Eight Cell Phone Sales Tips from a Sales Rep

Here's an interesting read from The Consumerist for anyone who will be buying a new cell phone and service plan from Verizon Wireless sometime soon.

A former Verizon Wireless sale rep wrote the consumer web site with tips for consumers to get better deals than you'd think possible just by reading the phone price tags and service contract costs. It all boils down to haggling with the sales rep, something many of us may not think to do in a cell phone service store.

Read all "eight confessions," but here are a few prime tips:

• Negotiate a better price on the phone of your choice by agreeing to buy accessories and the text message plan. Then, return the accessories and cancel the text package over the phone with customer service. The sales rep get props for selling accessories and plan add-ons.

• If you're on a service plan that costs $59.99 a month, you can get a new phone and a new contract after 12 months, not two years.

• Here's one I wish I had known: If you're getting a Palm Treo, the store may be offering $100 off the phone if you sign up for the unlimited data plan. Get it, then switch to a different data plan the next day over the phone. The data plans are not contractual.

Seems to me any request is worth a shot because you never know what the sales reps are trying to push on a certain day, but these are good tips to remember when you do your own haggling.

Have you got some cell phone service negotiating tips of your own? Please share!