Now I live in Beijing, China with my husband. Money is handled differently depending on the country, but there are many surprising things about money in China. Here, I would like to talk about the money-related events that are unique to China that cannot be seen in other countries.
Bargaining is natural thing to do
Don’t believe the price they said in the first place
There are various markets and stalls in China. In such a store, the store person looks at the customer and decides the price, so never buy the product at the bid price. In particular, foreign tourists know that they have money, so you may be told a ridiculous price.
Beijing in China is said to have an average monthly income of 110,000 yen. Therefore, from a Chinese perspective, all foreign tourists are “rich”, and the same is true for foreigners living in China. My husband is a white man from Europe, but when he asks the shopkeeper about the price, he thinks that this person will definitely decide the price by looking at the customer. You may be told a price that is impossible.
When I went to the Great Wall, drinks and ice cream were sold at a store in the middle of the stairs, but when I visited the store on the way home, I asked the owner how much ice cream was, and it was 98 yuan ( (About 1,500 yen) If you buy it at a store, you can buy ice cream that doesn’t cost 10 yuan (about 160 yen)! It is a price that can only be determined by looking at the face of the other party.
Interestingly, when I’m with you, you might be told a slightly lower price. Because the Japanese are East Asians as well as Chinese, apparently we look at it and look like a white and Chinese couple. For this reason, from the sense of fellowship, it is thought that “I will lower the price because there is a Chinese wife (I have actually been told)”. If you think you are a foreigner, the price may go up, so in that case, I will pretend to be a Chinese.
How to bargain
What should I do if I don’t buy at the ask price? Of course it is discount negotiation! When negotiating discounts, negotiate with the intention of reducing the price from half to 70%. First of all, if you insist on the price to buy at this price, in many cases the opponent does not like to reduce the price at a stretch, but gradually decreases the price. If you say that the other party is going to lower the price little by little, it means that you are willing to sell, so here you set a price that you will never buy if it is more than this price, and make a compromise little by little To go.
If the other party never wants to reduce the price, let’s praise that he doesn’t want to sell. There are many shops in Beijing, so there is very little that can only be bought there. In addition, there is no need to buy at an unsatisfactory price because the price may be completely different depending on the store.
Tips for barganing
Tips
If you absolutely want to buy it but are not happy with the price, there are two tips. The first is to leave the place by saying “I don’t care”. For shoppers, customers are an important source of income. Even if they lower the price, they can still get some income. If they are willing to sell to you, when you said “I don’t need it” and leave the place, they’d start to compromise by saying “I understand! I will sell at that price!” If they don’t want to sell it, start looking for another store.
The second one is a little aggressive, but instead of “I don’t need it”, leave the place by saying “I will buy it over there because it seems to sell at 0 yen (the price I want)” is. They would be upset if you say so because you’d lose customers.Many people make compromises there.
The important thing in bargaining negotiations is to stick to a bullish attitude. Don’t be amazed by the shopkeeper or show your attitude to “buy it” even if you do n’t understand. It is important to show a steady bullishness that the other party will not buy if the price does not go down to what he wants.
Don’t do too much
Because the other party makes a living by doing business, negotiating too much is a violation of manners. The source of the fight. In China, shoppers and customers usually scream and fight, so it is dangerous to negotiate too much. And in a shopping street where many foreign tourists gather, it is surprisingly often that the shoppers and foreign tourists are fighting.
Looking at foreign tourists, there are many people who are trying to negotiate price cuts to impossible prices. In our sense, when negotiating price cuts, we negotiate for the purpose of reducing prices from half price to about 70%, but most foreign tourists try to reduce prices by 90% to 90%. Of course, you need to get used to judging how much you want to reduce the price, but 90% is overkill.
Also, it is useless to negotiate with people who seem unwilling to discount. Even if you negotiate with such a person, this may also be a quarrel, so you must first make a firm decision as to whether the other party is willing to lower the price.
Don’t listen to others too much
They lie, really!!
My eyes are not great, so glasses are essential, but this year I started to feel that glasses don’t fit and decided to make a new one. After all, I wanted to buy glasses wherever I could speak, so when I went to a shop where I could speak English, I was told that the price was 800 yuan (about 12,800 yen).
We negotiated whether we could manage it to 400 yuan (about 6,400 yen). When I said, “The store at that corner was 400 yuan,” a woman in the store said, “There is no machine to measure sight in that store! So it ’s cheap! “We can measure it here!” Its impossible to run that glasses stores without having that machine. But this person used various means to sell the product. Therefore, they lied without problems. I negotiated and she agreed with 450 yuan.
They suggest anything to sell
Considering Japan’s service spirit, it is natural for shoppers to determine customer needs and provide products that meet those needs. But here it is different. The other party will recommend various things to sell. For this reason, the idea of “it may make sense because the shopkeeper recommends it” is very sweet.
Maybe it could happen
When I went to a market with many foreign tourists in Beijing, I saw an interesting sight. A family from Germany (two parents and two little boys) chose a Disney rucksack, but the shopkeeper suggested the boy with a blue color but it was Frozen. Which means it was totally not for a boy but shopkeeper thought he might like it because it was blue.
I also have this experience. When I went to the bar in the market, I wanted coffee, but when I asked the shopkeeper for coffee, the person said, “There is no coffee, but there is Oreo.” I didn’t understand what was said at first. In Japan, for example, if there is no coffee, I would suggest tea. I never thought they would recommend Oreo cookies. It’s really strange that I asked for a drink and was offered a snack.
Be strong!!
China’s bargaining negotiations are world-famous. In particular, foreign tourists who do not understand Chinese are often ducks. If you really want to negotiate discounts, it is better to speak some Chinese, but the shopkeeper who became a foreign tourist may understand English a little, so you don’t understand Chinese There is no need to be anxious.
Anyway, take a bullish attitude when negotiating discounts. And don’t get on your head like, “If you can cut the price so much, go down this far”. The other person is a person. Moreover, they are people who have no resistance to yelling at customers. If you fight, you will definitely lose.
However, if you think that it is a Chinese culture, you can enjoy discount negotiations. I can’t help but negotiate this discount negotiation now, but if you come to China for sightseeing, I think you can try discount negotiation as one of the experiences.
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