I was in Lord & Taylor about a month and a half ago, returning a dress that I found a better price for online. While I was on my way out, I saw a really cute sweater. I stopped to take a quick look at it, saw that it was a Calvin Klein sweater and was $89.50, and laughed as I left the store.
The thing is, I really liked that sweater. It was an aubergine (purple) color, and it looked so nice and warm, as well as being different from other sweaters that I had. So I wanted to get it. But obviously I wasn’t paying almost $90 for a sweater. Truth be told, I wouldn’t pay even half of that.
So I did what any crazy person would do. I started looking online to find other stores that sold it. I saw that it was sold at Boscov’s, Calvin Klein’s own website, and of course the Lord & Taylor website.
So I kept those tabs open, and every day would refresh them to see what the prices were. Right around Black Friday, I saw the same sweater (but in black, or white) was down to $26, plus an additional 30% off at Lord & Taylor. That would have been great, but I really had my heart set on the aubergine color. On Calvin Klein’s website, it went down to $48. Boscov’s stood firm at $59.99. After the long weekend, they went right back up, except for Boscov’s which never changed.
I kept waiting, as I didn’t want to pay $48 for it either. Then, five days before Christmas, I really lucked out! On Calvin Klein’s website, it went down to $28. While that was still a little more than I’d like to pay for a sweater, I was worried that it was going to go out of stock since it’s been around for a while, and I really liked the sweater. So I bought it (using cashback of course). I went to MrRebates.com where I’ll be getting 7% cashback, meaning they’re going to pay me $1.96 for buying the sweater using their link.
So the sweater will end up costing $26.04 once I get my cashback. The sweater has arrived already, and I wore it a few days ago. I absolutely love it, and am glad I didn’t try to wait for a lower price…because at Calvin Klein’s website, only the XS is in stock now (and I needed a small), and the price hasn’t changed on the Lord & Taylor site, and Boscov’s has only gone down to $49.99.
Could I have waited longer to see if either of those sites eventually went lower? Yes, but at this point I don’t think that it will happen before the color or size is out of stock. That’s one thing you have to think about when you’re waiting for a price to come down. Are you OK with it going out of stock before you get a chance to buy it? If it’s yes, then definitely wait for a lower price. But if it’s something you really want, then it might not be worth waiting for the absolute bottom price.
In this case, I was very happy with $26.04 after cashback. I really liked the sweater and really don’t think I would have gotten a much better deal, and would have lost out on the sweater completely if I waited any longer.
But this shows you what you can do if you want to buy something, but don’t want to pay full price…or half price. If you’re patient, you can wait until the price is something you’re happy with!
