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Give That Price Back
Haggling is an art and a way of life here, and while some people master it better than others, most Chinese are very adept. They have to be. If the original price was paid on everything, the cost of living would be more expensive than in any developed nation. You can bargain for many items, as small as raisins and as big as houses. In our family, my wife is the expert. She knows the going price of all food and household items, and can exact the lowest price from the shopkeeper every time she flashes her wallet. I am incompetent comparatively, and frankly would rather pay a few cents more for that bouquet of flowers or bag of walnuts than spending the extra minute or two to try to get them down further. Jennifer maintains that if you add up those few cents wasted on every transaction, the money that could have been saved by year’s end could buy an air ticket to anywhere in the country. Fair enough, but I would rather let the sellers have that plane ticket and save myself the time and aggravation.
Here is a typical conversation at the local street market. “How much for a half kilo of ginger?” “15 cents” “What? It was only 9 cents the last time I bought it”. “The price went up”. “That’s too expensive”. “I can give you a better deal if you buy more.” “How much cheaper can you go?” “If you buy 1 kilo, I let you have it for 13 cents.” “That is still too much. I want it for 10 cents, take it or leave it.” “Sorry, I can’t sell it to you for that price, I would be losing money.” “Then forget it, I will try elsewhere”. When the buyer walks away, that is often the time the seller caves in. “OK, OK, 10 cents, but only for you…” That is a lot of work for both parties, but a scenario that is re-enacted millions of times each day in China.
Where my usefulness comes in is on larger purchases. Because of my status as the local “China expert” foreigner, I can often get great deals on high-end items. The best example of this was our apartment in downtown Chongqing. Jennifer and I fell in love with the place because of its location, overlooking the Jialing River, and within a stone’s throw of her mother’s place. That, along with the light rail sky train being put in along the river, we were really motivated to “discuss a price, return a price” with the developers. The initial asking price was 3600 RMB per square metre. We asked if they could come down some. They said they were able to offer a special discount of 2% off if we decided to buy that day. Sensing even more flexibility than that, I started to sell them on me. First, I had to point out all the shortcomings, the small common area outside, lack of greenery, the distance to the bus stop, and the relatively small bedrooms.
They said they could come down some more but would need to speak to their manager. After returning with another 5% knocked off, I shook my head and said they could still do better. Playing my trump card I said, “In all honesty, it is a decent development project by Chongqing’s standards. Not what I am used to in the West of course, but in spite of its faults, would make a good local base for us. You know, there are not many westerners living full-time in Chongqing. I am sure that if I moved in, many locals would notice this and say, ‘Hey, there is a foreigner living there. It must be a good place.’ I could provide some free advertising for you, and your property values may even go up in part because of me.” We are looking for a final price of 3,000 per square metre. Please discuss this with your manager.”
Sure enough, the manager herself came over, we got to know each other, and we struck the deal. Later, we found out that this was their rock-bottom price, and the same deal the agents were allowed to offer their own families and friends. I had just saved ourselves over $10,000 Canadian and scored a beautiful new home. That was more than enough to buy several round trip tickets anywhere in China for everyone in Jennifer’s entire family (without having to give any prices back).
last modified Jun 29, 2004 at 21:56
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