Shopping and bargaining overseas

travel — By Bob Riel on July 9, 2008 at 3:32 pm

If you’ve traveled abroad, to someplace other than Europe, than chances are you’ve had an experience or two with haggling over prices in an overseas market. The drill is the same pretty much everywhere and, once you get used to the practice, it can even be a bit of fun. That’s what Yemisrach Kifle discovered, as well, and he wrote a fun little essay for the Christian Science Monitor about his experience bargaining with a shopkeeper in a Vietnamese market.

That shopping day in Hoi An, I had to remind myself to focus on what I thought was a good price for the gray shirt.

“How much?” I repeated my question. The saleswoman came closer and peered at my face searching for telling signs of what she should charge me. I tried to project a blank face.

With the most confident voice she could muster, she responded, “One hundred ninety” and continued to stare at me with a straight face.

“Noooo!” I exclaimed, my eyes wide with feigned surprise and offense. I stomped my feet. I pretended to walk away.

She didn’t betray hesitation. She didn’t call after me to come back. She was on top of her game.

I looked back begrudgingly and shouted, “I pay 30!”

Now it was her turn to pretend to be offended. She shook her head. “You crazy!” she yelled. But she knew that I knew how it worked. “One hundred, last price!” she said throwing her hands up in the air.

I considered the offer for a few seconds. “OK, how about I pay 85?” I asked in a conciliatory voice, taking my money out of my wallet.

“OK,” she said, smiling now. “Ninety,” she pushed my offer up a bit as a matter of course and put the shirt in a bag. She then playfully pointed her index finger at my chest. “Good for you,” she beamed and pointed it back at herself, “good for me!”