How to haggle
BY PATRICK CREWDSONNegotiating is a vital shopping skill in China.
As soon as you step into a store or stop at a market stall where the price isn't fixed, the shopkeeper will instantly size you up. How wealthy do you look? How foreign? How much of a sucker?
Say you find something you fancy. You'll ask how much it is.
Here's the first of three crucial moments. Having sized you up, the shopkeeper will throw a number at you - often, depending on your Chinese and their English skills, by typing it into an oversized calculator.
Don't think for a second that the price is the same for everyone. If it was, they'd have fixed prices, like the big chain stores do, or a sign up saying 'no bargaining', as in a few boutiques. The price can vary greatly depending on how you look and act.
Let's say the shopkeeper prices the desired item at 250 yuan. The first thing you'll probably do is convert that into your local currency. So that's about NZ$50.
Depending on the item, that might seem like a bargain. Do not accept the first offer. That's just not the way it's done.
On the other hand, the first offer might be three or four times more than you're willing to pay. In that case, one of you has severely miscalculated and you should probably just walk away. Ditto if you don't have any interest at all in purchasing the thing - if you start haggling the shopkeeper will think you're serious, so it's best to bail early if you're not.
If you're ready to start haggling here comes the second crucial moment: your first offer. This will set the tone and the parameters of all the negotiating to come. Go too low and the shopkeeper will resent you for trying to screw them out of a profit and will settle on a much higher price than would otherwise have been possible. But go too high and you'll miss half the fun.
And you know what? Making a really low offer isn't as easy as it sounds. Standing there clutching the calculator, with the eager shopkeeper next to you, it's easy to get an attack of the guilts. I think to myself, "Why haggle so hard? It's only $10 to me but it's worth much more to the shopkeeper."
But the guidebooks all say not to worry about that; it's part of the culture, they say, and the shopkeeper will never let the item go for an unprofitable price.
The pattern I've fallen into over the last six weeks in China is to usually offer around 30-40 per cent of the shopkeeper's first price, aiming to settle at around 50 per cent. So for that 250 yuan item, I'll be offering about 80 or 90 yuan, aiming to buy it for about 125.
Inevitably, when you make your first offer the shopkeeper's response will be an anguished, "Noooo! No money! No profit!"
Then they'll give you a little grin, touch your arm, and type in a price not far removed from their first offer.
You'll shake your head vigorously like you couldn't ever imagine paying so much for this product, then with a smile - it helps to always smile - you'll prod in a figure marginally higher than your first offer.
This dance will continue for a few minutes with each of you taking incremental steps and chattering away in your own tongue about how you couldn't possibly buy it for so much/sell it for so little.
Then comes the third crucial moment: when to walk away.
Walking away is the consumer's most powerful tactic. When haggling you should always be willing to walk away. If the shopkeeper senses that you can't do without the item, they've got you over a barrel.
But more frequently, walking away is just part of the game. You'll shake your head, smile courteously at the shopkeeper, tell them you're sorry but it's still just too expensive for you, and turn to walk away. That's when you find out whether you're bargaining too hard or whether you're in with a shot. If your offer is really too low and you've cut out the shopkeeper's profit margin, they'll let you walk away. But if not, once they see you're actually willing to leave, they'll chase after you and the next offer you get will be much closer to the real price.
Then it's just a matter of fine-tuning till you get a price that suits you both. And don't quibble over every last coin - if you're saying 125 yuan and the shopkeeper's insisting on 130, remember that the difference is only NZ$1. In China, that means more to them than it does to you.
Lastly, be prepared for the upsell. As surely as night follows day, as soon as you've settled on a price and you're reaching for your wallet or purse, the shopkeeper will cast around the store for something else you might be interested in. They're just trying their luck. They know they've got one sale in the bag and they're looking for the follow.
What have your haggling experiences been like? Why can't consumer and retailer just drop the game-playing and cut to the chase?
Patrick's trip to China is supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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Had mostly good times in Thailand, but this one incident does stick out as being unfortunate. Was looking for for a present for my Dad, only looking to pay about $20NZ on it. I saw this vaguely interesting pewter goblet in a shop, and couldn't see a price so I asked how much.
