If a rug buyer fails to transmit such a message, he or she could end up paying a royal ransom. Many shops mark up rugs anywhere from 10 to 2,000 percent, Cruz-Conde says. Rug buyers should always bargain for at least 20 to 30 percent off, he stresses. But if they really work hard, they could even get up to 50 percent most times. Women are more patient and love shopping, and are willing to go back and forth.
Men are much easier to sell to.
For men and women alike, there is little wiggle room when negotiating for a new automobile, despite perceptions to the contrary, says David Hyatt, spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association. The new car business has a very low profit margin of about 2 to 3 percent, he says. These days, however, buyers of both new and used cars are increasingly driving the bargain, primed with reams of information gleaned from the Internet, right down to the vehicle's invoice price. When you go in to buy a car, you don't know ahead of time how long the car has been on the lot, how much pressure the dealer feels to move the car. Calif. Haggling over new and used vehicles remains commonplace.