So I'm looking to buy some Berkline Home Theater Seating, and I'm going to send emails to a bunch of stores asking for quotes on a particular arrangement. Would it be an ******* move to send the same email simultaneously to all vendors so that they know who their competition is? I'm thinking I might get better prices this way. What do you think?

no, but i don't think it will help you any either... you don't think they know their competitors pricing? or that in all likelihood if you are emailing them for a price, that you are emailing others as well?

So I'm looking to buy some Berkline Home Theater Seating, and I'm going to send emails to a bunch of stores asking for quotes on a particular arrangement. Would it be an ******* move to send the same email simultaneously to all vendors so that they know who their competition is? I'm thinking I might get better prices this way. What do you think?

I'm in the wholesale propane industry. We had one retailer who would do exactly as you described. We didn't respond to his emails. Why? We don't want a customer base built on price only. Live by price die by price. The type of wholesalers that tend to cater to that customer fall into a general category of seeking the quick sale and not a long term growth stategy.

In the case of selling furniture over the internet, I would say you'll get responses and competitive prices....but I wouldn't expect service after the sale. I would rather build a relationship with one or two retailers for long term competitive prices and service if a problem occurs.

I would rather build a relationship with one or two retailers for long term competitive prices and service if a problem occurs.

truer words couldn't be spoken... i've bought my electronics from the same person for a long time... i'm FAR from his largest customer, but i've spent a decent amount of money there...

it costs me a bit more money to shop with him (although his prices are reasonably competitive)... but you know what? when i got my 150fd last year and it had one stuck pixel, i called him, and he came out and swapped it out the next day, no questions asked... no "you need to call pioneer"... no "well it's only one pixel"... no nothing... new display the next day...

sometimes, the best price isn't always the best deal... people need to be reminded of this every now and then...

Thanks for the replies folks. I decided not to send out the mass email... just too tacky I think. I'd really prefer to buy this from this local family owned and operated furniture store, but I have a feeling the price is gonna be quite a bit more. I'm not sure how much I should try to negotiate.

In a related topic, I plan to buy my TV, receiver, speakers, etc online and then pay to have the local audio/video place install them. They asked for an opportunity to match prices, and so I gave them a list of products that I'm considering as well as the price (with shipping) from the online vender who I would buy from. I told them that I would prefer to buy from them and would be willing to eat the sales tax expense. They still couldn't beat any of the prices, and said that some of them were even lower than their cost. This doesn't really make sense to me, but maybe he was talking about their cost 6 months ago for a product they have had in inventory for a while.

I'd really prefer to buy this from this local family owned and operated furniture store, but I have a feeling the price is gonna be quite a bit more. I'm not sure how much I should try to negotiate.

I guess you should ask yourself how much that seller being local is worth it to you should something go wrong.

I'll willingly pay extra for a product (not to mention the 10% sales tax) to get it from Abt because of the service. However, they're typically fairly close price-wise and I have a low tolerance for the "box it back up and ship out" service model.