Back in black (ski pants)
Roberts Super-Fantastical 12 rules for Bargaining in Bejing
1) Its not a competition, its a game:
I hate bargaining. I always have, and I imagine I always will. This is partly because I have always viewed bargaining as a competition where there is a winner and a looser. Somone gets ripped off and someone else wins. Whenever I would bargain with people I treated the situation like this when in fact bargaining is more a game of diplomacy, which, if played right, doesn't have to have a loser.
2) Never stop laughing:
Because I have traditionally seen bargaining as a competion where someone is trying to rip me off, I never much enjoyed it, and it showed. I was always very serious, and would play the "bargaining game" as quickly as I could. This has done nothing but alienate the person selling the item and drive the price up. When I started treating the interaction as a trial I had to overcome, and a competition, the other party would always do the same. Jokes, laughing, smiling all help keep the situation from putting the seller on the defensive.
3) Complimenting the seller:
This is silly. When I would buy things, the seller would immediatly compliment me and I would ignore it because I new they were just trying to "butter me up" so I would pay a higher price and I felt that I would have to be stupid for that to work on me. It took me a while to realize that the compliments are all part of establishing a specific kind of mood when your selling and buying. When I start my bargaining with compliments and counter everyone of theirs with another one, the situation tends to go much smoother.
4) Copy their every move:
If somone is using a bargaining technique with you and you recognize it, it is often benificial to do it right back at them. The best example of this is compliments, but it all goes for body language, laughing, etc. If somone says your price is "joking price", say that back to them (laughing ofcourse).
5) Losing face:
This is a very complicated issue in China and has very important implications in bargaining. Almost everything you buy here is fake no matter what the brand name and price may lead you to beleive. Copies of items will of course be cheaper but sellers will not admit that becasue it means A) They sell cheap infrior goods and B) They can't sell their items for as much as they would like. Saying things like "I know this is fake" makes people loose face. Instead mask the statement in a compliment by saying something about how incredibly talented Chinese peoples skills are at copying a specific item. Once people have aknowledged their wares are fake, you have cut the price of everything in their store in half. Also, when bargaining on a price never say the price you want to pay at anytime. Always stop just under it and let the seller say the last price, otherwise they lose face, and feel like you have "won". Ideally you want to leave with everyone feeling like they have won.
6) Know your price before you do anything.
Setting out to get the lowest price possible is not benificial to anyone. You decide how much you are willing to pay for the item before interacting with a seller. This way your goal is to pay that amount rather than getting a "low price" that doesn't actually exsist, which makes success attainable.
7) Show concern for the seller:
Saying repeatedly "you should probably just go, because you can't pay a lot, and you don't want them to lose money on the deal" does two things, A) It helps establish that this is not a cutthroat competition between you and them, and B) It often gets the seller to admit that if your price is too low they just won't sell you the item. This gives you a good bargaining point later on in the interaction.
8) The "walk away"
Someone told me that the best bargaining technique is to be willing not to buy the item you want, and its true. When you have reached your final price say your sorry that a deal couldn't be reached and walk away. Seven times out of ten that is what gets you your price. If you really want somthing and the last price was decent, you can always go back.
9) Throw in a gift:
This is pretty bad because it harkens back to the glass bead and native Amricans, but it works really well. Throwing in an American coin, ballon hats, often does more to help releive tension and make the seller feel better about giving you a good deal. Remember it's not part of the bargian, its a gift from you to them.
11) Cut the price in half:
Whatever the first price your qouted is, cut that in half and make that your goal. If you are in a place that gets a lot of forienger traffic, cut the price down to as low as 1/20. Remember, don't start from these prices, make them your goal.
12) I'm on my way to the airport
As a last resort when you really want something cheap and don't want to bargain you can do this. Approach the seller with the exact amount you want to pay in your pocket. Then say "I want that item, I only have this much money, and I have to meet my taxi in a couple of minutes to fly home". Remeber to show the money and empty out your pockets to prove that thats all you have. This often proves to be too much temptation for people, and they will cave immediatly or at least very quickly. This should only be done if you know a seller has the exact item you want, and you know how much it's worth.
