You’ll hear it everywhere in Thailand, I give you best price. Then as you say no thank you and walk away the so called best price starts to drop as you now are  not showing interest. You’ll now hear the shop seller asking you how much you want to pay…..

Gotcha… But who’s go who is now up to how you play the game and your negotiating skills.

Rules for getting the best price

  • Set a firm price in your head
  • dont get emotional
  • Be prepaired to walk away
  • Be polite and respectful
  • Thank the seller for their selling skills

Setting a firm price

This is the price that no matter what you never change from. Don’t mistake the price you have fixed in your head with the starting price otherwise you’ll have no room to negotiate.

start at just over half the asking price, you’ll probably get a howl of protests but it’s a good place to start.

some sellers will try to baffle you with a deal based on all the items you want to buy, this can be more tricky buy with good skills it can be done but it’s best you start with one item at a time.

My friend wanted a couple of watches and after two visits on two separate days we managed to score a great deal after being led out the back to a separate little room. Originally the guy wanted 3500thb each for the UBoat knock offs but by using the rules above we scored 3 watches for 5100thb. At the end we all shook hands and thanked each other for the way in which business was conducted. Everyone was happy and that’s what shopping in Thailand is all about.

Don’t get emotional

We have all seen something in a shop an wished we could have it, well don’t let that emotion show here in Thailand. The sellers here will play that emotion against you and you’ll miss on saving that hard earned cash you saved for the trip. Sure 100thb is not worth arguing about, but when you multiply it by 10 its another TShirt or small souvenir or drink at a local bar. The trick is to almost seem uninterested in purchasing anything, this way the seller won’t know if you’re going to bail out of any negotiating at any stage of the process.

Be prepaired to walk away.

Sometimes the dal just won’t go your way but as mentioned before there’s no point getting emotional about the deal. It either works for you or it works for them and I know which side of the fence I want to sit on when it comes to my hard earned cash. You know what, all is not lost at this point I’ve literally walked away several time only to find that the now desperate seller is now ready to renegotiate and start playing the game again. See it’s all in the tactics.

Be polite and respectful.

No matter what you do when getting your bargains remember to be mindful of your locals. They are hard working and just trying to take home food and money for the family. In some cases the money just isn’t enough and sigh s of desperation show through. Be sympathetic to there selling skills and understand that they have taken the time to try to communicate with you using the most basic of language they have managed to learn. Put yourselves in their place for a moment. Once again being polite in you negotiations can be a huge payoff if you are buying in bulk or more pricey items.

Thanking the seller

So you’ve sealed the deal and managed to get the bargain on the century. Noes the time to thank the seller for their skills. Don’t be afraid to litterally say thank you for your strong bargaining. I appreciate your selling skills. Believe me, these sellers remember who you are! I walked into my little Thai massage place almost one year on and instantly the lady remembered who I was.

The big thing is, have fun with your bargain hunting. After all you can shop at home…… This is bargain hunting!