Travel Advice - Bargaining Tips
[ Money Guide, and more planning ]
When traveling around the world, particularly in developing countries, bargaining is an essential part of the shopping experience. Here are some tips when bargaining abroad.
- Stay cool and act confident, pretend you know what the price should be even if you don’t, otherwise they will rip you off!
- The real price of an item will be much less than the starting price and will depend on the country you are in. A general rule is to at least halve the starting figure and then begin bargaining.
bargaining is an essential part of the shopping experience (Sapa Vietnam)- Before you start, think about how much you want to pay for the item you are buying and stay strong on that price. If you try the ‘walk away’ method you may get a better price.
- Keep the exchange rate in mind though. You may find you are haggling over a few dollars and even a few cents. This is probably money which will make little difference to your pocket, but a great deal to the local.
- Only ever offer an amount that you are happy to pay. It is bad karma to renege on an agreed price!
- Never feel bad about buying at a low price, locals will never sell a product without a profit margin.
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