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HOW TO DO BARGAINING: By SimoTheFinlandized - 2022 CE (SOURCE: Wikivoyage - Bargaining)

HOW TO DO BARGAINING: By SimoTheFinlandized - 2022 CE (SOURCE: Wikivoyage - Bargaining) | ================================== HOW TO DO BARGAINING: By SimoTheFinlandized - 2022 CE (SOURCE: Wikivoyage - Bargaining) ================================== Bargaining, also called haggling, is common in many countries, such as most of Asia and North Africa. In other places, it may generally be used only for large items with no fixed price, such as buying a house or a used car, but it is possible in almost any flea market or tourist shop anywhere. ================================== In such places, if you don't bargain, you are almost certain to pay more than necessary. Vendors expect a bit of bargaining so their initial asking price is considerably higher than what they hope to receive, which in turn is higher than the minimum they could accept and still make a profit. ================================== By all means bargain hard and try not to get cheated, but do not expect too much. You are a visiting amateur going up against a professional on his or her home turf. Just holding your own and getting a reasonable price will be an accomplishment; do not expect to achieve some miraculously low price. Against a pro boxer, almost anyone would be justifiably proud just to leave the ring on their feet; hoping to win the bout would be foolish and hoping to score a knockout utterly ludicrous. ================================== Also consider your priorities. If you are bargaining over some silk item that would cost $200 back home, it may not be worth worrying about whether you pay $20 or $25 in Thailand. If you make good money and are spending a substantial chunk of it on a trip, then it makes no sense to waste a half an hour to save $5; your time is worth more than that and you have plenty of better things to do with it during a trip. ================================== Sometimes the amounts you are arguing over are just a pittance to a traveller from a relatively rich country, but are quite important to someone in a poorer country who needs to make a living off the tourist trade. An amount that is large to you may be huge to the vendor. In some cases, for example, a big sale might mean the difference between all the vendor's children going to school this year or just the boys. ================================== If possible, try to buy in areas where there are many vendors and competition may bring prices down. One traveller reports bargaining for a fine silk shawl at the only store at a scenic site in China and thinking he had done reasonably well beating the price down from ¥250 to 100. A few days later he found the same shawls in a nearby multi- vendor commercial area with an asking price of ¥80 and bought a half dozen at ¥55 each. ================================== Don't get upset if you pay somewhat more than a local would; that is quite normal in many areas. In the example above, the buyer felt a bit foolish but did not feel he had been robbed since back home those shawls would likely have cost at least the equivalent of ¥350. Even a naive tourist paying ¥200 is not being robbed. ================================== Even getting "cheated" by a merchant in a local bazaar, perhaps paying $25 for something a local could buy for $10, is often better than buying it in some overpriced airport shop. It will usually be cheaper if you have even basic bargaining skill, and buying in the bazaar puts money into the local economy, rather than giving it to some large company or, in some places, helping crooked officials line their pockets. ================================== BASIC TACTICS: ================================== The key to making a good deal is knowing the right price. If you know the right price you can just state your price, start leaving the store and your offer will usually be accepted. Try to have a rough understanding of the item's value before you start haggling. ================================== Hotel or airport gift shops generally have (high) fixed prices that will at least give you an upper boundary. Government-run craft shops exist in many countries to market local products. These also often have fixed prices, but more reasonable ones that give a more useful boundary. They also generally have reasonable quality so for many travellers buying in them is a sensible alternative to haggling elsewhere. Shop around, especially for items available from multiple vendors in tourist areas. Ask other travellers what they paid for similar goods and try to make a better deal. If you buy several similar items, try to make a better deal each time. If you can, ask a trusted local what price range is appropriate. If possible, try to see what locals pay and refuse to pay more. You can either watch, or ask someone after they have purchased. Try not to be obvious; in some parts of the world locals will defer purchases so that the vendor can extract additional profits from you as an outsider. ================================== Do not let unknown locals "help", with either bargaining or finding what you need; you will very likely end up paying an extra commission. In many places, this includes tourist guides and taxi or rickshaw drivers; some shops pay them substantial commissions to bring in customers, those shops are usually overpriced, and some guides or drivers will take you only to such shops. To get good prices, you need to go shopping without a guide and preferably on foot. ================================== It may help if you can adjust the vendor's expectations. If he thinks you are rich, the price may go up. To get a better price, tell him you are a backpacker on a tiny budget, a student, an English teacher on a low local salary, or whatever. You cannot really afford what he is selling, but you like it a lot; can he do something to make it possible? When doing this, try not to look rich; a Rolex on your wrist and $2000 worth of camera around your neck will definitely not help. ================================== Be strong. Don't let them get to you, no matter how hard they push. You might be offered tea, coffee, snacks, etc. You can accept them and it does not mean you have to buy anything, although you may be 'guilt-tripped' later. You have only one obligation; to buy once a price is agreed. Until you make an offer that the vendor accepts or vice versa, you