Shopkeeper picks it up and shows me the bottom - 2000baht, or about $100NZ. I've clearly underestimated the quality of the item, so I politely smile, wave my hand and go to leave.
Out comes the calculator. "I do good price for you"... and she types in 1800baht. I realise that I'll NEVER get this thing down to what I want to pay (500baht) so I try to extract myself - offering that much would be pretty insulting.
She then looks at me with disdain, disgust and disappointment, and says "Hey mister, why you ask price if you no want to buy?". I got outta there as quick as I could, and I could hear her mumbling the whole time as I was leaving! Very awkward.
I used to always let them know I was from "Xin Xi Lan" and wasn't the American they thought I was - thus I couldn't afford it at the prices they offered!
My advice is that if you really want it, then don't walk away too quickly - walking away has to be your last resort - When they don't chase after you you'll be a bit bummed!
I've just come back from Hong Kong and China where I learnt to haggle and quite enjoyed the game! To be honest I'm struggling back in good ol' New Zealand when looking around in shops and not being able to barter! If you shake your head here and go to walk away shopkeepers let you and suddenly you feel like quite an idiot!! The girl I was with in China haggled over the 5 yuan like you were saying not to. It embarrassed me and in the end I had to pull her aside and remind her just how petty she was actually being. It's very easy to get caught up in the haggling game!! I did really get sick of being hassled over there though, it's actually IMPOSSIBLE just to browse!!
Hi PATRICK . When ere you going to Wuhan? is it in your plan?
I really want to see you conmment on Wuhan~~~
From the airticle above, i can see you are very " Chinese" now . I think the key of haggle is acting do not want to buy no matter how desire you of the products.
I love this game!!!
My Dad used to take me to garage sales when I was a little fella and I'd die of embracement while he bargained over anything with the seller - I was so shamed that I decided that I didn't want the toys/item anymore "thanks dad" and would go and hide in the car. Dad served in a lot of Asian countries while he was in the Army and so had picked up the habit real bad lol. But since then I have been able to travel around most of the world and can now appreciate the fun my Dad was having - plus being Maori has helped I think cos lots of people thought I was a local - honestly!! Some that stand out include our sports team liaison office (a local) showing me how to walk away which helped me buy 18c gold for 1/8 of the 9c NZ price in Qatar and Dubai. Getting dragged into a Carpet dealers shop by a Moroccan "tour guide" and eventually offering him 20 Dirham to just shut up and let me go - he wasn't happy but still took the offer!!! Buying Crayfish for wholesale price from the back of the Suva markets by being in the right place at the right time (i.e lost) - figured out late that it might have been illegal cos who sells fresh cray for $4 each? Buying a bag in Mexico after 1 hour of bargaining and him throwing lots of extra candy to literally sweeten the deal, only to find out the mexican ideal of candy is more like my idea of violently hot crap (have had to use them as practical jokes ever since)
"Go too low and the shopkeeper will resent you for trying to screw them out of a profit"
not necessarily. resentment would be unusual. Remember you're walking,talking money.
"I love this game!!!" It is a game, laugh, smile, be merry, enjoy it. Feel no guilt. a final 50% of asking price isn't too bad Patrick, your strategy is sound.
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Good guide Patrick! I was never amazing at haggling, my girlfriend was a pro, but she works in finance so, y'know, crooks. I adapted a bit to it over time, but it always felt a bit like tennis or squash or some other raquetball game where after 3 or 4 volleys the pressure was getting to me and i'd fold. In the town where we lived it was a bit better, going to the markets - during the first month we were paying what seemed to be an awesome price for veges and killed-that-day-pork, but as the months passed and they knew us better (and my Chinese improved) they lowered the Western Taxes on it, and turns out we were paying about 4 times as much as the locals. Helped alot when we took one of the Chinese staff with us too. As the town we were in was quite small, all the tok-tok drivers knew us or atleast knew we'd been there for a while, but every now and then a new face would try and charge us 20RMB for a trip that would cost us 1RMB.
Even haggling at street vendors is recommended, when we were in Guilin we went up to a cart to get some kai and without thinking handed over the asking price of 10RMB, only to have a local walk up and order the same thing for 2RMB, big smile on his face. Good times