Pay in Cash

[dannyday5821]

for expensive items why is it better for a company for the customer to pay in cash? i wanna buy a new camera soon, a canon 5d mark 2 with a 24-105mm lens included - google it youll see the prices!

found an independant store with the cheapest deal but wondered if i went in and said "will you give us a discount if i pay by cash" if anything will / might happen?

whats the difference between cold hard cash... and doing the chip and pin thing? surely cash has to be "proccessed" whereas chip and pin is just straight into the sellers account without hassle...

IF i were to get a discount from paying by cash what sort of percentage would i be looking at?

[micmak]

Paying By debit card costs the company 20 pence. Paying by credit card costs the company 2 and a half % of the value of the sale

[dannyday5821]

so... i could get 2 and half percent off from paying by cash... sorry ill be honest when it comes to maths i am feckin clueless

[micmak]

two and a half % is not a lot. £2.50 per £100 unless you're spending thousands it's not worth worrying about. You can always give it a try though.

[dannyday5821]

sooo... say i was to spend £2000 :P ...?

[micmak]

Only £50 I'm afraid.

[EDDIE51]

Most companies would rather have a debit card payment than cash , they have to bank the cash and there is always a risk of loss or theft.
I would be very suspicious of a company that gave a discount for cash probably trying to avoid VAT or worse !

[dannyday5821]

hey, 50 quid is better than nothing id be glad for that :) also, am i more likley to get a discount paying in cash at an independant store incomparison to a national store... like the difference between martins shop and pc world! id expect pc world to give me a blind "NO!"

[sara3]

I'd say you've done no research then. pc world will usually price match with anyone else..

[micmak]

Try them both. See what they say.

[Jemisa]

You probably would get a discount from a small independant shop but the big stores won't (against co' policy) I tried it in Comets when I bought my cooker.
(but I did get free delivery)

jem

[dannyday5821]

sara3 - research aside i avoid pc world like the plauge... bunch of no good fools who work there who blindly ignore you or judge you, and when you wanna spend money theres never any staff anywhere and trying to get someone is like trying to tempt a peodophile out of jail with a poster of an 80 year old naked lady... its that bad! (extreme example obviously!)

atleast in the store where i live

[joko]

well as they are not obliged to give any discount, there is no rule or expectation... its up to the owner... he may just say he;ll knock a fiver off as a goodwill gesture, he may just say no chance

£50 is a bit much... i wouldnt just knock that off just because you asked me and offered to pay in cash... people have always paid in cash for stuff... its normal....theres no big benefit in it...

[dannyday5821]

to be honest im ignorant as hell when it comes to maths so unfortunatley apart from saving and organising money with discounts percentages and stuff it generally goes right over my head

i was more curious cuz of the apprentice programme - their always banging on in a task about paying in cash and getting a discount - but me thinks they usually get away with it simply cuz theres t.v cameras pointing directly in the guys face :P

[sara3]

danny.. good luck. I think you live in a different world to me!

[dannyday5821]

sara3 - you are indeed correct!

[vodkancoke]

If anyone asks me for discount, no matter how they pay, I would only knock about 5% off at the most. I'm not really losing out because the mark-up is high enough for me to do it. We are not asked very often for discount but it happens now and again. Our stock ranges from £500-£2000.

[Buenchico]

Many years ago it was possible to get a discount by paying by cash, rather than using 'hire purchase'. (My father did it with most big purchases). That was because each shop had its own hire purchase scheme, meaning that they'd only get the money in dribs and drabs if you paid that way. It was better for their cash flow if a customer paid cash.

Nowadays the opposite is true. If you pay by credit in a store, the store gets the full amount straight away plus a commission from the credit firm which actually provides the credit. (So most retailers actually prefer customers to pay on credit).

However, if you're not even referring to the possibility of any credit arrangement then, to all intents and purposes, a debit card counts as 'cash' anyway. Unlike using a credit card (where the retailer is charged a percentage of the sale price), debit card transactions attract a fixed fee (of around 20p) irrespective of whether the sale is for £1 or £1m.

So offering to 'pay cash' isn't likely to be attractive to a retailer.

The only time when paying cash is likely to get you a discount is when using the services of a VAT-registered tradesman (such as a plumber or back street garage). Some such tradesmen will offer to let you pay the non-VAT price for the job in cash, so that they can then fail to enter the transaction in their books (saving them from paying tax on their profit). It's not legal but it's a good way of saving money ;-)

Chris

[wildwood]

Find your camera for the cheapest price on the Net. Print out the page and take it to your nearest shop who stocks it. If they don't match the price, just shrug your shoulders and go the next nearest one.
It is a game retailer who will refuse a somewhat smaller profit margin over a sure lost sale.

[lcg]

i always go into a store with a wad of cash and ask the retailer why i should spend my money in there. i do research beforehand about other stores prices and either tell a little white lie about it being £50/100 cheaper elsewhere and try to get free stuff thrown in. i drive a hard bargain and usually get my way. be confident, assertive, but not cocky...and this approach will not work somewhere like argos! but, if you don't ask, you won't get. good luck.

[factor-fiction]

I can't see most stores wanting cash- an electronic payment is much easier to process and possibly cheaper than counting up cash and taking it securely to a bank.
Also if you pay by credit card you may get extra protection plus 1-2% cashback if you use the right card