Getting the most for your money in China

[frank1538]

Sine she has been here, she has never once tried to haggle in the grocery store.

May be true, but has anyone seen "somebody" unbundle the various bunches of vegetables only to re-bundle them with the choicest pieces?

[Trigg]

Sine she has been here, she has never once tried to haggle in the grocery store.

May be true, but has anyone seen "somebody" unbundle the various bunches of vegetables only to re-bundle them with the choicest pieces?

Yup franck--but we are married to the most frugal of the frugal--Zhanjiang women. 45 minutes to pick out a half pound of guy choy and God help me when she tries to get the freshest corn. I usualy stand outside the Chinese market and smoke three or four packs of cigarettes when she shops.

[Guest blsqueaky]

Sine she has been here, she has never once tried to haggle in the grocery store.

May be true, but has anyone seen "somebody" unbundle the various bunches of vegetables only to re-bundle them with the choicest pieces?

So far she has not done that yet. She just walks up, picks what she wants, throws in cart

[Trigg]

Sine she has been here, she has never once tried to haggle in the grocery store.

May be true, but has anyone seen "somebody" unbundle the various bunches of vegetables only to re-bundle them with the choicest pieces?

So far she has not done that yet. She just walks up, picks what she wants, throws in cart

Ahh yes OTR Mark, you have trained her well. Now on to my wife's training procces.

 

WHAT??? Ok honey, I'm coming--Gheeeezzzz this training thing isn't going well at all.

[Guest blsqueaky]

Sine she has been here, she has never once tried to haggle in the grocery store.

May be true, but has anyone seen "somebody" unbundle the various bunches of vegetables only to re-bundle them with the choicest pieces?

So far she has not done that yet. She just walks up, picks what she wants, throws in cart

Ahh yes OTR Mark, you have trained her well. Now on to my wife's training procces.

 

WHAT??? Ok honey, I'm coming--Gheeeezzzz this training thing isn't going well at all.

Now now Trigg, I did not train her. This is just something that she started, even husband, give me card so pay,

 

Now who is trained.

 

I will admit that when she goes to the Chinese supermarket here, she is alot different

[warpedbored]

Ahh yes OTR Mark, you have trained her well.  Now on to my wife's training procces.

 

WHAT??? Ok honey, I'm coming--Gheeeezzzz this training thing isn't going well at all.  

They're trainable? Hmmmm I have my doubts.

[Trigg]

Ahh yes OTR Mark, you have trained her well.  Now on to my wife's training procces.

 

WHAT??? Ok honey, I'm coming--Gheeeezzzz this training thing isn't going well at all.  

They're trainable? Hmmmm I have my doubts.

No Carl, trust me on this on, they are not!!! But we are!

[warpedbored]

Bing thinks I'm a slow learner but I do catch on eventuallly.

[nygatl15]

In Shanghai there is a custom for shop keepers to give the 1st customer of the day a good deal, the 1st customer is very important, brings luck for the rest of the day.

this is interesting.. I grew up in NYC... when I was a kid, I used to take the train to Delancy St in lower manhattan... It was mostly a Jewish merchant area, that was their method also, make the first sale for good luck... I got many bargains from them over my younger years. Maybe the Jewish got it from the Chinese, The Chinese were here first I think.

[lele]

How about being left outside on the street,so the shop keeper does not see her with an American.

So true, so true. But, I've had occasion to watch the ritual. The loose translation that follows is a figment of my imagination:

 

You go in, browse, look at one particular item, and the salesperson immediately hovers. You put it back, and the salesperson brings out similar items. You ignore the salesperson.

 

You find something that looks promising and check out the price tag (if there is one) and mumble something under your breath about how expensive it is, but you ask how much. The manager goes to the calculator and immediately knocks off 20%. You call the manager something, tell him/her that the goods aren't worth sh*t and start to storm out of the shop, all the while listening to the manager yelling something back at you.

 

You leave the shop, start to walk away, but return and say something like you'd be willing to take this worthless piece of junk off their hands for what is now 60% (variable depending of the goods) off the tag price. As you do this, you start to point out all the flaws in the product - clothes having loose threads, a smudge on a bowl, etc.. If it's flawed in the least, you point it out.

 

More heated exchanges go on, sometimes necessitating leaving the shop a second time. The manager now offers 50% (variable) off the tag, and you wait to let the manager continue - maybe he/she will go lower.

 

You finally agree, buy the goods, and walk out, happy with the result. The manager will evetually smile after you are out of sight.

Hey, good account.

 

But you missed my favorite part:

 

Threaten to stand outside the shop and tell everyone passing by that the owner is a louse and a liar and a cheater, unless they further reduce your price.

 

Hehe. Well, it worked once for me (but the owner really was a louse and a cheater).

[david_dawei]

I watched Zixuan for quite some time execute this skill... Early on, I had the habit of asking "how much" (duo shao), and she would reply "I speak". This was her way of telling me to "close my mouth" as she barters.

 

I recognized her ultimate threat was to walk away, but then hesitate after a few steps.

 

Soon, I decided to join in the ploy. I waited till she got to those few steps and I then asked "dou shao"... I knew that the vendor was looking on and now saw "the american" getting involved. They usually had to make a quick decision to drop the price or not.

 

Finally, after two month's there with her, I got the hang of it.. finally was alone in a shop, asked a price. Then countered with a price if I bought two of them. They did some sort of sneezing noise as if to say they were insulted. I immediately walked away ! No sooner did the vendor come back with a plea to continue the pricing...

 

Later I told Zixuan with great glee... she just laughed at me.

[Dan R]

We refer to the inability or lack of skill at bargaining as a "goyisha cup" basicly means gentile thinking. I was annoyed that at a big department store they said they don't bargain. I wanted to go search elsewhere but she told me somethings you must pay what is written. Oh well no place is perfect I guess. I did work a great deal on a TV. If I move there they have some nice digitalized refrigerators. I found a household goods store that will bargain on those and I already checked the department store retail prices. This is more fun than buying jewlery and luggage in Mexico.

[david_dawei]

Whenever we encountered a product without 'bargaining' voice, Zixuan would say, "No speak".... we had this secret code language for when to 'speak' or not.. I am sure that GZ does not recognize this communication pattern....

[chrisnhong]

There's not much chance for my wife to use her bargaining skills here in Oz, but I'm looking forward to cutting her loose next time I buy a house, for example....

[philb]

Anyone contemplating if the dollar soon gets devalued to the Yuan by the Chinese government?

Would you rather hold dollars or Yuan?

 

Phil & Yun