A lot like adult diapers, depends!
When I need equipment for commercial use I don't haggle over pricing. Usually, "what can you sell that to me for?" and I am done. Do I get the best deal? Probably, when you consider my time is money and I probably have a crew waiting on the equipment or using something inferior.
If a dealer is smart he takes care of his regulars. He doesn't have to make much on the sale of a saw if he knows he is going to see it after the warranty expires and sell all the chain and oil the saw goes through in it's lifetime.
The guy that chases a deal often spends enough time chasing deals that if you put any value at all on his time you often find that his savings amount to a lot less than minimum wage. If you are deal shopping as a hobby, cool, nothing wrong with that. If you are deal shopping because you are trying to save money you need to consider if you are really saving.
The last half dozen or so new vehicles I was involved in buying I spec'ed out on the internet then called ten or twelve dealers within a hundred miles and got the fleet manager's fax number. Sent out requests for bids and in every case I bought for less than I could buy a several year old vehicle for. A couple hundred above true dealer cost worst case, over four hundred below best case. Yeah, they can sell below dealer invoice, a little kickback called floorplan program which they get on every vehicle even those that never hit the lot! The bigger the dealer the sweeter the deal he gets from the factory so if you want a personal relationship go to a smaller dealer. If price is all that matters go to the big boys. Anyone can request bids and it takes me half a day's time or less to do this. I give the dealer I test drive at a hundred dollar or so cushion as they deserve something for their time and if price at a local dealer is very close to that of one further away they get the nod.
There are a half dozen Stihl dealers near me in the areas I regularly travel too, probably three times that many in areas I have other reasons to go to also. If I go to buy an eight hundred to thousand dollar plus saw I may try the bid game. Since I don't spend a lot of time at any of the dealers it shouldn't work but nothing ventured nothing gained.
Every once in awhile I get a good deal on something used but generally if I am looking for something I need now used deals are nothing special, kinda like saws advertised right now in firewood weather. Yeah, too late to be cutting this year's fire wood however the people that wait till the last minute to cut wood wait till the last minute to buy a saw too and used prices have been silly for months. They are great during hot weather when people should be buying saws.
Things for my own use I might buy used, things I make money with, rarely. Full price is usually cheap for professional equipment.
Hu
