I stumbled across this article while surfing by Arun Gupta. Read the entire article here , there are photos.
"Shopping is a LOT of fun in Beijing. There is a great variety of clothes, toys, gadgets, etc. at local shops. And no shopping is complete without bargaining and that too HARD bargaining. For example when shopping at touristy places, such as street-side shops near Great Wall, bargain HARD. The rule that I followed was to quote the price to 10% of the original. Here are some examples:
Tee-shirts quoted 1 for 130, paid RMB 3 for 50 RMB
Cashmere Scarf (can't be original ;) quoted 1 for 160 RMB, paid 5 for 80 RMB
Great Wall Memento quoted 350 RMB, paid 20 RMB
Refrigerator Magnet quoted 20 RMB, paid 5 RMB
Generally the shopkeepers will give a counter offer but be straight-faced and maintain your price. To keep it easy, just stick to your price and pretend walk away. In all the cases, I was approached with my quoted price :) "
Travel Tips to Beijing
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3 comments:
I wish had an award for most informative blog, I am always learning something here
Wow! Just had a flashback to our first purchase in Beijing at an open air market. The shopkeeper was determined to make a sale & decided that my husband was going to buy the item no matter what.
He was truly willing to walk away and also knew that the first price she quoted was really well beyond what he wanted to pay. She literally grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back to her stall. He is really more of an introvert but because he was prepared for this style of shopping he was able to take it in stride. I was trying to show him another item further down the row that I was truly interested in so he was trying to follow me. He chuckled slightly at one point because there was almost a physical tug of war going on. That chuckle made her even more determined to sell the item and the price was drastically reduced. She made the sale. My daughter has long since outgrown the little suit. It was a linen fuschia & black suit jacket with matching pants. The front had frog closures with the two lucky fish motif embroidered on it. It is one item that we have tucked safely away in her memory box as she wore it for her red couch photo at the White Swan Hotel. We also have a fond memory of my husband's first true experience of bargaining.
I would also recommend taking a small calculator along for you to use while you shop. It allows you to figure out what the exchange rate is in a pinch and allows you to type in a counter offer quickly and show it to the shopkeeper. He had one that he wore on a nylon loop around his neck when we were out shopping.
At Tiannamen Square our fairly large adoption group had a trail of vendors following along. We learned to politely say Dwei Bu Chi, Wuo Bu Yao or Bu Yao. Which means Sorry, I don't want it.
A page of quick helpful phrases are listed here.
http://www.east-tours.com/China_Digest_Page/Chinese_Lessons.html
Also remember that their sizing is much smaller. A Large shirt there might be a small shirt here. We bought some tshirts and had to buy up a couple sized to fit American family members. When they washed them they got even smaller! So buy BIG.
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