When we were at the Temple of Heaven we met some vendors selling wooden models of the temple on the way out. Guy wanted one, I didn’t. Guy, as usual, won. The negotiation started at RMB 80.00, and we ended up getting it for RMB 20.00. The bad thing about not having set prices, is that even when we get something at a really low price, we still don’t know if we’ve been ripped off or not. This time we did. We found out. Thirty feet away, a Chinese family of three was having the same ceremony: a child insisting that he had to have the wooden model of the temple, and two parents who didn’t particularly care for it, but caved in nonetheless. Like we did. They were negotiating in Chinese, the vendor was sulking, saying he’s losing money, they said they can get it elsewhere for less, the usual. They ended up buying it for RMB 35.00. So we learned a couple of things: foreigners are not discriminated against when it comes to prices. A relief actually. And local people get ripped off as well.
But this may also be a good time to share our collective haggling technique.
We simply don’t care for the initial offer made by the vendor. By the time he or she states the initial price, we already know how much it is worth for us. When I say worth for us it really means : how much a comparable product would cost in either Israel or the US minus the following: possibly but not necessarily low quality, no refunds, no returns, the distinct possibility that the product we’re buying will be used a small number of times, sometimes no times at all.
We don’t blink when the following speech comes out of the vendor’s mouth (in a surprisingly reasonable English): “For anybody else I would ask 2500 (they hit on the electronic calculator in front of my eyes 2500, then delete it) or even 2000 (hit then delete again). For you, because you are the first deal of the day / because you’re my friend / because you’re American or Israeli or a foreigner, only for you 1000”. To which I answer “Yi Bai Quai”. The vendor is in shock, following the resuscitation he or she continues: “OK, 700”. We repeat “Yi Bai Quai” (RMB 100). The vendor yells, sniffs, snarls, turns around, states what good quality this product is, and how it is impossible to find it elsewhere at all, etc. etc. To which we say RMB 100, and start to turn around and walk away. He still calls after us quoting a landslide of numbers: 500, 450, 300, 200, 175. We don’t turn around. Only when he or she says OK, we turn around, pay and leave. Half the times it’s still overpriced. But on occasion, we do find a good deal: reasonable quality at a ridiculously low price. The following, we’ve learned to be correct. The right price is when the vendor DOES NOT call after you any more. At which point if you still want it, you should turn around and buy it for the last audible price. It usually means that any lower price will eat the minimum RMB 10-20 profit they make on the item. One time at least, I actually ended up paying the vendor a little more than what we agreed on, because I sensed that he was not making anything at all.
And here’s a secret. One would think that negotiating a price is a Developing Country thing. Not at all. I already went to multiple stores in the US of America and after selecting a product I asked for a discount, and to my surprise, received it with almost no questions asked. Last time I bought a pair of sneakers and an undisclosed shopping mall, and received the “visiting from China” discount of 20% right there. Like my mother used to say: it doesn’t hurt to ask.
As for Guy, he sat for 8 hours straight until the wooden model of the Temple of Heaven was put together perfectly. No instructions included.
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