Sometimes, you need to do a bit of bargaining to get a real good bargain, even for online stores.

Shopping for a washing machine

Recently we bought a brand new washing machine, because our old top-loader had constant problems over the last two years, and we could almost buy a new machine from the money we paid to fix that bugger up. We settled on a front-loading Electrolux, model EWF 1087 to be exact. It has great reviews, Electrolux is a trusted brand, and it is an out-going model we heard, which means there is a chance we might grab a good bargain.

The next thing? Find the cheapest one.

What we did first is to use the online price comparison sites like DoorOne, ShopFerret and ShopBot. Yes — use them all because they do not always carry the same list of shops. Another cost to factor in is delivery charge. For white goods it can become very expensive, especially if they are inter-states or you don’t happen to drive a ute.

The cheapest comes down to The Electric Discounter in Queensland — $688. However, delivery to Sydney will cost $55, which comes down to $743 — still the cheapest on the list.

Well, we then try to bring the online price we gathered from the price comparison sites to a real shop front and asked for price match. We tried The Good Guys Discounted Warehouse in Alexandria and RetraVision in Kingsford. One laughed at us, and one never called back. Well, maybe their “low price” is not really guaranteed. No, we did not even bother to ask Bing Lee — their listed price is already $250 dealer than The Electric Discounter’s.

However, my wife and I really like to buy from a Sydney shop just in case there’s any warranty claims. So my wife rang up Appliances Online, who is selling the same Electrolux online for $747 including delivery, to see whether they are willing to match the price. They are in Waterloo so very close to us.

Then the person on the phone was willing to sell us the washing machine for $730, delivery included. Moreover, their technician will install it for us, i.e. connecting the pipe, etc, whereas The Electric Discounter is only willing to drop it at our front-door. Plus Sydney’s $150 rebate on front-loading washing machines, our 7kg new Electrolux turned out to be only $580 delivered and installed. Well, that sounds like a done deal to me.

Moral of the story — sometimes you can even try a bit of bargaining on online stores, if they happen to have price matching policy and a number you can call. Do your research, and you might be surprised that how willing they want to do business with you.

Shopping for furnitures

Here is another story. During the Christmas-New Year holidays, we also brought a new single bed + a tall boy from Knott’s Pine in SupaCenta. Tall boy is on special for $199, and the bed frame costs $299. So together it should be $498.

However at checkout, even without asking or any act of bargaining, Knott’s Pine knocks off $48 from the final price, and made it $450 for both items. Yup. Quick discount WITHOUT a single request.

Maybe we could have bring down the price even further if we asked. Maybe.