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Bargaining in China
Thursday, March 31, 2005-10:45 PM
I can't negotiate a good price for anything either as a buyer or a seller. In a country where everything is negotiable, that's a big disadvantage.
The women who sell me fruit routinely sell me twice as much as I want. Schools I've taught at have cut my pay when they can't recruit enough students.
I've overpaid for everything for bus tickets to button-down shirts. But the most heartbreaking story is what happened when I went looking for the memory card for my digital camera. It's about how business can get in the way of friendship.
About 25 minutes from my apartment there are three huge, multilevel computer markets where you can buy everything from high-end broadcast-quality camcorders to pink iPods.
It's a great place to bargain for things. Vendor after vendor offers the exact same merchandise. Not happy with one guy, there are still twenty or thirty people within the same building (or at least the same block) selling the exact same thing.
But visiting lots of shops can be a time consuming process. In order to save time, I developed a business relationship with one of the merchants. I thought we had a tacit agreement. In exchange for my repeat business and my referral of his business to other foreigners, he would give me competitive prices without too much haggling. It's a deal I thought we cemented the day he offered me a cigarette (which I declined because I don't smoke).
However, the other day I walked over to his booth and asked him about a memory card. He quoted me a price which I might have (if I had enough money on me) just accepted. Instead, I decided to come back later.
In the meantime, I decided to shop around and see what price the other guys could give me. Without even attempting to negotiate anything, I was unable to find anyone who couldn't beat his price by a considerable margin.
I was devastated. Didn't our friendship mean anything to this guy? Why spoil everything over a few kuai? Isn't anything more important than the almighty yuan?
Moral of the story: Shop around for memory cards.
(Note: There might be a more general lesson to be drawn from this anecdote, but I can't come up with anything.)
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