Very few people like to haggle when they are out shopping, preferring instead to simply pay whatever the shop or retailer asks for. This is a shame, because a huge amount of money is being wasted unnecessarily. Dealers and traders calculate in to their prices a figure which they need to get, and a figure they'd like to earn as profit. They then add these together, and then add a percentage. This percentage is their margin for negotiation, and every time you fail to negotiate, you are handing over money to the trader on top of the expected asking price. Imagine being able to save ten to fifteen percent on every major purchase you make! The average person could save many hundreds of pounds every year just through haggling.

So how do you go about it? The first step is preparation. The salesman is prepared - very well prepared, and so if you are going to meet them on level ground you need to be as prepared as you possibly can yourself. This involves knowing about the product you're after, having a good understanding of the prices, and preferably having done some research on online prices and trader prices. There are many consumer magazines on the market and online which you can use which help to recommend expected and fair prices for goods.

Once you know the product you're after, and the sort of price you should expect to pay, begin the negotiations. They'll offer you the price, or simply inform you of the price. Don't react too much here - keep what you say and what you do to a minimum. Try to stay calm, and natural. Ignore the price that you're told and ask them for their best price. This will almost always result in an immediate discount! How easy is that? You'll kick yourself the first time you do this, when you realise just how easy it was to get a first discount. But, you're not going to stop here. Once they give you the discount, bear in mind what the lowest price you found online was, and what the recommended trade price was in the magazine. Tell them you were really looking to pay no more than $100 and then give them a figure just below the recommended price or lowest price you found.

The conversation will head in a variety of possible directions, but what you have to bear in mind is that at the end of the day, no one can force you to buy the product, and you can always walk away and come back tomorrow or try somewhere else. Stay firm, but polite. Don't start arguing, but treat it as a friendly game, which is what it should be.

You will clearly have to increase your price, but the salesman will probably decrease theirs. At some point they'll probably say that their hands are tied, or it's not up to them. In this case, apologise for wasting their time and ask if they would be kind enough to introduce you to someone who does have the authority to discuss the price further. Very often sales people will keep you waiting while they go to speak with the boss. This is almost always a delay tactic to discourage you from haggling any more - don't let it put you off. Keep going, and speak to the next person up, and so on. You'll be amazed at how much of a discount you'll get, possibly will extras thrown in. Once the deal is done, they'll have a good deal more respect for you than if you meekly handed over whatever random number they decided to write on the sales board.