Barter Tips For Travellers
At the same time you are likely to be somewhat a fish out of water and in a good mood ready to spend and enjoy yourself.
But watch out – this is something that the locals are all too aware of, and that’s particularly true when it comes to shopping. They know that you are looking for souvenirs, and that you aren’t used to haggling and fighting down your price, which is why many holiday destinations will be filled with locals trying to sell you things from stalls or at your table. Here we will look at how you can beat them at their own game and be successful in bartering them down to a good price.
Backpackers Bartering in a Hong Kong Street Market
The 30% Rule: While this isn’t true in all cases, you should be aware that shop keepers will mark things up a lot for tourists – and anywhere up to 70%. If you can get your shop owner down to around 30% of the original asking price they offered you, then that will mean that you are likely to have done well.
Don’t Feel Obligated: They may not be running multinational corporations, but these salesmen are as savvy as they come and they have an innate knowledge of the human psyche and more specifically the ‘tourist psyche’. To this end they know exactly how to play you so that you feel indebted and obligated and so that you really want to buy whatever it is to avoid an awkward social situation. To this end they will learn your name, they’ll make jokes, they’ll say they don’t want to sell you anything (just ‘show’ you) and they’ll give you free gifts and cups of tea. Don’t let any of this make a difference to how much you’re willing to pay though – it’s all just a ploy (though that doesn’t mean they aren’t genuinely nice people as well!).
Be Ready to Walk: Know this: whatever it is you like, there are 30 more like it in the next shop. In other words you are under no pressure to buy the item right now and you can easily walk away and come back in half an hour. This is your ace up your sleeve and as soon as you start to walk away they will get desperate and knock the price down a lot. So be willing to leave, and make motions to do so.
Stay Silent: When bartering one of the golden rules is to let the other person talk. If they don’t get anything from you they will feel compelled to fill the gap. In telesales workers are often taught that the first person to talk is the one who will make the compromise, so recognize this and take advantage of their naturally talkative nature.
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