Please help me negotiate with my dealer on a Demo Piece

[Vancouver]

My dealer has a Demo Fujitsu 50" HD plasma and wants to sell it to me for basically the new price. As a rule of thumb what % should be taken off a plasma which has been on display in the store for a few months.

I noticed the contrast has been at 100 since they installed it which concerns me.

Thanks for your opinions.

 

[sjdgpt]

What is his profit margin on the item?

Assuming that he receives 25% to 50% discount from his supplier, he has ample room to negotiate with the price. MAYBE Remember his business overhead has to be covered out of that discount margin .... a low volume dealer sells fewer units, and in turn receives smaller discounts, which means that he must have a higher profit margin on the units that he sells... which means 5-10% might be a fantastic discount.



Then again, why is he dumping the floor model?

Is there a problem with the unit? Is the unit about to be replaced by a newer model, or is the price about to be reduced? These issues will result in a much lower price.

However, the dealer may just rotate his display stock every 60-90 days to avoid problems and reduce showroom wear. If this the case, his incentive to reduce the price is greatly reduced. I would expect his discount in this situation to be comparable to the discount that he would offer if you bought an entire household of equipment from him in one purchase.

 

[Johnd]

Rule #1 in business: Any deal that you're not willing to walk away from in a split second makes you the sucker. Money talks. I was in a similar circumstance two years ago on my receiver, where he was asking $2,800.00 for it. I told the salesperson I have $2,000.00 right now. Of course he had to ask "the manager". I would have walked in a second if there was a counter-offer...there was none, just acceptance of my offer. Imho, you ought to set your own firm, non-negotiable (but realistic, if you truly want it) price, offer it, and immediately walk if they don't accept. I don't have a lot of time to dilly-dally for a couple of hundred dollars, and I believe I adequately convey that when I negotiate. Not exactly what you asked for, but perhaps, something more useful...the art of "making the deal." Cheers!

 

[j_garcia]

I would avoid buying a used display unless you get a pretty big discount. As you already noticed with the contrast...those things are usually set wrong and abused, being left on basically all day long.

 

[highfihoney]

i agree 100% with johnd,im not familuar with the gear your looking at buying or its average price but before you negotiate anything you need to know the average selling price for the unit in question, contact as many dealers as possible who sell the same peice & find out their price, take the lowest price you found then subtract 20% from it & use that as your offer, a 20% discount for floor model/display gear is just about a standard deal in high end gear.

a good thing to remember when dealing with dealers of high end electronics, they are not your friend nor are they there to help you & they are not starving to death as some dealers will try & tell you, they are there to make money from you any way they can, the deal they offer you will never be the best deal ever nor will the peice of gear your thinking about buying from them be the last peice that there is a deal on.

do your homework, be patient & be firm on a set spending limit & you will get good deals.

 

[Johnd]

highfihoney: good to see you in the game. Just tell me how I get your system at such a sweet deal...I'm all ears. Mac rules! Cheers!