Had a work friend meet me in Pattaya yesterday, I was going to say where he is originally from but I guess its not politically correct to say that nowadays.

 

he is a nice guy ,still has his broad accent from his Country ,english speaking country

 

BUt....he is embarrassingly cheap......last night we went shopping at the markets he stood his ground on this poor lady haggling over 100baht.

 

this morning the same he wouldnt budge at a market stall .

These were both ladies at these stalls and i really really felt bad for them,

 

im sure they couldnt afford to go as low as he wanted but they ended up relenting,he has a loud type of accent and at times i had to interpret ....in English....to the thai lady market stall holder what he was saying.

 

this morning i felt bad about his haggling and told him numerous times before he came to my room( has the room next to mine) and told me to “ grow a pair” 

 

now i work with the guy so i cant fight with him but then he told me “ thats why i have no money because i dont haggle etc”

 

my questin to you guys is ,is there a time and place to haggle? 

Eg, surely if you see a elderly lady would it be ethical to haggle?

 

do u feel guilty about haggling?

Is there a polite way to do it?

 

I will give you an example of my friends haggling when he was trying to buy a phone recently ,

the salesman said he couldnt do that price because it the phone cost him 4500 b , my friend tyen said “ Oh dont give me that mate !!!!

 

It's a way of life here,and in other countries too,

no shame in trying to get a better price,no matter

who is selling the product,if you don't try they will

think you are stupid.

regards worgeordie 

P.S. but smile while you do it,been overly aggressive gets you nowhere

Thanks Geordie i think my friend maybe from the same place as you 

Farang khi neow mak mak. 

As always, it depends on the circumstances, but this part of your post " I was going to say where he is originally from but I guess its not politically correct to say that nowadays." - makes me think this is a troll post.....

Nonetheless an interesting topic.

 

Like most of us who have lived here for a few years, I suspect that we will haggle at times when in a 'haggling' environment.

 

Which is why I gave up markets to buy my veg. and the like - once it became too obvious that a few were more than happy to 'rip me off'...

 

Their loss,- as I would have preferred to give my money to the small guys, but turned to superrmarkets who had written prices ☹️.

So if i dont indentify his nationality i am a troll?

 

But if i indentify his nationality i would be called a troll because i identified it. I just cant win

 

 

he is actually from Australia but originally from another Country, 

 

Well mate if you think its a troll post ask the mods to delete it i guess im not too fussed

 

 

If the traders relented they still are profiting. Just not the huge fleecing they expect. The sell stuff like t-shirts at 10x markup from normal markets just cause they see a white man. Clearly it is racism, nothing less.

If a trader still sells the product he is making a profit, he / she would not sell at a loss. I think your too sensitive. Personally I don't like haggling at all, so i prefer places with fixed prices. But rest assured if they agree to a price they still make money on it. Nobody would sell at a loss.

1 hour ago, georgegeorgia said:

my questin to you guys is ,is there a time and place to haggle? 

Eg, surely if you see a elderly lady would it be ethical to haggle?

Over the border in Burma last week, the touts wanted to sell me viagra.

250bht they say, can buy for 50bht I say

100bht they say, can buy for 50bht I say

100bht for 2 packets they say, and I caved and bought.

 

To answer your second question,

I later haggled in a similar way with the 'elderly lady' I was about to use one on.

(the pills worked, after an impressive number of beers,  in case you were thinking they were fake)

Have & will haggle from time to time....My wife only does if the price is above market......

 

I have been embarrassed watching how some farangs treat vendors....Talking insultingly back/down to them while offering a ridiculously low low amount of money..... 

 

An @s*hö!e is an @s*hø!e no matter what country borders they cross....Even worse when they consider themselves above everybody else....

 

Why even associate with this person?

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Thanks Geordie i think my friend maybe from the same place as you 

Geordie is from Newcastle but your friend is from Scotland. 

I generally only shop in places with fixed, marked visible prices.

 

There is only one reason to not mark goods with prices and that's because they will try to rip you off for whatever they can get out of you.

 

It doesn't matter if they're a young guy or a young or old lady - they're all the same, they want to make a profit which is why they're there selling their goods.

 

If you do ask how much something is they will make a price up on the spot, just tell them no and walk on and watch what happens.

I can't haggle all the time for everything,  Its tiring, sometimes I feel it's demeaning and having seen the poverty I don't like hassling them all the time. They make little money, work really hard and struggle to make ends meet. There is no safety net here. He sounds a bit of a bully and I wouldn't go shopping with him I would shame him by giving the trader some money to make up the difference. If you live in the area, after he has gone people will remember you and him together. He is sh**ing on your doorstep in that case.

20 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

Have & will haggle from time to time....My wife only does if the price is above market......

 

I have been embarrassed watching how some farangs treat vendors....Talking insultingly back/down to them while offering a ridiculously low low amount of money..... 

 

An @s*hö!e is an @s*hø!e no matter what country borders they cross....Even worse when they consider themselves above everybody else....

 

Why even associate with this person?

My thoughts too.

