Here's something I've wondered on my three previous three trips to Rome,do the merchants expect their customers to pay the asked price?
I'm not talking about markets like Campo dei Fiori or Porta Portese,but the little and big shops. I was in Gucci on Via Condotti and saw a woman aggressively trying to get the sales clerk to come down on a little bag,but when I bought a couple of hot numbers in Dolce and Gabbanna,they acted like I was nuts when I tried to get a bit of a deal!
I've also had little luck with smaller shops. What have your experiences been?I like to follow the local customs,when in Rome and all that....

What you are doing is the equivalent of going into Bloomingdales or Saks and trying to negotiate a discount. If they want to lower the price they will have a sale! Otherwise, you are out of luck - and behaving in a fairly insulting way I might add.

Mrs F - who lived in Italy a lot longer than me, and has a much more convincing accent - always asks for sconti south of Bologna unless it's a chain store or has a sign in the window making it clear they don't do discounts.

Her success rate depends on how anglicised her accent has got.

Mine, predictably, is zero.

I never ask for a discount but have been given one on many occasions, usually at stores I shop at frequently and who know me or if I buy a large quantity of items. But unless the store is having a sale, the giving of a discount is at the discretion of the store and it is considered rude to ask for one.

Of course you can't negotiate a discount on the retail price. If you're buying a pair of shoes, the price Gucci charge is set by Gucci HQ the world over. However, if you are a regular customer, or making a large (I'd say 10000EUR or more on ready to wear/shoes/bags, but not jewellery) one-off purchase then you should expect a discount.

I remember Gucci - long before the days of Tom Ford - and being a regular customer the manageress at the time always gave me some sort of discount, or free gifts, but all that stopped many decades ago.

I think there is a difference between "rude" behavior and "foolish" behavior. I also suspect that some of the Fodors shopping mavens would suddenly become the biggest and rudest of harpies if they were told that asking for a discount actually WORKS.

I'd say of course the merchants o expect you to pay "full price" and they like nothing more than a legion of customers carefully conditioned to think that asking for a discount is unthinkable.

Any businessperson who's offended or insulted by a customer trying to negotiate isn't a businessperson but a prima donna.

Apart from anything else, do you really believe they paid retail?

And as the main said, anything that's the result of a negotiation is itself negotiable.

Actually, I have successfully bargained in stores like Macy's, Saks, and Hecht's. I've only had success with the department manager, not the floor staff. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't--usually on higher ticket items.

Message: Any businessperson who's offended or insulted by a customer trying to negotiate isn't a businessperson but a prima donna.

Apart from anything else, do you really believe they paid retail?


Huh? Obviously this post was made by somebody who doesn't understand retail at all. You see the basic idea of retail is to make money, so it is not possible to sell things for the amount you pay for them and stay in business. Of course, a retailer didn't PAY retail, what a silly thing to ask.

By the way, my favorite retort when I had my own interior design studio and shop and someone said "My husband is a doctor (or lawyer, or whatever), what is my discount?" was to reply "the same as your husband would give me."