[MikoLayer]

i just lost a half page long post due to firefox crash

havnt seen that happen that many times either... oh well

long story short, i went to the local guitar center yesterday, haggled with the manager there and managed to walk out of the store with the EMU-1212M for $165 + tax. i know the group buy might end up even cheaper, but this has the advantage of getting it right away. we got home pretty late dead tired, so i didnt get to stick it in the computer just yet. the earliest i could start working on it is like after 4, got a class coming in less than two hours

now i got some good bit of reading to do on how to set it up tweak it. dunno, i really was gonna settle on AV-710+piccolo... you guys are really good at making people rush into impulsive purchases

 

[Thaddy]

Man I was really close to getting in on that broup buy, but I had an AV-710 in the mail. Looks like it's getting here today too

 

[lan]

What did you say to the manager?

Well the emu is a better platform up upgrade anyway heheheheh.

 

[MikoLayer]

basically it was the girl doin all the magic... she told the manager we are poor students and all three of us wanted to chip in for it, and i can spot only so much more. then she told him i am the one paying with my debit card, only $250 left in my accnt so we cant go any higher than that. yeah, a fabricated story you would notice right off the bat, but guess what, thats the price we ended up paying for the amp ($80 without discounts + tax) and the card ($200 without discounts + tax) with GA tax it was like $247.xx to get $35 off the card and $15 the card. the clerk kept telling us to take her anywhere we go to haggle

 

[lan]

A girl? CLASSIC haha.

 

[Jasper994]

Here's my method:

I'm one of those people who always makes sure to be well dressed when I expect people to take me seriously. Some how psycologically, people just give you more respect when you are in a shirt and tie compared to when you are in a t-shirt and jeans. This is probably a lesser consideration at Guitar Center but I've mentioned it anyway since it may have been a factor.

When I went in, I first found one of the sales people who seemed to be someone I could relate to and made contact with them by asking them if they could let me see the product. From that point on, I would only deal with them. After looking at the product breifly, I asked the price then handed the sales guy the product back and said I was going to wander around the store for a bit and think about it... During this time, I looked over some cables, went and used the restroom and glanced over the headphones, other soundcards and mixers...

Upon returning, I waited for my sales guy to be free again. I asked him to see the product again. After looking it over for a few seconds, I told him that I had been diliberating over it for various reasons such as my ground loop issues and some of the installations issues and compatibility problems people have been having. Then I asked for a break. At first he said no. I expected this, it's a new product, most places don't cut deals on new products. But HERE'S THE KEY, I didn't say anything, instead I looked back the product with a hesitant expression on my face. Remember, if you speak first, you lose, this is with all sales transactions, when you ask for something wait in silence until they answer you. DO NOT speak. After about 10 seconds he asked what I was thinking. I told him $150. He said "whoa, that's low." I shrugged my shoulders and waited again. After a second or two he punched it into the computer and it beeped. He punched something else into the computer and it beeped again, and he replied "It won't even taked $160." He tried again at $165 and it took it. So he said the lowest I could do is $165.

That's it, that's what I did. I don't know if I could have just walked in wearing a t-shirt and demanded a lower price from anyone, but I got what I wanted and that's what counts.