Truly, I still dislike bargaining because I generally don't like these kinds of social games. The bargaining game is eerily close to the seduction game, which I also think is just as rediculous. Despite not liking to play the bargaining game everytime I need to buy something, I am in China, and knowing how to bargain is important for doing anything here. Its funny, a lot of the things I have real problems with I have to learned how to deal with here. This includes people yelling, and strangers grabbing me. Everyone yells all the time, even when they're just conversing. I've had a lot of trouble figuring out when people are mad at me and just had to get used to it. Also, Chinese selling techniques often include putting an arm around you or litteraly grabbing you and pulling you into a booth. While I still really hate this, I have come to expect it and not let it effect me.
Another very different selling technique is China is to closely follow eveyone when enter your store and contanstly hound them with suggestions on what you think they should buy. It is difficult to impossible most times to escape the phrase "you buy this", while you look for what you want to purchase. For this reason I have started to try and convince people I don't speak English or Chinese. I have convinced multiple people I was German, Russian, French, from an imaginary country, or that I was deaf. This has actually gotten people to leave me alone when they figure out that I won't understand anything they say because the main language they tend to study here is English.
I went to the human cadaver exhibit in the Bejing Natural History Museum and was shocked to find that it was the much more intense than the Philidelphia Medical Museum. I reccomend that no one ever go there unlesses they want to see some of the most nausiating things they will ever see in their lives.
I went to the great wall yesterday although a portion of the wall I wanted to walk on was closed. Its seems two days ago a woman was struck by lightening on that section of the wall and killed. Her and her husband were greek and couldn't speak English or Chinese, and therefore were unable to get help right away.
I'm still waiting for my visa. I'll be here for in Bejing for a bit. At least I'm not sick anymore. I hope everyone is well.
My best bargaining:
New ski pants which started at 300 US dollars and ended at 10 US dollars and a balloon flower. Everybody left happy, except for the lorax.
1) Its not a competition, its a game:
I hate bargaining. I always have, and I imagine I always will. This is partly because I have always viewed bargaining as a competition where there is a winner and a looser. Somone gets ripped off and someone else wins. Whenever I would bargain with people I treated the situation like this when in fact bargaining is more a game of diplomacy, which, if played right, doesn't have to have a loser.
2) Never stop laughing:
Because I have traditionally seen bargaining as a competion where someone is trying to rip me off, I never much enjoyed it, and it showed. I was always very serious, and would play the "bargaining game" as quickly as I could. This has done nothing but alienate the person selling the item and drive the price up. When I started treating the interaction as a trial I had to overcome, and a competition, the other party would always do the same. Jokes, laughing, smiling all help keep the situation from putting the seller on the defensive.
3) Complimenting the seller:
This is silly. When I would buy things, the seller would immediatly compliment me and I would ignore it because I new they were just trying to "butter me up" so I would pay a higher price and I felt that I would have to be stupid for that to work on me. It took me a while to realize that the compliments are all part of establishing a specific kind of mood when your selling and buying. When I start my bargaining with compliments and counter everyone of theirs with another one, the situation tends to go much smoother.
4) Copy their every move:
If somone is using a bargaining technique with you and you recognize it, it is often benificial to do it right back at them. The best example of this is compliments, but it all goes for body language, laughing, etc. If somone says your price is "joking price", say that back to them (laughing ofcourse).
5) Losing face:
This is a very complicated issue in China and has very important implications in bargaining. Almost everything you buy here is fake no matter what the brand name and price may lead you to beleive. Copies of items will of course be cheaper but sellers will not admit that becasue it means A) They sell cheap infrior goods and B) They can't sell their items for as much as they would like. Saying things like "I know this is fake" makes people loose face. Instead mask the statement in a compliment by saying something about how incredibly talented Chinese peoples skills are at copying a specific item. Once people have aknowledged their wares are fake, you have cut the price of everything in their store in half. Also, when bargaining on a price never say the price you want to pay at anytime. Always stop just under it and let the seller say the last price, otherwise they lose face, and feel like you have "won". Ideally you want to leave with everyone feeling like they have won.
