Honestly I don't mind this. If a video card costs $100 and you're selling at $110 and someone says "I'll give you $50" and makes you devote an hour to the sale, they aren't worth it.
But many of the comments on here have been anti-haggling, which is another way to say "Anti-negotiation". The problem I see isn't negotiation but instead how the negotiation takes place.
Let's take this computer store as an example. If you're one customer and you're making a single purchase- this is a simple transactional relationship and it behooves the store to optimize against such customers.
But if you are a customer who has been buying from this store for 10 years and using them for all the computer needs of a small business, presumably they've built a relationship up, in which case the computer store should know that they're gaining a loyal high-volume customer- a valuable asset indeed.
This means they can negotiate on many things, price being only one. They could negotiate on a barter of services, or they could negotiate on a personal relationship that's built up, or they could negotiate on service.
A good negotiation rarely happens in a single transaction.
I wondered what I would do if they asked to search my backpack on the way out. My imaginary response was, "No problem. I charge a ten dollar search fee, which of course if fully refundable if you find I've stolen something. If you question my fee, it goes up to twenty bucks, non-refundable."
Alas, I never got a chance to follow through on this, but it was a fun thought experiment!
I just walk by and usually they don't say anything, or if they do, I just reply "No thank you," as I am walking. Only one time a receipt checker actually (literally) yelled out, "That's not fair!" Everyone else just turns their attention to the next customer.
But if a few people were in line, I would just nod and smile and walk on by.
I never had an exit checker question this (they were trained not to!) but I did get a few dirty looks from other customers.
Sorry friends, it's not my fault if you don't know the rules. ;-)
Even Costco couldn't detain me if I didn't let them inspect my cart. But as you noted, they could refuse to let me shop there again.
Of course it would be my loss. Even if nothing else, the membership is worth it for the olive oil!
Did you happen to score any of the 2020 organic Val di Mazara? I've been a huge fan of their Toscana year after year, but the Val di Mazara is something else. Such a delightful peppery oil. I hope they get it again in the next harvest.
https://kfor.com/news/man-suing-costco-for-670000-after-refu...
The fact that you think they don't have the right, even if you are correct, does not mean it won't happen.
If an exit checker ever did say "Wait! Stop!" of course I would be friendly and let them check my receipt.
This would be the simplest solution, as my goal was not to prove a point about my rights, but simply to exit the store in an expeditious way with the merchandise I paid for.
But they never did question me, so it was never a situation I had to worry about.
This doesn't happen very often but as far as I can remember I've never been challenged when I do it.
But what I find really interesting is: based on what I've written above, isn't it trivially easy to guess my skin color?
Those security devices are generally there to scare potential thieves not actually detain or prevent them from leaving, so your anecdote doesn’t actually show anything interesting.
Nope. Maybe it would be if I the reader were in a country where people are stopped exiting a store based on race, but thankfully the vast majority of the world isn't like that.
I for one won't even touch this shop unless absolutely necessary. There are tons of alternatives online/offline. Good luck with your business.