Smart holiday shopping tips
Overall, online merchants did better than walk-in retailers, even for big-ticket items like TVs. For walk-in stores, independent retailers topped our Ratings (available to subscribers). The Apple Store, Costco, and Staples also got high scores.
A separate survey of computer buyers found more overall satisfaction with online vendors than with walk-in stores (Ratings available to subscribers.) Just 2 percent of computer shoppers who dealt with online retailers said they paid more than expected, but more than half of walk-in buyers spent more than expected. Highest-rated walk-in stores for computers were the Apple Store, Micro Center, and Costco.
Newegg.com and Globalmediapro were the only retailers in our electronics-shopping survey to receive top marks for price. Crutchfield.com stood alone among online retailers for having top-of-the-line customer service.
Haggle: Just 13 percent of shoppers said they tried haggling at walk-in stores. But those who did saved an average of $82. Shoppers saved a median of $105 on televisions, $53 on digital cameras, and $43 on DVD/Blu-ray players.
Four in five hagglers negotiated the price of their purchases at HHGregg, P.C. Richard & Son, and independent walk-in stores. At Best Buy and Sears, at least three in five hagglers shaved dollars off the prices they paid. Hagglers for computers were successful more than half the time; the average savings was a whopping $103.
You can also haggle for a discount online. Our survey found that nearly three of five were successful in scoring a price break, even though few even think to try in the first place. A third of them negotiated with a retailer by phone vs. 29 percent through e-mail messages and 13 percent by online chat. Two-thirds of computer buyers who negotiated directly with manufacturers got a lower price.