Our Bargaining Experiences Issue 24 Home Page

Experience Makes It Easier Eun Hyun Lee from Korea The vendor asked for one hundred Chinese won. It was a very high price, and I knew the vendor was asking for too much, so I threw up my hands, pretending to be frustrated. Photo: "Market in China" by Marsha Marshmello Flickr Creative Commons At first, bargaining was hard, but gradually I learned to do it well. Many people have experienced bargaining, and they have different opinions about it. In some countries, it is common and acceptable, but in other counties, it is considered an unpleasant action. When I was in China, I discovered that bargaining was very common. At first, it was very hard to bargain. Moreover, I thought bargaining was shameful. But many of my friends helped me and taught me how to do it. Gradually, I learned to do it well, and now I love to bargain. I have had many experiences bargaining. One day, I went to an open-air market with my friend, where there were many beautiful things on display. After looking around, I found a very beautiful pearl necklace. I admired it a long time before asking the price. The vendor asked for one hundred Chinese won. It was a very high price, and I knew the vendor was asking for too much, so I threw up my hands, pretending to be frustrated. I started to walk away, but the vendor grabbed me and asked how much I wanted to pay. I had heard that when you buy something in an open-air market in China, you should bargain to get the price down to about seventy percent, so I said thirty won. He said that price was impossible and he couldn't sell it for that. After a few minutes of bargaining, we agreed on forty-five won. After that, I had many similar experiences. Now I love to bargain and I'm not afraid of being assertive. Doing something the first time is very difficult, but if you do it again and again, it becomes easy. That's how it is with bargaining.  More Bargaining Experiences: Bargaining is a Game | I Like Bargaining for Goods All My Hard Bargaining For Nothing | At First It Was Fun A Discount for Me and Customers for Him | Bargaining is Not for Me A Good Time to Bargain Return to: Our Bargaining Experiences | Issue 24 | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine ©1997-2008 - Sandy and Thomas Peters - topics.mag@gmail.com