Get a better price with patience

Editor's note: This is a transcript of the audio file.

If you want a better price on a new product, sometimes all it takes is a little patience, my friend. But how long should you be willing to wait? I'm Doug Whiteman with your Bankrate.com Personal Finance Minute.

A product's price will begin to come down either when retailers decide it's time to put the item on sale or when the manufacturer decides a lower price is needed to boost sales. A site that tracks Amazon.com's prices for video games says they tend to start getting cheaper just a few weeks after release. With electronic books, the main price drop generally comes when the paperback version comes out. Decide.com, a site that monitors TV prices, says nearly a third of new models see prices come down within just 10 days. It typically takes a year for an iPhone's price to drop, while half of all new Android smartphones sell for less after a little more than a month. As for tablet computers, Decide.com says it takes more than two months for most to come down in price.

For more on the timing of price drops, visit Bankrate.com. I'm Doug Whiteman.