Bargaining in Beijing

By Corrie Dosh

On my first trip to a Beijing market, my intentions were clear. I needed a cheap watch. Nothing fancy,just a wristwatch. And, maybe, I thought to myself, I would look at some shoes I could wear to work. That’s it. I swear.

An hour later I emerged from the market dazed and in a fog. I was holding two shirts, a jacket and just enough money to take the bus home. I still didn’t have a watch. How could this happen? I didn’t even really want the jacket—and I certainly didn’t want to purchase it for 300 yuan ($48). I began to notice things about my new purchase that I hadn’t seen before: frayed threads on the sleeves, bad stitching on the seams and a label that read wrong.

Before I came to live in Beijing, I had read about bargaining and knew that I should haggle over prices. I heard that sellers would in flate prices by 50 percent or more. I heard one should try walking away from a negotiation to get a good deal. My first attempts,however, were pathetic and went something like this:

Salesgirl: Hey! You would look great in that jacket. I’ll give you a great price. Only 320 yuan($51)!

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Me: It’s a really nice jacket. How about 250 yuan ($40)?

Salesgirl: ARE YOU CRAZY? This is the finest quality jacket in all of Beijing and you will never find anything as good anywhere else.Cheapest price: 300 yuan ($48).

Me: Ok.

I’m exaggerating, of course, but not by much. Rookie Mistake #1 was giving up too easily. I set myself up by admitting that I liked the jacket, and my counter offer was too high.After a few weeks of failure, I learned to tease out a lower price by acting disinterested and increasing my counter offer in small increments.Another trick I learned was to add more items to my purchase during the negotiation. Smaller items can be used to sweeten the deal.

My competitive streak emerged and I set out to be the best bargainer in Beijing. I learned all of the tricks and traps and within a few months I was scoring some sweet deals—which led me to Rookie Mistake #2:

Salesgirl: Hey! You would look great in that jacket. Only 320 yuan ($51)!

Me: ARE YOU CRAZY? I would only pay 50 yuan ($8) for that jacket. I saw three of those down the street for less. It’s falling apart. The color makes me want to vomit. I wouldn’t be caught dead in that jacket. I’m leaving.

Salesgirl: How about 275 yuan ($44)? It’s a good price!

Me: If you throw in the shoes, hat and bag I’ll give you 51 yuan.

Salesgirl: Please leave.

Many expats hate to be mistaken for tourists because visitors are naive and pay too much. Getting a good deal is a badge of honor and means you have lived here long enough to know what locals pay.Sometimes, however, that pride can go too far. Bargaining is a sort of game and I’ve seen too many expats get upset and angry during a negotiation, haggle over the smallest amounts and generally behave badly if they don’t get what they want. You don’t get a better deal by being rude. You don’t do yourself any favors by being aggressive. Be polite and friendly and things may go your way.Don’t swear you only have 20 yuan ($3) in your pocket and then hand them a 100-yuan ($16)bill expecting change. Be honest. Be nice.

Once I got the hang of haggling I couldn’t stop, which led me to Rookie Mistake #3. I began having conversations like this:

Me: 10 yuan ($1.61)! That’s too much. Can you lower the price? Say, 6 yuan?

Salesgirl: Um, welcome to Starbucks, may I take your order?

When I returned to New York, I tried bargaining for everything. If a salesperson approached me in a store I would act noncommittal, disinterested and perhaps announce that I was leaving. Nobody seemed to care. I had become spoiled by the flattery of Beijing shopkeepers. No one told me that a jacket looked great on me. No one whipped out a calculator to negotiate a two-for-one deal. In fact,they seemed slightly offended when I told them their bags were knock-offs and that I wouldn’t pay more than half price.

I miss haggling in markets. It was fun. I began to develop relationships with my favorite shopkeepers. Scoring good deals was a way to bond with my Chinese neighbors and friends. I hope as Beijing develops it will preserve its little markets and culture of bargaining. In these days of chain stores and mega-retailers shopping has become very impersonal. Learning to bargain was a part of expat life in Beijing. A cultural experience that created many good memories and friendships. ■