have absolutely no obligations beyond common courtesy. ================================== During the actual bargaining: ================================== Be courteous and friendly (but firm) in your negotiations. If the vendor takes a personal liking to you, you will almost always get a better deal. Just as vendors often start with absurdly high prices, in most cases you should start with a low initial offer. For example, if you think an item is worth around $100 and he or she asks $500, offer $20. This gives you some negotiating room. More generally, your first offer should always be well below what you hope to pay. Don't go overboard though: offering a dollar for something worth $500 wastes everyone's time and indicates to the vendor that further talk with you is not likely to be worthwhile. Try to move in small increments. For example, if you think $500 might be a fair price, the vendor asks $1000, you offer $200 and he counters at $800, resist the temptation to move quickly toward a deal by offering $400. Offer $250 which indicates you are willing to negotiate but puts pressure on him to come down more if he wants a deal. Later in the process, use even smaller increments; if you think $500 might be fair, your last offer was $400 and he says $600, don't jump to $500 or even $450. Either tell him $400 is the best you can do or offer something like $410 or $420. A common tactic is to bid the vendor farewell and start walking off. You will usually get at least two offers as you walk away, each lower than the previous. Alternatively, the vendor may ask "How much do you want this?" (or words to that effect), which acknowledges the fact that they realise a potential sale is walking out of the door. In some cultures it is also common for the salesman to walk off if the price is too low. This occurs the closer you get to the profit threshold but stay firm, the salesman will return in minutes to try more bargaining (Ex: Ghana beach salesman). You really should walk away from bad deals, especially for tourist items where there are many vendors in an area. If someone asks $150 for something worth about $10, don't even try to bargain; just look for another vendor. ================================== Some guides and articles suggest that, when you have no idea what a fair price might be, you should offer a fixed percentage (a half, a third, a quarter...) of the shopkeeper's first price. Alas, in general this doesn't work: many shopkeepers are perfectly aware of this tactic and will thus first offer an absolutely ridiculous price that can be tens or hundreds of times more than the real value, which they will then be more than willing to negotiate down to "half". ================================== If you feel that you must have a general rule to go by in those situations, remember that in tourist areas it is quite common for a moderately skilled bargainer to pay below a quarter of the initial asking price, and an eighth is not unheard of. You should start below what you hope to pay, so your first offer should be around a tenth of the asking price. If you really want to just get the bargaining over with, and do not mind paying over the odds to accomplish that, you could go as high as a fifth. ================================== | image tagged in simothefinlandized,bargaining,tutorial,treatise,commerce,tips and tricks | made w/ Imgflip meme maker
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================================== HOW TO DO BARGAINING: By SimoTheFinlandized - 2022 CE (SOURCE: Wikivoyage - Bargaining) ================================== Bargaining, also called haggling, is common in many countries, such as most of Asia and North Africa. In other places, it may generally be used only for large items with no fixed price, such as buying a house or a used car, but it is possible in almost any flea market or tourist shop anywhere. ================================== In such places, if you don't bargain, you are almost certain to pay more than necessary. Vendors expect a bit of bargaining so their initial asking price is considerably higher than what they hope to receive, which in turn is higher than the minimum they could accept and still make a profit. ================================== By all means bargain hard and try not to get cheated, but do not expect too much. You are a visiting amateur going up against a professional on his or her home turf. Just holding your own and getting a reasonable price will be an accomplishment; do not expect to achieve some miraculously low price. Against a pro boxer, almost anyone would be justifiably proud just to leave the ring on their feet; hoping to win the bout would be foolish and hoping to score a knockout utterly ludicrous. ================================== Also consider your priorities. If you are bargaining over some silk item that would cost $200 back home, it may not be worth worrying about whether you pay $20 or $25 in Thailand. If you make good money and are spending a substantial chunk of it on a trip, then it makes no sense to waste a half an hour to save $5; your time is worth more than that and you have plenty of better things to do with it during a trip. ================================== Sometimes the amounts you are arguing over are just a pittance to a traveller from a relatively rich country, but are quite important to someone in a poorer country who needs to make a living off the tourist trade. An amount that is large to you may be huge to the vendor. In some cases, for example, a big sale might mean the difference between all the vendor's children going to school this year or just the boys. ================================== If possible, try to buy in areas where there are many vendors and competition may bring prices down. One traveller reports bargaining for a fine silk shawl at the only store at a scenic site in China and thinking he had done reasonably well beating the price down from ¥250 to 100. A few days later he found the same shawls in a nearby multi- vendor commercial area with an asking price of ¥80 and bought a half dozen at ¥55 each. ================================== Don't get upset if you pay somewhat more than a local would; that is quite normal in many areas. In the example above, the buyer felt a bit foolish but did not feel he had been robbed since back home those shawls would likely have cost at least the equivalent of ¥350. Even a naive tourist paying ¥200 is not being