November 13th, 2003 | The lowdown by Rhonda Van Hasselt

Shopping 101

Chinatown of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with its streets replete with wondering shoppers and desperate hawkers shouting for buyers, can be a most intimidating place to the uninitiated foreigner. So it was that I lucked out and happened to befriend a local girl of my age named Sarah. Heavy-set and fluent in Chinese, Malay, and English, she was none too timid to interject her opinion into any conversation. Outgoing and receptive to anything remotely humorous, I could not help but admire her strong personality and I felt ever so fortunate to be accompanied by her. I had met her at a birthday party the night before and had taken her up on her offer to show me around KL. She was Chinese by heritage, but ask her what her nationality is, and like any other local, she will reply proudly that she is Malaysian.

On this Sunday afternoon, she brought me to the stuffy streets of Chinatown for some shopping. Seasoned travelers have often advised me, “Never go shopping without a local.” As an American used to shopping in malls where prices were simply labeled on products, I was unused to the custom of haggling. How was it done? I had been told, “Never negotiate in a haggle unless you are certain already that you’ll buy the item.” I can hear Sarah retorting back, in her broken English, “Are you crazy, lah? If vendor gonna rip you off, you tell him ‘get lost’!”

Watching Sarah haggle with a hawker was an educational experience I am about to share with anyone interested in avoiding overpaying. First off, it must be noted that you do not negotiate with every vendor. In Malaysia, at least, whenever a vendor is in an enclosed store (excluding a tent), he is licensed and his items are legitimate and legally obtained. But any vendor standing on the street side with tables of wares but who is not located in an enclosed building is not licensed and his goods are most likely counterfeits. Items are seldom marked with price tags. It is with this type of vendor that one may negotiate.

Sarah and I approached a vendor selling perfumes. With her pudgy hand she grabbed up a small box marked “Calvin Klein” and withdrew the bottle inside, stealing a whiff which pleased her.

“You like?” asked the eager vendor, a young Chinese man no older than thirty. Sarah shrugged her shoulders. “It’s ok. What’ll you give me?” (This term “What will you give me,” is her way of saying, “Give me your lowest price).

“I sell to you for ninety ringets.” (Three ringets are worth about US $3, so he was trying to sell it to her for about US$30.)

Sarah, still holding the box of perfume in her hand, exclaimed in outrage, “Ninety ringets? No way! I buy for ten ringets.”

The man shook his head. “No way. This is good quality stuff. Tell you what: I give you a discount. I sell to you for 60 ringets.”

Sarah shook her head, “No, no, no.”

The vendor was annoyed, “Ok, fine, I sell for fifty ringets. That’s final.”

Sarah shook her head, “C’mon, that you’re best price? What’ll you give me, for real?”

The vendor sighed, “Ok, fine, I make special exception today. I give to you for twenty ringets. No less than that.”

I whispered to Sarah, “Sounds like a pretty good deal. You should buy.” But she shook her head and whispered back, “Nah, he’s ripping me off.”

She put the bottle of perfume down and exclaimed, “I buy for ten [ringets]. No more.”

The vendor responded, “Twenty. That’s my final offer.”

Sarah exclaimed, “You really expect me to pay twenty? You’re not even licensed. This is counterfeit stuff. I’m not paying nearly so much for fake perfume. Good luck selling this stuff. C’mon, let’s go.” I followed her as she started to walk away.

The vendor shouted after her, “Ok, I cut the price. I give to you for fifteen ringets!” Sarah came back to his table. She shook her head and answered, “No, ten.”

He shook his head; “I can’t give to you for ten.”

“Ok then,” and we started to walk away again.

Then he shouted after us, “Ok, I give to you for ten! But I taking such a big loss. It cost me to sell to you, but I do it!” Sarah came back to his table. She was half smiling. “Sold!” she proclaimed as she picked up the perfume. The vendor was very agitated. He yanked the perfume from her hand and threw it into a plastic bag as he took the money from her outstretched hand. She took the bag from him, but before leaving the table, she opened it up. “He could have taken out the perfume bottle to rip me off. I needed to check that it was inside, just to make sure.” But happily, the perfume bottle was there.

I was so impressed. “You knocked the price down to a ninth of what he offered!”

“They always jack the price up five to ten times more than they should. But the trick is to show you really don’t care if you don’t buy their item. You just walk away if the price doesn’t get to nearly a tenth of what they quote you at first, lah. And you’re obviously a foreigner, so they will think you’re an easy deal. Don’t ever be fooled by their put-ons. Just tell them straight that you won’t settle for more, lah.”

These lessons in bargaining will probably vary from country to country in east Asia. But the basic tip I learned from Sarah is to show little interest in the item I am buying, expect the vendor to get rude or even hostile as he lowers his price, and to insist on a much lower price than I initially given, because in the end no one would sell an item at a price that actually gives them a negative profit.