do yoy always have to pay full price?

I had a friend ( passed on) that would always help me bye my gear, he some how always got great deals. On my Kef refference fours on my veloydne sub and my theater grand i never paid anything close to retail price. Should i just be thankfull for the luck ive had and now pay retail or is there some thing i can do to learn his secrets. Im looking for the Martin loagn vantage