But there’s one more, which I’m going to teach you myself, and which might just be the most important rule of bargaining. I’m sure even Zhang Ayi practices this, on a daily basis. When your friends ask you how much you paid for something, look them in the eye, don’t blink, and tell them half the price you actually paid. It’s all a part of the script. 

 

When you go shopping in Chinese market, you must learn how to bargain with Vendors. Remember to act the part of a disinterested browser. Casually saunter up, keeping it slow and directionless, and indifferently ask for the price. Maybe even through in a slight criticism.

The Bargaining Skills

I was never very good at bargaining.Every time girlfriends asked what I paid for a new jacket, which always happens here, I’d lie, offering up a third of what I actually paid. They’d still tell me, with an obnoxious sniff, that I was pranked. This smarts.

Here I am, I’ve grown up in the heart of the world’s largest producer of goods, the world’s cheapest producer of goods, the home of Wenzhou shoes, Zhuji pearls and Dongguan electronics. I’m Chinese, and, better yet, a woman—I should be a born bargainer! It’s not just a survival skill here in China; it’s a passport to the land of respect.

My humiliation lasted until I met Zhang Ayi, a friend my mother brought traveling in Zhejiang Province. She’s worldly, she radiates with a typical Beijinger’s merry nature, and she’s a born bargainer. Zhang Ayi can walk into any tourist market, anywhere in the world, and always emerges with amazing local crafts and an almost-unscathed wallet. In Zhejiang, her bargaining skills impressed me even more than the misty, willow-flanked Xihu Lake. She used observation, performance, drama, and guts to cut prices. She embarked on long, arduous battles that put patience and energy to the test. Over the next two weeks of holiday, she became my mentor. She taught me everything she knew.

Mastering the art takes time and practice. But now I find myself an expert shopper isn’t always an expert bargainer. Learn the tricks of the trade from Zhang Ayi, a woman who’s a legend at both.

Haggling over the price of everything: vegetables at the market, rides in a sanlunche (three-wheel vehicle), DVDs from Sanlitun. I even found myself trying to get a few kuai off my latte at Starbucks last week. (I was horrified when I realized what I was doing.)

One concern some foreign friends have voiced is that the money means so much more to them, much more than it does to me. Granted, this might be true. But remember that the price they’re offering is bloated, it’s meant to be cut, and they’re still going to get a great deal from this sale, even with what fat you do manage to slice off.

First, take advantage of the superstitions of Chinese shop owners, by showing up early in the morning. It’s best if you can be the first customer of the day. Vendors consider an early sale to be extremely auspicious, and expect it to set the entire day’s business off on a smooth track. They’ll usually sacrifice more on prices for their very first customer, so make sure that customer is you.

Alternately, if you can’t make it so early, show up about an hour before the shop’s closing time. (For tourist bargain malls, that’s often around eight or nine in the evening.) When vendors are finishing the day’s work, and don’t expect any more deals, they’re again far more willing to knock down the prices.

That’s all the prep knowledge you really need. Once you’re in the stall, that’s when the techniques and scripts start to matter. First, remember never to show you’re interested. For such a widely-known rule, this is always the first to be forgotten.

If the deal somehow fails, don’t worry too much. Unless it truly is a one-of-a-kind (and, even though it may appear to be, it most often won’t be), you’ll find the exact same thing for sale a few shops away.

This is just another chance to practice the craft. And if succeeding efforts also fail, maybe, just maybe, consider lifting your opening price to one fifth of the asking.

Don’t forget, this is all a game, and you have to play by the rules. Learn the lingo, and practice as much as you can. These are the rules Zhang Ayi taught me. She continues to call me, to check in on my bargaining skills, and to berate me for prices paid on recent purchases.