6) Know your price before you do anything.
Setting out to get the lowest price possible is not benificial to anyone. You decide how much you are willing to pay for the item before interacting with a seller. This way your goal is to pay that amount rather than getting a "low price" that doesn't actually exsist, which makes success attainable.
7) Show concern for the seller:
Saying repeatedly "you should probably just go, because you can't pay a lot, and you don't want them to lose money on the deal" does two things, A) It helps establish that this is not a cutthroat competition between you and them, and B) It often gets the seller to admit that if your price is too low they just won't sell you the item. This gives you a good bargaining point later on in the interaction.
8) The "walk away"
Someone told me that the best bargaining technique is to be willing not to buy the item you want, and its true. When you have reached your final price say your sorry that a deal couldn't be reached and walk away. Seven times out of ten that is what gets you your price. If you really want somthing and the last price was decent, you can always go back.
9) Throw in a gift:
This is pretty bad because it harkens back to the glass bead and native Amricans, but it works really well. Throwing in an American coin, ballon hats, often does more to help releive tension and make the seller feel better about giving you a good deal. Remember it's not part of the bargian, its a gift from you to them.
11) Cut the price in half:
Whatever the first price your qouted is, cut that in half and make that your goal. If you are in a place that gets a lot of forienger traffic, cut the price down to as low as 1/20. Remember, don't start from these prices, make them your goal.
12) I'm on my way to the airport
As a last resort when you really want something cheap and don't want to bargain you can do this. Approach the seller with the exact amount you want to pay in your pocket. Then say "I want that item, I only have this much money, and I have to meet my taxi in a couple of minutes to fly home". Remeber to show the money and empty out your pockets to prove that thats all you have. This often proves to be too much temptation for people, and they will cave immediatly or at least very quickly. This should only be done if you know a seller has the exact item you want, and you know how much it's worth.
Truly, I still dislike bargaining because I generally don't like these kinds of social games. The bargaining game is eerily close to the seduction game, which I also think is just as rediculous. Despite not liking to play the bargaining game everytime I need to buy something, I am in China, and knowing how to bargain is important for doing anything here. Its funny, a lot of the things I have real problems with I have to learned how to deal with here. This includes people yelling, and strangers grabbing me. Everyone yells all the time, even when they're just conversing. I've had a lot of trouble figuring out when people are mad at me and just had to get used to it. Also, Chinese selling techniques often include putting an arm around you or litteraly grabbing you and pulling you into a booth. While I still really hate this, I have come to expect it and not let it effect me.
Another very different selling technique is China is to closely follow eveyone when enter your store and contanstly hound them with suggestions on what you think they should buy. It is difficult to impossible most times to escape the phrase "you buy this", while you look for what you want to purchase. For this reason I have started to try and convince people I don't speak English or Chinese. I have convinced multiple people I was German, Russian, French, from an imaginary country, or that I was deaf. This has actually gotten people to leave me alone when they figure out that I won't understand anything they say because the main language they tend to study here is English.
I went to the human cadaver exhibit in the Bejing Natural History Museum and was shocked to find that it was the much more intense than the Philidelphia Medical Museum. I reccomend that no one ever go there unlesses they want to see some of the most nausiating things they will ever see in their lives.
I went to the great wall yesterday although a portion of the wall I wanted to walk on was closed. Its seems two days ago a woman was struck by lightening on that section of the wall and killed. Her and her husband were greek and couldn't speak English or Chinese, and therefore were unable to get help right away.
I'm still waiting for my visa. I'll be here for in Bejing for a bit. At least I'm not sick anymore. I hope everyone is well.
My best bargaining:
New ski pants which started at 300 US dollars and ended at 10 US dollars and a balloon flower. Everybody left happy, except for the lorax.
posted by Robert at 8/16/2005 08:56:00 PM
1 Comments:
Fascinating dissertation on bargaining and Chinese culture. I'd never get used to the yelling and grabbing either. Thanks for always sharing so much!
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