THE Ultimate Bargaining Tip

So, you have some ideas, a baseline, but you still aren’t really sure what to do when you get out there. You’re not sure where to start or how to get going. If so, this article is for you. This trick needs no knowledge or bargaining skills. Just follow the directions and you’ll be getting prices even the locals are shocked by. There is one caveat though. It only works when you are in a place that has many vendors selling the same items. Luckily, a vast majority of tourist locations fit that description.

Start with a Price they Won’t Accept

When you find something you like, act a little interested, but not too much. You want to engage them and make them think you’re serious, but that you are probably not interested enough to buy it. Then give them a very low price, a price you are sure they won’t accept. This will probably be around 10-20% of their starting price, but could be even less.

For example, they start at 200, you say 20. They laugh and say no way, yada yada yada.  If they won’t bargain with you, go on to the next vendor with the same item and start at 10% higher.   Otherwise, they’ll go to something like 190.  You say 20.  They go on yada yada yada…then say 180. You say 20. This can go on for awhile. Listen patiently, but don’t really say anything except to repeat your lowball price.

The Final Price

Eventually they will get to their final price and will stop bargaining. You still need to show interest here, but then slowly walk away saying that their price is too high. This is where the real bargaining starts. They will come down a little more, turn around , acknowledge them, but tell them it is still too high, or say 20 again.   They will come down a little more, do the same thing.  If they are still earnestly lowering the price, walk back to them to show more interest (and give your self more time to walk away).  By the time that you have really walked away and they have stopped yelling out lower prices to get you to come back, you have found out their lowest price, or at least a pretty close approximation. Now you are ready for the real thing.

Now you Know!

Go to the next shop you see and walk in like you know the exact price, and hey, guess what?, you do! Go straight to the item, take 20% off of the last price the other vendor gave you and announce that you will buy it for that price. They may try to bargain some, but at this point, you can pretty much just walk out. The beauty of this method is that once you spend the time at the first shop, it goes quickly after that. They will either accept your offer or not, and you need to show them that attitude. I find that usually one of the next 2-4 vendors will accept the price. If you go through more than 5 vendors and nobody has accepted your price, or at least gone lower than the first shop, then you know that theirs was probably about as low as it goes and you can go back and purchase it from them.  Walaa! Don’t need to know the language, don’t need to know the prices, you don’t even need to know what you just bought! Lowest price ever! Competition is a beautiful thing.

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you! I have a couple other tidbits to share, but don’t want to make this too long. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll write them in the comments.