Shoppers haggle for deals from frantic retailers

"The manager asked me what I wanted to pay for both of them," Pearson said. She wound up getting about $40 off the total and paying no sales tax.

At cosmetics counters, the situation varies, said Ehtisham Khan, who asked that the major retailer where he works in San Francisco not be named. The biggest-name vendors aren't bargaining; some aren't even offering specials for big spenders. But smaller makeup and perfume companies are piling on the freebies, he said, and it's driving sales.

"You give them an extra travel size or a couple fragrance samples, and they'll buy an extra item rather than wait until later," he said.

Of course, not every retailer is willing to haggle.

Adam Lippes, the owner of a two-store high-end contemporary clothing chain called ADAM, said he's offering bigger sales this year at his location in Manhattan's trendy Meatpacking district to cater to more budget-conscious shoppers. But he has had to retrain his sales staff to explain to shoppers why a garment shouldn't be sold for still less.

"The sales staff has to understand the clothes," he said. "It's more work."

He recently talked a customer out of demanding $200 off a $450 dress that was already discounted 25 percent by explaining that it was made with high-quality Italian fabric and manufactured in New York.

Other retailers are giving consumers more wiggle room for returns instead of haggling over prices.

Even Circuit City Inc., which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has extended its holiday return deadline to Jan. 31, said spokesman Jim Babb. The chain previously required items like cameras and computers to be returned by Jan. 8 and others by Jan. 25.

If the International Council of Shopping Centers' prediction for this season's sales comes true, it would be the weakest season since the index of same-store sales started in 1969. The group expects same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, to be down 1 percent in November and December — maybe more — compared with last year.

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Even massive discounts on Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving, historically the point when retailers began to turn a profit — didn't do much to help boost sales.

"Retailers have pulled every single trick out of their quiver of arrows that has worked in the past and what they're seeing this year is that it's just not working," said Hoch, the Wharton expert.

DuPont said her normal return policy "became history" about a month ago after her customers begged to be able to return their normally nonreturnable sale purchases after Christmas.

"We caved in, reluctant to turn away business," she said. "We're not looking forward to what Dec. 26 brings."

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