Originally Posted by Daves_Not_Here

You bring up a great point -- what to do when facing a huge premium to buy an item from someone you'd like to support. In those cases, I'll say something like, "I don't know if you can discount the cassette but my sense is that it's $70 online. I'm not asking you to match the price but if you offer me a discount, I won't be too proud to take it."

This, spoken to an owner or manager out of earshot of the other customers, usually gets a laugh -- and after a lookup on the computer, a good discount. I don't really expect or want a match because I want to be known and treated as a reasonable, profitable and loyal customer.