You may think that in order to get a discount on a bed, you need to negotiate the price lower than the list price on the price tag. Once you get the salesman to lower the price, BINGO! You just got a discount!

Not so. The list price of a bed is really more of a salesman's dream. They'll be awfully excited if they can get you to pay that price. Think of the list price as the highest price that they think anyone will pay.

Sure, sometimes a bed sells at the list price. It's probably even common. In fact, when I bought my very first bed, I paid what the price tag said. I had no idea that the number was negotiable. And my wife did the same thing with her first bed.

Many people pay the price on the price tag (maybe you have) because they don't realize that they can get it for less. By simply knowing this, you should never pay full price again.

The inflated list price just gives the salesman a higher point to start negotiating from. As I said, they'll be quite happy to sell it for that price, but they don't necessarily expect to. They always have a smaller number in their mind that they'll be perfectly happy with.

And when they offer you the bed at a discounted price, you feel like you've really gotten a good deal. But the salesman, in fact, got just what he wanted.

So never, ever even consider paying full price for a bed. The salesman doesn't expect you to, so why should you?

Just stare at it in amazement and say to yourself (but loud enough for the salesman to hear you) "Whew. Boy. That's kind of expensive."

BINGO! You just got a discount!