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We who travel for extended periods on tight
budgets generally pride ourselves on having a richer experience of the
countries we visit than those who rush through on a package tour. Implicit in
our rich experience is meeting and getting to know a wide range of people.
Many of our interactions with people center around commercial transactions,
and in many parts of the world this means bargaining.
Some people consider bargaining to be in bad
taste, especially in developing countries where the difference in income
between the seller and the buyer can be enormous. I think this concern is
misplaced. In most places there is no fixed price for any item; the bargaining
process is necessary to determine the value of the item. From personal
conversations I know that foreigners who overpay enormously are seen not with
affection or respect but rather with something closer to disdain. Sellers who
get a far higher price from you than they would have accepted may wind up
being very friendly to you, but it is the friendliness that a con man has to
his mark.
There is also an element of paternalism in
the outlook that these poor vendors might take too little from you. Except,
possibly, for very young children, no seller will ever take a loss, nor will
they sell out of politeness for less than they were willing to accept in the
beginning. There is no chance of your ever making a purchase for less than (or
even the same as) what a local person would pay.
For those people setting off on a trip where
they may be bargaining for the first time in their lives, I offer the
following tips. They are based on my experiences, and others may not agree.
Here are three common but false beliefs about
bargaining:
1. We don't bargain prices in developed
countries.
It's quite common to ask a shop owner if he
doesn't have something "a little cheaper". Consumer Reports magazine in the
U.S. publishes an annual report on how to bargain for new and used cars. Any
store that posts a sign saying "We will beat any competitor's price" is
saying, in effect, "My friend, I make a good price for you." Even when prices
are absolutely inflexible, we often look for a relative or friend "in the
business" who can get us a special deal.
2. There is a "true" price for any item that
is somehow being hidden from us when we bargain.
We know, in developed countries, that
different stores charge different amounts for the same item and that the same
store may change the price of an item during seasonal sales or when the store
is in need of ready cash. The only difference in bargaining situations is that
people usually don't bother with the fiction of a "Manufacturer's Suggested
Retail Price". (Incidentally, Microsoft dropped its list prices here in the
U.S. last year, allowing vendors to set whatever price they wish.) Prices are
decided by supply and demand, how much the merchant thinks you will ultimately
pay and how much he thinks you want the item, the merchant's situation at the
time including his mood, his need for cash, how many sales he's made that day,
whether you arrived with an "agent" who needs to get a commission, whether you
have a personal connection with him, and (this is often very important) how
much he likes you. These factors can vary from buyer to buyer and from day to
day.
3. There is some kind of formula you can use
to bargain with.
Such a formula usually sounds like this: "you
should offer 30% of the asking price and settle for 50%." It's immediately
obvious what the flaw is: having figured out the formula that people use the
merchants will simply double their prices again so that they end up with twice
what they would have accepted. In reality, some merchants may ask ten or
twenty times what they would accept while others ask only ten percent more.
Bargaining Dos:
1) Do research the value of the item you are
buying: The easiest way to do this is speaking with a knowledgeable traveller
or local person who has no interest in the sale. When speaking with a local
contact, remember that they may never have occasion to buy the type of item
you are interested in, nor will the conditions of sale that apply to them
necessarily apply to you. Also, you must consider whether they have some
motive for exaggerating (or underestimating) the price. If the item is a
common one, you can casually ask the price every time you see it, say twenty
or thirty times, before seriously trying to purchase it. You can also try to
find out what materials the item is made from and how much time is involved in
the manufacture, and from this calculate a very rough idea of the labor and
material costs.
2) Do take your time: In tourist mills, or
when bargaining for small day-to-day purchases, you can sometimes do a deal in
a minute or so: "Ten!" "Three!" "Seven!" "Five!" "Four!" "OK!" But for any
significant item the seller is unlikely to reach a rock- bottom price without
a protracted bargaining session and probably several visits to the shop.
Certainly the best option is if you have several days during which you can
casually pass by the shop, allowing the vendor the opportunity to drop his
price a little bit each time. If you do make multiple visits, when you leave
each time don't stomp out in anger or disgust but leave things on a friendly
footing.
