I must admit that I am not too good at bargaining. Well many people think that I am quite a good bargainer as my occupation requires sales skills. Let's just put it this way, being the sales person and buyer is very different. Anyway, I'm not really good at bargaining but I'm definitely very talented at buying things for people as gifts/souvenirs.
Let's recap the characters involved in this trip. Queen of Bargainer: Kelly (very agressive, direct, gutsy). Mavis (she's very practical and can correct gauge the price). Kate (pretty good at lowering the price, and sometimes the price she gave simply stunned the whole crew). Me (I look around at little things that I am keen to look at, I eye them, tell the other 3 which ones I really fancy..Quiet supporter).
We managed to get quite a few decent buys. I love the little Prayer Wheel. Check out the pics below... Gotten quite a few gifts for my folks and friends. Love the little accessories, the nice bracelets, the yakboned Fu Lu Shou..etc!
Fu LU Shou - 1 set for 50RMB, the lady wanted to ask for 180RMB. (locals told us we can get it for 30 RMB!)
Shawl - around 20RMB for one decent looking one.
Bracelets - Range from 10-40, depending on the quality.
Columbia trekking jacket - 300 RMB after fierce bargaining by Kelly.
Let's recap the characters involved in this trip. Queen of Bargainer: Kelly (very agressive, direct, gutsy). Mavis (she's very practical and can correct gauge the price). Kate (pretty good at lowering the price, and sometimes the price she gave simply stunned the whole crew). Me (I look around at little things that I am keen to look at, I eye them, tell the other 3 which ones I really fancy..Quiet supporter).
We managed to get quite a few decent buys. I love the little Prayer Wheel. Check out the pics below... Gotten quite a few gifts for my folks and friends. Love the little accessories, the nice bracelets, the yakboned Fu Lu Shou..etc!
Fu LU Shou - 1 set for 50RMB, the lady wanted to ask for 180RMB. (locals told us we can get it for 30 RMB!)
Shawl - around 20RMB for one decent looking one.
Bracelets - Range from 10-40, depending on the quality.
Columbia trekking jacket - 300 RMB after fierce bargaining by Kelly.
I like shopping in Lhasa as the stallowners are quite friendly. Compared to Shanghai/Beijing, I had to be seriously quite fierce and agressive to survive! Being familiar with the language beats trying to hit the calculators with numerals , as I compare my experiences in Thailand!
Places to visit: Bagkhor Street! A must-go place to shop and get your little gifts! We went there at least 4 times in total!
In short, speaking in Mandarin really helped in this case. We paid 50% lesser than what the Guailows did! Hehehe quite proud of ourselves.
Second tip: Buy in Bulk! You eye an item and check with your crew how many pieces you all wan in total. You can seriously push the price pretty low! Of coz, we still paid a premium compared to the little. Let's just think of it that we are boasting the local economy. The entire tourist season lasts for only 4 months. So well well :) Let's be nice.
Somehow I can't link the pictures. Next entry.
Be agressive, be quick and fast... !
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