When you are buying furniture that is made specially for you or other things to The House, do you ask for estimates or do you just buy the one you love the most? I think that asking for several estimates is good for us to become aware of the prices, but also to negotiate after you receive the estimates. Is this something you use to do?
Asking for estimates would give you a good idea about what you're expected to pay for furniture. Armed with that knowledge when you go shopping for furniture you can at least try to get the prices slashed a little. It would be hard to do that if you don't know the approximate prices of whatever [type of furniture] you intend to buy.
Asking for estimates also keeps the the store aware that they must give people fair prices to stay in the market. Some people will make their prices so high thinking that people must purchase from them, but they are wrong. There is always some body out there that can replace you.
Yes, we need to be smart. The last time I bought furniture I saved over 200€ just by asking estimates on the phone and negotiating. One guy that I visited in person I showed the estimates I had and the told me, tell me the lowest price that you have that I will match it. I ended up not buying with him because he should have given me the best price upfront...
