Originally Posted by
bobn
I think what Raydog says makes a lot of sense. It's not douchy at all. You are giving your local lbs a chance to make a sale. I think they would welcome the opportunity to match or beat the internet price, make a sale and keep a customer happy. That also directs you back to them in the future. It's just good business. Why not negotiate if you can?
I negotiate on a lot of things I buy but only on big ticket items. If I'm going to a bike store and they help me with a $35 pump and I know I saw the same pump on the internet for $25, I'm not going to negotiate them to match the price, I'll pay the $35 because they helped me with a product and their overhead is a bit more then most on line stores. I'm not going to cry over $10. However because I've been riding bikes for 40 plus years and because the internet has a wealth of information on anything I want to buy, I'm well enough informed to buy off the internet without the need or help of a LBS...most of the time anyways, and for those times I need an LBS then I'll buy whatever they helped me with from them regardless of the price difference. It's only fair.