IT seems a number of Warwickites have taken a shine to a story published on Tuesday about the emergence of haggling on Australian shores.

A number of businesses, which chose not to be named, contacted the Daily News, complaining of a hell of a day with hagglers trying to score a bargain.

President of the Warwick Chamber of Commerce, David Littleproud, said shoppers needed to be mindful when attempting to negotiate prices.

"We are in a free market and it's everyone's right to try and haggle, but we need to be mindful that the option is not always available," Mr Littleproud said.

He said there were two sides of the coin when it came to the current retail environment.

"Things are still relatively tight even though we had a good uplifting over the Christmas period and some retailers reported the traffic through their businesses was a big uplift," Mr Littleproud said.

"This was because most people stayed at home and celebrated in town."

Despite this positive turn, it was not enough to pull local retail business out of the water.

"So we have seen better conditions during December but trading conditions are still relatively tight," Mr Littleproud said.

"Some businesses haven't got enough margins to allow for haggling - they just can't do it."

There are exceptions to no-haggle zones, such as places where negotiations have always existed.

"Some businesses are in a better position to handle haggling," Mr Littleproud said.

"I think there's always trading that lend themselves to it, like motor vehicles and with bigger ticketed items there has always been some degree of negotiation."

He said people needed to realise the amount of pressures put on retailers at present, especially with shoppers' new-found love of the internet.

"The internet is making it harder for local retailers to compete because they are the ones who provide jobs and infrastructure locally," Mr Littleproud said.

"In saying that, I think the internet has helped and probably encouraged research behaviour and it's great to have educated consumers, but be mindful at the impact we are having."

Harvey Norman furniture and bedding franchisee Alfred Duggan said his line of work involved many hagglers and always has.

"Generally it always happens," Mr Duggan said.

"People who haggle are just trying to get the best price."

Anyone attempting to haggle is encouraged to be mindful of which business they are trying to negotiate with and understand many retailers have a fixed price which is not open to negotiation.

Haggling

Remember to:

Be realistic;

Be fair; and

Be mindful of what you are actually haggling for.