3) Do get the seller to make several offers
before you counter: In almost every case the seller's initial offer will just
be a fishing expedition. You should not reply to it in any way, just keep
asking, politely, if they can offer a lower price. After you make your first
offer, there is no obligation to "trade" figures; there is no reason why the
seller shouldn't come down two or three times before you make your next offer.
4) Do deal with people you are comfortable
with: Since you will be spending a lot of time with the person you are
bargaining with, and possibly giving them a lot of money, it's a waste of your
time to deal with people you don't like.
5) Do speak a little of the seller's
language: In any transaction in a foreign country, the effort you make to use
a little of the local language will be returned many fold. Oddly, it is often
true that the worse you speak the language, the better you will be received
(because you are making more of an effort).
6) Do maintain a friendly demeanour: For me,
the value of the item is enhanced by a fun and educational buying experience.
Your relationship with the seller may affect the final price you'll pay. In
many parts of the world, such as Turkey, bargaining for a substantial article
is an involved process involving the sharing of tea, food, and personal
information.
7) Do make sure both the buyer and seller
understand the price: When you agree on the price, make sure that everyone
understands what the price is by writing it out or typing it on a calculator,
before any money is shown. Also, be aware that there are a few places in the
world where the base 10 system is not in common use. Once, in a Hmong refugee
camp in northern Thailand, we were bargaining for some cloth with a group of
people who were quite cavalier about adding zeros both before and after the
price we wrote down. In this case it was necessary to use the actual paper
money to agree on the price.
Bargaining Don'ts:
1) Don't be rude: Under no circumstances
should you be rude, or question the validity of any price the seller names no
matter how absurd it seems to you. Your attitude should be apologetic and a
little self-effacing: "I'm sorry, but I can't pay that much." If you feel the
seller is really trying to rip you off, just apologize for taking his time and
leave: there is no need to bargain further with him, rather you should seek
the item elsewhere.
2) Don't show too much or too little
interest: You don't want the seller to feel that the item in question is one
you cannot live without. However, most people go too far to the opposite
extreme, acting as if they don't really want the object. In this case, the
seller has no incentive to actually try to close the sale. A better attitude
to project is that you like the object in question, and would certainly buy it
if only this minor matter of the price could be settled.
3) Don't use logic to argue merits of the
item or try to justify your offer: This is a losing game for you. The seller
spends all day, everyday, playing and he's bound to have an argument to
counter any justification you can give. Certainly you owe no explanation as to
how you have arrived at the price you wish to pay. After all, the seller is
very unlikely to give you (correct) information about how he has arrived at
his selling price ("Well, sir, the item cost me 10, and I have to give twenty
to my friend who brought you into the store, and 5 to my cousin at your hotel,
and I know that Americans are embarrassed to bargain and pay more than
Germans, but you're wearing old shoes, but I have a date tonight and I need
the money, so the price is 85").
4) Don't start too low: On the surface, it
makes sense that if you start very, very low you have more "room" to bargain
down the seller's very, very high starting price. But this tactic serves more
to signal your lack of knowledge of the actual value of the item. Most
successful negotiations I have been involved in have seen me start close to
the price I am determined to pay, and make occasional small concessions while
the seller comes down in leaps and bounds.
5) Don't be confrontational: A bargaining
session is a cooperative endeavour in which both the buyer and seller are
working together to a common end: agreeing to a price that will satisfy both
parties. It is not a competition in which you are trying to "beat down" the
opposition and "triumph" over them.
6) Don't be embarrassed: The worst that is
likely to happen to you if you make a ridiculously low offer is that the
seller will smile sadly and say no. Usually, no matter how low your offer is,
it will be the start of a friendly bargaining session. (This is not
necessarily true: I was once physically removed from a shop in Morocco where I
had made a ridiculously low offer on an item I had not researched at all).
7) Don't be too frugal: In some countries
where your living expenses may be only $10 or less per day, items that are
great bargains seem less so in comparison. It's a mistake to pass up purchases
that you will treasure long after you return home in the name of false
economy. About 10 years ago I was travelling with a friend in Hong Kong when
we came across a man who carved stamps (chops) from soapstone blocks. My
friend hesitated to have one made with his monogram: it cost $5, the same as
his share of our room in Chungking Mansions. In the end he did it, and of
course he's gotten constant use out of it ever since.
So go forth, bargain, and have a great time.
Larry Lustig
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