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   FurnitureAdvice Newsletter
       August 2001 Edition
     http://www.furnitureadvice.com
 Michael Fugate, Editor (mailto:help@furnitureadvice.com)

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In This Issue:

~  Possible Best Times to Buy / Buying Tips

~  Have a Home furnishing Question/Experience? Let us help ! !

~  How I Made A Living Off People Who Didn't Ask For My BEST Price

~  Junk E-mail and FurnitureAdvice

~  Repairing Your Furniture (Part 2)

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   Buying Tips

Possible best times to buy in the next 60 days... From NOW through LABOR DAY !!!!

$  Retailers are promoting those "back-to-school" specials...and there are those BIG Labor Day sales. The next 30 to 45 days are one of those periods during the year when home furnishings retailers pull out all the stops to get you in the store. ( Remember Commandment #8 !)

$  Need a new sleep set? Mattress advertising REALLY picks up from now until November.

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 Have a Home furnishing Question/Experience? Let us help ! !

Our goal at FurnitureAdvice is to help you with your home furnishings decisions. If you have a question (or an experience) you would like help with, I would like to ENCOURAGE you to contact us.

There are 2 ways to do this...

1. Post to our online forum. (Go to http://www.furnitureadvice.com and click on "Online Forum" at the top of the page. Or...

2. Drop me an e-mail. ( mailto:help@furnitureadvice.com )

We will respond to you as quickly as possible.

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   How I Made A Living Off People Who Didn't Ask For My BEST Price

I hear from so many folks that say they "just can't ask for a better price" when buying home furnishings or anything else. If you are one of those who find it difficult to "dicker" over price, please read on.

As a home furnishings retailer for over 25 years, I helped a lot nice people with their home furnishing projects. And at the risk of having some who have never been in retailing point accusing fingers, I must confess that not every customer I sold received my very best price. Don't get me wrong. We ALWAYS priced our home furnishings so that each and every customer that bought received real, honest, value for their money. I wanted them to be happy with their furniture and with the price they paid. I wanted them to return and buy again. But not every customer received my very BEST price.

"Why not?", you ask.

Simple.

THEY DIDN"T ASK.

Now I realize that I am never going to make some of you understand what I'm about to say. But before you bury me in "hate mail", remember I and every other retailer went into business to make a nice living. A profit. And the last time I checked, making a profit in business was still legal.

EVERY retailer in America runs a "Sale" from time to time. Whether it's Sears or "Furniture Planet", retailers always have a little "give" in their prices. Even Wal-Mart. (Sometime check the price on identical items at "Sam's" and at Wal-Mart.)

Take it from an ex-retailer. It's OK to ask for a better price when buying home furnishings. Even when it's on "Sale".

I EXPECTED people to ask for a better price.

I was shocked when they didn't!

You see before a retailer can make a PROFIT, he must make a SALE. If a customer asked me for a better price, in each case I had to decide whether it was better to risk losing the sale over a couple of profit dollars. I almost always gave up a little profit to make the sale.

So the next time you intend to buy home furnishings, pretend you are buying them from me. ASK "ME" FOR A BETTER PRICE!

What's the worst thing that can happen? "I" tell you "I" can't go any lower on the price. Then ask "me" again just to make sure.

But ask with determination. You can use whatever technique best fits your personality. Be serious. Be humorous. But EXPECT the retailer to give you a little better deal. Take it from me, it was very easy to recognize those folks who really didn't expect me to cut the price. (They usually quit asking after the first "no".)

It's up to you. You can keep a few of your hard earned dollars the next time you buy home furnishings.

Or you can give them to "me" for "my" next BMW payment...

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  Junk E-mail and FurnitureAdvice

I recently received an e-mail from a subscriber stating that he was receiving an increased amount of "spam". He asked if possibly we at FurnitureAdvice had given or sold his e-mail address to others.

For those of you who might wonder the same thing, let me reassure you. FurnitureAdvice has NEVER and WILL NEVER give or sell your personal information to others.

We don't market our book or newsletter by sending e-mail to people who have not signed up to receive e-mail from us.

Just thought you might have the same concern...

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  Repairing Your Furniture (Part 2)

I had intended to continue my series on "What To Do When Your Furniture Becomes Damaged" by writing an article on repairing damages to wood furniture. But in the meantime I ran across the following web sites that covered the topics really quite well.

Check 'em out...

http://www.remodelonline.com/directories/home/tips/FurnitureHowTo.html

http://doityourself.com/woodfinish/

http://www.furnituremedic.com/

 http://www.khound.com/topics/furnitur.htm

http://www.homefurnish.com/woodcare.htm#stain

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Copyright 2001, FurnitureAdvice. All rights reserved. Please do NOT reprint or host on your Web site without explicit permission. However, if you found this newsletter helpful, we grant you permission to e-mail it to an associate or a friend. Thank you.

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