robbed. ================================== Even getting "cheated" by a merchant in a local bazaar, perhaps paying $25 for something a local could buy for $10, is often better than buying it in some overpriced airport shop. It will usually be cheaper if you have even basic bargaining skill, and buying in the bazaar puts money into the local economy, rather than giving it to some large company or, in some places, helping crooked officials line their pockets. ================================== BASIC TACTICS: ================================== The key to making a good deal is knowing the right price. If you know the right price you can just state your price, start leaving the store and your offer will usually be accepted. Try to have a rough understanding of the item's value before you start haggling. ================================== Hotel or airport gift shops generally have (high) fixed prices that will at least give you an upper boundary. Government-run craft shops exist in many countries to market local products. These also often have fixed prices, but more reasonable ones that give a more useful boundary. They also generally have reasonable quality so for many travellers buying in them is a sensible alternative to haggling elsewhere. Shop around, especially for items available from multiple vendors in tourist areas. Ask other travellers what they paid for similar goods and try to make a better deal. If you buy several similar items, try to make a better deal each time. If you can, ask a trusted local what price range is appropriate. If possible, try to see what locals pay and refuse to pay more. You can either watch, or ask someone after they have purchased. Try not to be obvious; in some parts of the world locals will defer purchases so that the vendor can extract additional profits from you as an outsider. ================================== Do not let unknown locals "help", with either bargaining or finding what you need; you will very likely end up paying an extra commission. In many places, this includes tourist guides and taxi or rickshaw drivers; some shops pay them substantial commissions to bring in customers, those shops are usually overpriced, and some guides or drivers will take you only to such shops. To get good prices, you need to go shopping without a guide and preferably on foot. ================================== It may help if you can adjust the vendor's expectations. If he thinks you are rich, the price may go up. To get a better price, tell him you are a backpacker on a tiny budget, a student, an English teacher on a low local salary, or whatever. You cannot really afford what he is selling, but you like it a lot; can he do something to make it possible? When doing this, try not to look rich; a Rolex on your wrist and $2000 worth of camera around your neck will definitely not help. ================================== Be strong. Don't let them get to you, no matter how hard they push. You might be offered tea, coffee, snacks, etc. You can accept them and it does not mean you have to buy anything, although you may be 'guilt-tripped' later. You have only one obligation; to buy once a price is agreed. Until you make an offer that the vendor accepts or vice versa, you have absolutely no obligations beyond common courtesy. ================================== During the actual bargaining: ================================== Be courteous and friendly (but firm) in your negotiations. If the vendor takes a personal liking to you, you will almost always get a better deal. Just as vendors often start with absurdly high prices, in most cases you should start with a low initial offer. For example, if you think an item is worth around $100 and he or she asks $500, offer $20. This gives you some negotiating room. More generally, your first offer should always be well below what you hope to pay. Don't go overboard though: offering a dollar for something worth $500 wastes everyone's time and indicates to the vendor that further talk with you is not likely to be worthwhile. Try to move in small increments. For example, if you think $500 might be a fair price, the vendor asks $1000, you offer $200 and he counters at $800, resist the temptation to move quickly toward a deal by offering $400. Offer $250 which indicates you are willing to negotiate but puts pressure on him to come down more if he wants a deal. Later in the process, use even smaller increments; if you think $500 might be fair, your last offer was $400 and he says $600, don't jump to $500 or even $450. Either tell him $400 is the best you can do or offer something like $410 or $420. A common tactic is to bid the vendor farewell and start walking off. You will usually get at least two offers as you walk away, each lower than the previous. Alternatively, the vendor may ask "How much do you want this?" (or words to that effect), which acknowledges the fact that they realise a potential sale is walking out of the door. In some cultures it is also common for the salesman to walk off if the price is too low. This occurs the closer you get to the profit threshold but stay firm, the salesman will return in minutes to try more bargaining (Ex: Ghana beach salesman). You really should walk away from bad deals, especially for tourist items where there are many vendors in an area. If someone asks $150 for something worth about $10, don't even try to bargain; just look for another vendor. ================================== Some guides and articles suggest that, when you have no idea what a fair price might be, you should offer a fixed percentage (a half, a third, a quarter...) of the shopkeeper's first price. Alas, in general this doesn't work: many shopkeepers are perfectly aware of this tactic and will thus first offer an absolutely ridiculous price that can be tens or hundreds of times more than the real value, which they will then be more than willing to negotiate down to "half". ================================== If you feel that you must have a general rule to go by in those situations, remember that in tourist areas it is quite common for a moderately skilled bargainer to pay below a quarter of the initial asking price, and an eighth is not unheard of. You should start below what you hope to pay, so your first offer should be around a tenth of the asking price. If you really want to just get the bargaining over with, and do not mind paying over the odds to accomplish that, you could go as high as a fifth. ==================================