1 hour ago, robblok said:

If a trader still sells the product he is making a profit, he / she would not sell at a loss. I think your too sensitive. Personally I don't like haggling at all, so i prefer places with fixed prices. But rest assured if they agree to a price they still make money on it. Nobody would sell at a loss.

This is true but it might be disappointingly low and force them to work longer. When people haggle here it should be with humour and haggling is never an excuse to be rude to a vendor.

1 hour ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

If the traders relented they still are profiting. Just not the huge fleecing they expect. The sell stuff like t-shirts at 10x markup from normal markets just cause they see a white man. Clearly it is racism, nothing less.


 

Wealthism. They overcharge wealthy Thais too. 

Whenever I see something I like that there's no price tag on I stand out of sight and let the wife go deal with it. Once the price has been set she gives me the signal and I walk and pay for it. Sometimes the vendors face displays dismay but when me and wife both smile at them they'll chuckle and shake their head. I treat it as a game and the wife says when foreigners overpay, some vendors considers them rich fools. 

13 minutes ago, from the home of CC said:

Whenever I see something I like that there's no price tag on I stand out of sight and let the wife go deal with it. Once the price has been set she gives me the signal and I walk and pay for it. Sometimes the vendors face displays dismay but when me and wife both smile at them they'll chuckle and shake their head. I treat it as a game and the wife says when foreigners overpay, some vendors considers them rich fools. 

Yes, we do the same....They do get chagrined....And - it is fun.....

3 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

So if i dont indentify his nationality i am a troll?

 

But if i indentify his nationality i would be called a troll because i identified it. I just cant win

 

 

he is actually from Australia but originally from another Country, 

 

Well mate if you think its a troll post ask the mods to delete it i guess im not too fussed

 

 

he is actually from Australia but originally from another Country,  i thought all aussies were   ?

2 hours ago, The manic said:

Geordie is from Newcastle but your friend is from Scotland. 

Yes he is !!!

How did you know that ?  he has been in Australia for over 20 years now though,still has his broad accent and i sometimes cant understand him.

 

Remind me myself  never ever to invite a mate especially a workmate to holiday in Pattaya again !!

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Over the border in Burma last week, the touts wanted to sell me viagra.

250bht they say, can buy for 50bht I say

100bht they say, can buy for 50bht I say

100bht for 2 packets they say, and I caved and bought.

 

To answer your second question,

I later haggled in a similar way with the 'elderly lady' I was about to use one on.

(the pills worked, after an impressive number of beers,  in case you were thinking they were fake)

Impressively honest reply just out of interest do you support a hard Brexit??

24 minutes ago, Lamkyong said:

he is actually from Australia but originally from another Country,  i thought all aussies were   ?

555

37 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

Yes he is !!!

How did you know that ?  he has been in Australia for over 20 years now though,still has his broad accent and i sometimes cant understand him.

 

Remind me myself  never ever to invite a mate especially a workmate to holiday in Pattaya again !!

stereotype - intellectually we know everybody from one place are not all one way but stereotypes are persistent - kinda ashamed to admit but that's the nationality I guessed also. 

Personally I might politely haggle a little bit, just to play the game.  But I would never push those vendors almost to breaking point like some tourists do. 

 

It gets my back up when I hear a tourist in all his/her designer gear aggressively pushing for a massive discount from a vendor - a vendor who probably washes with a bucket and makes in a week what their daily mini-bar bill is.

 

Certain nationalities are definitely worse than others. One in particular…

4 hours ago, robblok said:

If a trader still sells the product he is making a profit, he / she would not sell at a loss. I think your too sensitive. Personally I don't like haggling at all, so i prefer places with fixed prices. But rest assured if they agree to a price they still make money on it. Nobody would sell at a loss.

Actually, this is not necessarily true. There are often times when goods that are hard to move are sold at break-even or less, just to get rid of them and get money back or most of it. The person might also have decided to go out of business, and he has to get back as much cash as possible. I've done this myself - Made good profit on selling a large part of the stock, then broke even on part of it and then sold the last under cost - still making a profit overall.

5 hours ago, sipi said:

Farang khi neow mak mak. 

No no no...just "frugal" which, I believe is Prah̄yạd (ประหยัด)  ?

 

1 hour ago, tropo said:

... There are often times when goods that are hard to move are sold at break-even or less, just to get rid of them and get money back or most of it. ...

Years ago, my MIL sold vegetables.  After a few days of sickness, she didn't have cash to buy more.  She got someone to front her a bunch of eggs.  She sold the eggs very quickly at a loss, used the cash to buy veggies and sell for a profit. By the end of the day she was back in business.

7 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

So if i dont indentify his nationality i am a troll?

But if i indentify his nationality i would be called a troll because i identified it. I just cant win

he is actually from Australia but originally from another Country, 

Well mate if you think its a troll post ask the mods to delete it i guess im not too fussed

 

You can just state where he is from, no one will be bothered

If he price is ok by me I rarely haggle. I too cringe when you hear foreigners arguing ridiculously over peanuts then get all offended when they won’t budge. It’s like they feel they have to make a scene. 

To me it’s just not worth the hassle.