Bargaining In Thailand

[alexjw]

I might be wrong but for the usual items in touristy areas it seems that they have a set price which is near impossible to get below. If you tell them (in thai) you know the price they usually smile and give it to you for that price. Or am I just getting ripped off all the time. Having said that they seem to go way higher when they see a blatant tourist. On Sukhumvit I saw an American guy pay 3000 baht for a pair of jeans.

[jonik]

well thank u guys for keeping the prices low.................

i'm not so good at bargaining ,i tend to ask does it come with a bag?

[backflip]

"I am very good at bargaining - must be my Scottish blood. I bought some DVDs on Sukhumvit the other week - 80 baht each, while the guy next to me paid 150 baht each..."

Let's see, 80THB = $2 US. I get my DVD's for $0.65. Woohoo!

[Neeranam]

"I am very good at bargaining - must be my Scottish blood. I bought some DVDs on Sukhumvit the other week - 80 baht each, while the guy next to me paid 150 baht each..."

Let's see, 80THB = $2 US. I get my DVD's for $0.65. Woohoo!

Is that because of your bargaining?

Where do you get them?

[sylvafern]

When I am buying something and my wife is there, I always tell her to go elsewhere. I can always get a better price than her. She doesn't want to appear stingy, whereas i don't give a ****.

So true! Thai are really bad at bargaining, and so easy to get a better price than any of them, in their own country!

My Thai b/f bargained 50,000 baht off the price of our car when I bought it but I managed to get an extra 20,000 baht off when he was too embarrassed to ask for more!!! Same with everything, they won't sell if they're not making a profit and you can always tell when you've reached their lowest price.

Didn't know til recently tho, that prices in places like Homepro are also negotiable .... finally decided to splash out on a soft matress (after years of backache from the hard as rocks matresses preffered here). Matress on sale for 39,999 (down from 69,000) but still too expensive so walked away. Suddenly realised sales person was following us and muttering something quietly in Thai ... got the idea he was trying to negotiate the price so got b/f to talk to him and eventually got the matress for 32,000 with free duvet, sheet set and pillows thrown in. Never would have thought to bargain in a shop like that until had this experience.

[Neeranam]

Didn't know til recently tho, that prices in places like Homepro are also negotiable

Of course they are!

I even get discount from shops like Central - give the salesgirl a bit of sweet talk and get her to buy it using her staff discount, of course the wife can't be there.

[daleyboy]

QUOTE(Grant @ 2006-02-25 17:16:51) *

QUOTE(daleyboy @ 2006-02-24 21:34:46) *

I will always have a haggle with the traders, as far as i am concerned it is all part of the buying proccess. I will pay what i think is fair to both myself and to them. If i feel i have got it for less than they really wanted to sell it for, i will give them what i think is a fair price. The wife doesnt like me doing this reckons i am too generous, but at the end of the day 40baht to me is <deleted> all but in the right hands 40baht is a meal for someones family.

Also a bit off topic, but i always leave a 20baht tip on the pillow for the maids cleaning the room, in 6 years i have never had anything go missing from my room, even in the cheapest places, just remember we might not be rich but we are probably better off than the average Thai person you are haggleing with over 20 or 30 baht. smile.gif

Go to the Night Bazaar in CM, when they are closing up and check out the cars they have - then decide if you are better off...

It doesnt actually matter what car they drive. It is all about paying a fair price, and i am pretty sure not every market trader drives around in a flash car, especially where i do most of my market shopping, which isnt in CM night bazzar or Sukhumvit or patpong markets, but rather the local Thai markets. out Ratchada way. smile.gif

You not caring about 40 baht makes it lot harder for us that do.

Do you know how much those stall owners get on Sukhumvit road? 200,000 a month easy.

As i said in my post, i am not talking about Sukhumvit! i am talking about the smaller non tourist orientated markets. Please read the post fully before replying, and stop drinking so many changs

And are you really trying to tell me that 40 baht means more to you than it does to a family of 5 or 6 Thais? Do you really earn less than these people? After reading your post in the mortor forum about which NEW truck you were going to buy ,then i really do believe that 40 baht is more useful in the hands of a local

[Neeranam]

As i said in my post, i am not talking about Sukhumvit! i am talking about the smaller non tourist orientated markets. Please read the post fully before replying, and stop drinking so many changs whistling.gif

And are you really trying to tell me that 40 baht means more to you than it does to a family of 5 or 6 Thais? Do you really earn less than these people? After reading your post in the mortor forum about which NEW truck you were going to buy ,then i really do believe that 40 baht is more useful in the hands of a local jap.gif

Smaller non-tourist markets you don't have to bargain normally. If you are you are probably getting ripped of.

How many new pick-ups do you see on the road? I don't have one, and have never had one in 13 years of living here. In fact I've only ever been able to afford a 20 year old car.

I went up to ask about a Mitshubishi new truck and when I told the woman I didn't have the 50,000b she laughed! What the <deleted>. There must be farang guys going in there giving her a tip as she is a poor Thai. It's that 40 baht attitude that cause all this 'farang are loaded nonsense' .

