Getting the Best Price at Night Market
Often, night market / bazaar are often seen in tourist area. Be it in Bangkok, Laos, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Egypt etc. So just as when you are excited to get the next souvenir on the street, your worst nightmare begins- Bargaining.
Below are some tips that I had picked up from experiences and observations of season bargain hunters I met at tourist market.
How should we bargain at tourist market?
- Make friends with the vendors
- Establish emotional connection. Start feeling curious about the country you are in. Ask. Question. Ponder. The best way would be interacting with the locals and what better way to do it than at the local night market.
- For a start, I may start by asking them: ” How long is their hours of operation? How are you? ” The key here is to show genuine interest in their life by engaging in small talks. After all, you are here to discover and learn more of other people life when we travel. This lead us to the next point.
2. Learn some basic language
- Simple phrase like “How are you doing?”, “Hello” , “Thank you” all comes in handy.
- Some key words that is important would be “Cheaper”, “Handsome”, “Pretty lady”. These phrases go a long way in getting better discount and breaking the ice.
3. Bargaining is an art, see it as interaction!
- Do not be so tensed up, don’t have the motion that you are cutting down price and not giving them a livelihood. If they are willing to sell you the product, they would be profiting from it. Do not worry about it.
- Note: In Thailand, the first customer would often get the price they wanted. The vendors believe in doing a successful first time business transaction.
4. Ask them to offer you the preferred price first
- Always have the vendor offer a lower price.
- Do not fall into the trap or overly commit yourself to a particular price that you have asked for.
- See how low the vendor is going to offer. Remember, there is certainly room to lower it even down.
- This lead us to the next question:” How much lower can we go?”
5. Bargain, Bargain & Bargain it lower
- Usually, we could reduce 40-60% from the initial offer.
- Subsequently, slowly increase the price to a level that you are willing to pay for the product.
- Rule of thumb: Do not go back on your words when you offered the price.
- This would also lead us to the next question: “How much should be the ideal price?”
6. Comb through the market to gauge the “market price”
- More often than not, the many stalls found in the night market sells similar stuff. In Luang Prabang (Laos), the same kind of key chains, clothes, lanterns are on sales on most stall.
- Ask first, and acknowledge the price politely, always with a smile.
7. Have your mobile phone ready
- Currency exchange mobile application comes in handy to do a quick calculation when convert into own currency. The beauty of XE currency mobile application is that it works without WiFi connection too!
- One may use it as calculator too to show the amount you intend to offer when language becomes a barrier of communication.
8. Learn to walk away if price do not suits you
- Don’t worry of the stall closing that soon. Unless the stall is selling something unique which cannot be found elsewhere and you know you will regret it if you cannot get a hand on it, learn to walk away.
- The most you would do is walk back to the stall at later time. There may be even better discount since you show keen interest in getting the product.
- In some cases, they will chase after you when you walk away and agree on the price you had bargained for. There you have it!
9. Buy in larger quantity
- Ask your fellow travel mates if they would like to buy the product you are looking at as well.
- The more you buy, the higher your bargaining power will be.
It is just that simple, so go all out to enjoy bargaining at the night market/bazaar! However, do keep in mind as well that these vendors are working hard to earn a living , so do not go overboard with your prices you offered too.
Categories: Travel Tips
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Great information. Lucky me I ran across your website by accident (stumbleupon).
I’ve saved it for later!