value the item in hopes of getting it ridiculously cheap. "I'd need to spray paint it to cover up all of this rust." Ummm, rust is actually a selling point for some people, particularly in the area of garden items; So No, I can't sell it to you for half price. "It needs an awful lot of work." I can appreciate that you might want to restore it to pristine original condition, but I can guarantee there are plenty of people that would snap up this Hoosier cabinet at this price and slap it into their kitchen as is, loving every single character flaw so again, I can't give you $100 off of this $199 item.

I don't mean to sound flippant in my responses to these people, but really, it's so frustrating. With almost 5 years under our belt here at Salvage Chic, we know our price points. We don't have a huge mark-up but we make our money on volume, high turnover keeps our customers coming back. Unfortunately the secondhand market is associated with haggling, but we're not at a yard sale here. Imagine if someone came into your workplace and said "Hey, how about you take a 20% cut in pay today?" And then handed you a credit card so it was actually closer to 25%. YAY.

Things I would never be cheeky enough to try: At my hairdresser's "Hey, I love this cut & color, but not at the $85 price point you're trying to charge me. I'll give you $60." Or the mechanic: "Awesome oil change, thanks, but it's not really worth $35 to me, I'll give you $20." And my ever favorite, at CVS: "I'll give you $1.50 CASH for this Chapstick, $2.99 is pretty insane since it's not even cherry flavor."

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Little Orphan Augie

Is an orphan no more! Kenny and I trekked up to NH last Friday to pick up the newest member of our family, a coonhound/rat terrier mix rescued from Tennessee. Here we are meeting him in the pouring rain:

I should've had my head examined ordering a puppy sight unseen off of Petfinder, but we really lucked out. What a little love; we settled him into the car for the long ride home from NH and after a few confused looks at us, he promptly passed out.

Augie had been hosted in a Foster Home for a month or so before he was transported up here at the age of 5-1/2 months. I was really worried I was missing out on his formative training days but am delighted to report he showed up a true little Southern gentleman with house manners and a basic knowledge of potty training. Our resident coonhound Duff, who's only 3 but acts like he's about 80, was pretty nervous about the prospect of his 'Mini-Me' at first.

Day 1 Duff wanted nothing to do with sitting near him; Day 3 he allowed Augie to share a piece of furniture with him; Day 4 he voluntarily jumped on a piece of furniture Augie was already enjoying and Day 5 after a busy playdate with my friend and her daughter, these 2 BFFs passed out together.

Sorry for the tiny photos, I shot some of them with my phone. But, you get the idea. Looking forward to sharing many fun Augie stories with you all in the future. And - just to clear the record for those of you who read the 'Tick-Tock' blog and thought my husband REALLY wanted a baby... I was talking about a pup the whole time. We are both delighted with the addition to the family!!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Haggling 101

Trust me, the LAST thing I want to do is encourage people to haggle. With Salvage Chic being more of a boutique atmosphere than a yard sale, we have a lot of overhead and we're not one of those places that marks UP to mark DOWN. Nevertheless, people automatically associate the Junktique Business with Haggling, so it might be time for a few friendly pointers.

Haggle DON'T: Bring up every single small item that possibly piques your interest and ask "What's your Best Price on THIS?" and then mull it over with a disgusted look on your face before putting the item back and bringing up another one. That's just annoying.

Haggle DON'T: Insult me with a ridiculously low offer followed by the word CASH. Sure, I wanted to get $200 for it, but I'll take 75 CASH so I can stick it in my mattress with all my other unreported income... NOT.

Haggle DON'T: Assume your CASH payment means you're not going to be charged Sales Tax. I try this now and then at CVS and they always look at me like I'm an idiot so I feel pretty confident in looking at you that way too.

Haggle DO: "I'm kind of interested in this (insert significant item like a large piece of furniture). Has it been here a while?" If the response is that IT JUST ARRIVED, that means THE PRICE IS FIRM. If it's more along the lines of I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW LONG THAT'S BEEN HERE, I'M SO SICK OF LOOKING AT IT! there might be a little wiggle room... a LITTLE.