How do you get the most out of your new life abroad? We know. We will give you the best tips of living abroad as an expat.
We’ll start of with how how to bargain in China and Shanghai. Since most of our all year round students never bargained in their life before, they often lose a lot of time and money on things. Not anymore.
Here’s our 10 tips for shopping and bargaining in Shanghai:
1. NEVER follow somebody that approaches you and ask you if you want to buy bags, watches, DVDs.
2. Do not go to a fake market to do spontaneous shopping, that’s the biggest mistakes many customers do because they end up wanting to buy something they did not plan, and pay more for it.
3. Many people are not really familiar with the market price of the things they want to buy, and the sellers are familiar with that. So what do you do? Let’s say you want to buy a new winter jacket. You see a lot of Canada Goose jackets in different shops. Enter a shop and ask for the price. The seller will probably give you a high price of for instance 2000 RMB, say it too much and see the next proposed price and then leave the shop. Once you leave the shop, the seller will give you a final price.
Keep this price in mind and continue to the next store and offer 40% lower, than the proposed final price in the last shop. The seller will probably start to negotiate a good price for you at this time. Remember this price and go on the next shop until you reach a deal that is the lowest you can get. That is probably a good deal. If we go back to the jacket, a seller would most probably start on 2000 and end up selling it to you for around 300-400 RMB.
Remember that a rejected price is good. That’s useful information for you.
4. Do not shop during the weekend, do your shopping when the market is almost empty. That’s when the sellers are most likely to give you great prices.
5. Do not get affected by the sellers temper, they get angry, start yelling but stay cool and calm because the only thing they want is to make you stop lowering the price. Remember, they are professionals at what they do – negotiation.
6. A useful tip on getting a great price of an item, is to ask a friend or someone that already bought that item, for how much he/she paid. Do remember for how long he/she has been living in China as well. The longer, the better and you can probably get the same item for at least the same price – or even less.
7. Patience. Be patient, if you plan to buy something, ask around in the market for their final prices and in the end of the day you will receive great information about how much you will need to pay for that item.
8. Quality. You pay low prices for often low quality, so don’t expect that the items you buy will last forever.
9. Don’t trust what the sellers say about the items quality and origin. Basically, that’s their way of trying to persuade you to buy the item. Inspect the item you want to buy on-site. You don’t want to go home and realize that the t-shirt you bought have stain on it.
10. Remember, never feel like you need to buy the item you are bargain about. You are the one holding the cash. Not the seller. Be confident, respectful and correct.
Do you have any useful tips on shopping in Shanghai? Please leave a comment!
Connect With Us
