The weather was dry heat not humid, but the pollution was probably 10x worse. I woke up after the first day with a throat that felt dusty. After drinking 4 glasses of water, I felt better but you can never be too sure because I can't take the risk of getting sick while in Asia.
In Beijing, I purchased things that I've been craving. I stolled the stalls of the Silk Market and Yashow markets, looking for my goodies. Their names are Bottega, Longchamp, and Goyard. I also bought three Longchamps and an ArcTeryx jacket. Each one was a struggle, a haggle, and a compromise. Each time you go to the market, you need to bargain and bargaining in Beijing is like telling a story to an audience of avid listeners that will either appreciate your story or steal your money. Cutthroats, they have no qualms about taking any money that you're stupid enough to give them.
My story has been something like this. First of all, don't think that you can do this. You'll have to take another approach. It's really hard to duplicate this situation as I possess qualities necessary to make this fly - qualities many readers do not have. Here is what I bring to the table: I look Chinese, but not quite. I am a lot bigger than the average Chinese person as they are no more than sticks. Then, I speak perfect Chinese but I have a Taiwanese accent that cannot be hidden. I also have a round cute face and a voice that Hello Kitty would have, if she were a girl. I can't help that my Chinese voice is about 6 octaves higher than my English voice. I also look young to Chinese people, they think I'm in college or even just graduated high school. I always use how old they think I am to my advantage.
I choose my item. In this case, a Goyard bag. I look around Beijing, and finally finally find one. Ubiquitous in Shanghai, they were almost impossible to find in Beijing. ONE stall has it in Yashow. I walk past it, then walk back, asking curiously if I might try that one on. I look at them all and carefully decide on the color. After you've set what you want, it's time to get to business.
As I'm bargaining, I start weaving my background. It's the end of June, so I told them that I was a student that's just about to graduate. I wanted to buy something nice for myself, but also for my cousin's birthday. You see, she's 28 and can't buy ugly, shiny things with sequins, extra buckles, rhinestones are tassles on them. She needs something plain, something classic. Oh, this bag that I'm using? She bought me this bag so I'll need to buy her something just as nice.
The trick with bargaining with these bitches is that you have to let them give you a price first. It's hard, but you don't want to show your hand. If they agree too quickly it means that you're being had. If it's truly too low, then they'll turn you away. This usually doesn't happen as any anger they feign is just that, FAKE as the bag you're wanting to purchase.
The stall worker opens bargaining at 450. She likes me, she's giving me a better price than she gives the Japanese people and the Koreans. 450! I repeat, laughingly. I shake my head ruefully. I can't afford that, that's MUCH too high. I make my way to go. I apologize for wasting her time as I've just spent 10 mins politely asking her to take down all her bags just so I can have this blue one, but I can't afford it. She stops me, well, what price do you want to pay for it? I laugh, looking the bag, the price I can afford is not one that you're going to sell me, I respond.
What is it? She insists on knowing. I open my pricing at 100. Now, it's her turn to laugh. 600 is what Koreans and Japanese buy it for. I agree with her. I'm sure it is but I'm not Korean nor am I Japanese. I'm here to buy my cousin's birthday present. She drops the price from 450 to 400. I told her, what sort of compromise is 400? I said 100. That's still 4x what I am willing to buy. I can't. I can not afford it. I make to leave again.
She looks at me, this time, angrily. Tell me a price I can work with. I can't sell it to you for 100. Fine. I go up to 110. She scoffs. She grabs my arm. She is very frustrated with me because I'm not going higher in larger increments. I ask to borrow her calculator to make sure what I'm doing is something that i still want to do.
She says to me fine, I'll cut you a bargain - how about 330. Score: Her - 330, me: 110.
I look her in the eye and tell her that 110 is the highest I can go. I push the bag away and tell her that I'll find it somewhere else. She swears to me that her stall is the only one that has it. I tell her, I haven't been to all the stalls so i don't know if that's true. I tell her that not only have I got to buy this for my cousin, but I'm taking her out to dinner as well. I don't have enough money to do both if I buy her this expensive bag.
She pushes me to push a higher price. I relent - 120. She wants more - I tell her I can't give it to her. She starts to get more aggressively angry but I don't care about her feelings. I push it away and tell her I don't want the bag if I can't pay 120. I am poor and cannot afford it. Fine. 125, I say. She's also dropped the price to 300.
We're moving. Moving on down! At this point I'm converting on the calculator constantly to make sure that i'm still staying within range of what I'm willing to pay. I set a max of 150 for this bag in my head - I can't go more because then I would be surpassing 20$ USD for a bag that's normally 1200+$USD. I'm close, I can feel it.
She pounds out on the calculator - 200. She tells me it's the lowest that she's ever sold the bag for. 200. I ask her, why not go lower? I shake my head again and walk out of the stall, down the row. She's yelling at me from her stall telling me to come back. I ask her, 135? She tells me to come back, come back, come back. 回来回来回来！I go back, I'm going to get my way.
OK OK, 190, she tells me. She's never gone lower than 200 before. I laughed and start to walk away. That's totally NOT 135. She huffs and stops talking to me. Her co-worker threatens to put the bag up. I give it to him. I tell him I'm sorry this was such a waste of time. She's mad, what is 55 dollars more? Exactly, I respond - I actually don't even have 200 cash in my wallet. I have 190, and that has to take me back home in a cab. So technically, I can't buy anything for more than 175, at the lowest. If I can go to 175, then I can go 150. She relents and goes down to 180. I look at my money and I tell her that it's too much. I can't even afford to get a cab home from here if I give her all my money.
Her co-worker lowers it again, to 170, saying that he's giving me 10 dollars to take a cab home. But what if it goes over, I query? 10 dollars isn't very much for a cab, in fact, it's the sit down rate before the meter even jumps. (Actually, this is exactly the rate I need. I can walk 30 mins in 90 degree heat or pay $1.50 to take a cab. Hmmmmmm. You tell me.)
The original woman that I've been dealing with is scornful. What is another 30 RMB, she asks? I tell her 30 RMB is not a lot to her, but it sure is to me. I tell her the highest I could go is 150. She laughs even though we're already at 170. The other stall worker from across the way tells me that she'll take it. I withdraw 150 and start waving it in her face. 150 150 150 150, I wave it.
She doesn't want to take it, but I can tell her friend does. NO, she insists, 160. The war has been won. I hand him the 150 and he gives me a bag for my purchase. 150 is so much money. ARGH.
I am satisfied.
This is how I broker every deal. It's worth it.
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