I look after a family of 5 or 6 Thais and my wife and I are the only ones working. She sells somtam making about an average of 150 baht a day. But of course I should give another market seller 40 baht even when I am giving them business? Do you really think that the market seller is the only one working?

Ok, you are rich and you wife maybe doesn't have to work due to your financial superiority to the Thai people, but don't judge all of us as the same.

Man, the number of times I've been in a restaurant and given the staff a big tip of 50, sometimes even a 100 baht, to get a look like it's not enough.

BTW, I can't afford to drink.

Edited February 26, 2006 by Neeranam

[zzap]

Daleyboy is just bargaining for fun.

He's never lived in LOS, just taking a cheap shot, i.e. "the local paupers can do much more with 40 bt than you", let him have it, Neeranam...

[daleyboy]

Daleyboy is just bargaining for fun.

He's never lived in LOS, just taking a cheap shot, i.e. "the local paupers can do much more with 40 bt than you", let him have it, Neeranam...

What are you on about? How could you possibly know if i have never lived in Thailand? Just because i am not currently residing in Thailand doesnt mean i havent in the past, and the fact my wife and i decided to come back to the U.K and earn better money before coming back to reside permanently, is neither here nor there.

And i am not taking a cheap shot at anyone, i was simply making comment to neeranams post, which as it was directed at me i think i am entitleted to.

If neeranam thinks i am taking a cheap shot, then i apologise, but as far as i know he is perfectly capable of sticking up for himself, and i am sure he doesnt need you to fight his corner, in what is a simple debate.

So in the future zzap if neeranam needs you to stick up for him i am sure he will ask you.

Btw Neeranam cant afford to drink!!!!!!!

Edit// Just noticed a couple of your posts in Pattaya forum Zzap, are you on a wind up tonight, or perhaps the little the worse for wear?

Edited February 26, 2006 by daleyboy

[skylar]

Didn't know til recently tho, that prices in places like Homepro are also negotiable

Of course they are!

I even get discount from shops like Central - give the salesgirl a bit of sweet talk and get her to buy it using her staff discount, of course the wife can't be there.

Yeah, I've done this multiple times before when I have bought many things

[RamdomChances]

Basicaly you can barging for just about anything.The tourist areas are just a rip-off sometimes starting at 10X the ammount that somethings actually worth as they know a lot of people will come back starting at half that fig so thay are on a winner straight away. Speaking thai helps in the tourist areas and will usually result in their starting price being much lower. I've often been buying DVD's and a "falang" next to me asks how much in english to be told 150-200 bhat and I ask in thai to be told 80-120 but to wait until after the tourist has paid

My mother-in-law bargins for everything, her usuall responce when asking how much something is , is "tam mai peng jang loei" (why so expensive) and then "Lod die toe rai" (how much can you come down). I sometimes think its so much a habit with her that if someone said it was free she would still try to knock them down

As for not bothering with the "odd 40 bhat here and there" fine if you've got it and are'nt botherd go ahead, but as has been said the ave wage is about 150 bhat a day so you are in effect giving about 25% of a daily wage.

I buy and sell cows a lot so bargining is something that you just have to do if you want a decent price. I remember a long time ago when I was quite new to all of this and we were at a farm looking at two cows, we'd got to a price which I was happy, somthing like 60,000 and my misses says no 59,000, now it was hot and sticky and I was'nt as aclimatised as I am now but this went on for about an hour with me getting more and more irratible with the wife as I was happy with 60,000. In the end they sold for 59,000 and as my wife said thats 1000 bhat profit for an hour, not bad when you look at it that way. These day's on a big deal I'll spend half a day sometimes haggling and if I really want to get the price down I'll call on the big guns (a bottle of Sang Som) and settle down to some serious bargining

I've got cow traders that I deal with regularely and they know how much something is worth, I know how much something is worth but we still try it on with one an other buying form smaller farms is sometimes harder as they dont really know what value to put on as they dont buy and sell a lot and sometimes come up with silly money but even if they under value I'll still try and knock them down as any one of them would do to me. At the end of the day if I'm not happy with the price I'll walk away.....there's always tomorrow.

RC

[Neeranam]

If neeranam thinks i am taking a cheap shot, then i apologise, but as far as i know he is perfectly capable of sticking up for himself, and i am sure he doesnt need you to fight his corner, in what is a simple debate.

So in the future zzap if neeranam needs you to stick up for him i am sure he will ask you.

Btw Neeranam cant afford to drink!!!!!!! laugh.gif

I don't think you're taking a cheap shot, mate.

But there is nothing funny about not affording to drink - if I drink again it will cost me my family, job, sanity, probably freedom and maybe life. It will cost me some money too.

IF you are a tourist or haven't lived here for long, you are probably thinking you are getting bargains when you're not. These sellers can see you coming a mile away. If you can't speak the language, you are at a very big disadvantage. I'd say be careful when giving your money away - I've seen many, and heard from a few that they are very embarassed when a farang gives them money above the price. Many of these people have pride.