BARGAINING WITH TOUTS

Shopping during your overseas travels can be enjoyable or a real pain. I'm talking about shopping in developing countries predominantly, where bargaining for the best price is the norm, from little things like food, to big things like tours. If you don't go into it with the right attitude or know-how you can leave a little angry and a little ripped-off. But if you go into it with a little game play and knowledge before hand you'll love the whole process and a bargain will be yours.

We have both had many experiences bargaining all over the world now and have compiled some suggestions for getting the most out of bargaining, as well as how to actually get rid of 'tout's when you're not interested! They're are many different styles of touts of sellers. The hardest and most annoying sales I felt I had experienced was in Bali, Indonesia, where if you show even the least bit of interest in something, you'll have that person walking down the street with you until you bought it. I learnt to deal with that fine after going to Bali six times, but then upon traveling to Egypt (the oldest tourist destination in the world), I realised that Egyptians are the slickest salesmen on the planet and have certainly taught us a lot when we thought we knew everything! Print this page and have it handy before you hit the streets.

General Tips
- You need to be in control and relaxed. Being funny always works a lot better than being defensive.
- You need to let them know the score and how the game is played.
- Don't feel guilty about haggling over amounts that you would consider trivial back home. This is a big part of their culture and the cheaper prices are important to maintain for other travelers as well.
- For items you're interested in buying, find out how much the average price is from other travelers at your hotel, as well as from the locals who work at the hotel.
- Find out how much the prices are usually jacked up for the tourist before you start offering your price. Some places (like Bali and Mexico) will start with prices three times more than the real value.
- Allow enough time to do the shopping. Don't rush into it on the last day of your trip, get angry, and then leave the country with bad memories.
- Try not to look nervous walking down the street with sunglasses on, arms crossed, and blank stares. Smile and walk confidently. Take a seat in their shop and look at what they have to offer. If you do look nervous about haggling and want to buy something later, they'll remember you.
- Learn how to understand their numbers so you can read price tags if they have them. Usually when there are price tags on items, bargaining is not an option.
- Provided you don't offer a price the seller is willing to accept, you can usually leave the shop quite easily. Be prepared to have a hard time leaving without buying if you agree on a price and then don't take it.
- Visit tourist offices in town for the latest prices on everything from shopping to transport / taxis.

Common questions from a salesman and how to answer them

Common every day pleasantries are also important questions for a salesman to size you up
- Where are you from? What's your name? How long you stay here? First time here? Where you stay?

If you're actually interested in purchasing, you might want to play the game and give back some fake answers. Have some fun with it! Comedy always works better than defensiveness.
- Tell him/her you live in the local village or another part of that the country you are in.
- Use a local name as your own. Sometimes using your own name is bad idea, as they pass your name on to everyone nearby and the next day you have salesmen calling out to you on the street!
- Even if you are about to leave the following day, tell them you have a week to go and are just checking out prices now to buy later before you leave.
- It's never your first time here! It's always at least your second time to their country. Then you seem less naive about prices and practices. But you at least have to have a bit of knowledge about the place to let them know where you've been if they ask you.
- If you are staying at a 5 star place, give them a hostel name instead.

Tips you can use for when you really want to shop and get a good price
- Tell them that YOU are feeling generous today and will give THEM a 'special price', or 'special morning price' because they are the most beautiful / nicest salesgirl, salesguy you have met in the country.
- Tell them you really only want to buy the different style / size / colour which they don't have, so you should get a cheaper price if you are to buy one at all.
- Tell them you are traveling for an extensive period of time and can't carrying anything (like us) so you need to browse, take photos and get their contact details so they can send you things in the future. Usually they will be most obliging and let you roam hassle free in their shop, and in some cases tell you the truth about fake products!
- Stress flaws in the item.
- Tell them you have a friend who bought one, or you yourself bought one last year and the quality was not that good / fell apart in the wash etc, so they should lower the price.
- Have a friend come and try to pull you out of the store saying they just found it for a cheaper price down the road.
- Last resort: Leave the shop and let them chase you down the street agreeing to your price.

Tips on getting rid of touts on the street when you don't want to shop
- Don't speak, just walk past and nod.
- Give a polite, 'no thank you' or better yet, in their language.
- If you know other languages, use those to say that you don't understand. The problem is when you have a salesman that knows that language better than you!
- Wear sunglasses so you can't make eye contact, and so you can have a sneak peak of what's on offer should you want to shop later.
- If you are on a street with a stack up of salesman ready to attack, at least approach the first one in full view of the others and have a bit of fun and beat the salesman to his own questions. Ask him where he is from, where does he live etc. so you can have a bit of a laugh and let all the sellers know you're not interested in buying, but just walking from A to B without being hassled.
- Wear a walkman.

Some great lines from the Egyptians we had never heard and thought were great!
- My shop is very expensive!
- Let me show you how you can spend your money!
- How many camels can I give you for your wife?

In summary, whilst bargaining is a big part of the culture in many countries and it is important to haggle and keep prices down for other tourists like yourselves, remember the difference in price can really be so meagre and that extra 50 cents you want off the price can sometimes feed the family for a day.

Get out there and have some fun shopping! Post your own experiences on our travel forum. We'd love to hear them.