8 Easy Steps (to Bargaining on Ladies’ Market)
Perhaps Ladies’ Market is on everyone’s must visit site in Hong Kong even if you hate shopping. For those who love to shop with lots of people, welcome to heaven. The main street (Tung Choi Street) is blocked off from traffic 24/7 from Dundas Street all the way to Argyle Street. What you have on the sidewalks are mostly regular clothing stores that looks like Macy’s super one day sale everyday. If you have the leisure time to dig through, you might be able to find yourself some nice DKNY, Abercrombie, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Ecko, and other American brand names for cheap with the name tag cut off (no bargaining needed). In the middle of the road is where all the fun kicks in. Both sides of the road are filled with booths separated by metal racks and red, white, and blue plastic covers each selling goodies almost the same as several booths down the road. The tricky part is that the price tags are ALWAYS changeable depending on how well you bargain. So, I leave you here with my 8 easy steps to bargaining.
1. Look interested but not THAT interested.
2. Ask for the price and do the math in your head of how much you’re willing to spend.
3. Slowly start to walk away but not too fast that they can’t catch you and ask you to offer your price.
4. Offer the price you think is good minus 10 (ex: original $100, you want it for $80. Tell them $70).
5. Begin the art of negotiation. Be nice. (It’s not THAT pretty; you don’t really need it [seriously, you don’t]; it’s a little dirty or ripped; blah blah blah…). Bluff them by telling them other place is only selling the goodie 10 bucks cheaper (gotta be careful with this one because if you say too much they’ll know it’s a bluff and tell you to go get it there)
6. If they’re firm about the price, start to walk away AGAIN.
7. After walking to almost the next vendor, gotta listen carefully now because they will most likely call you back and give you the price you want. �
8. Pay up.
The joy you get most out of Ladies’ Market is the feeling of accomplishment after bargaining something that you don’t really need from 120 to walking away with it paying only 70 in less than 5 minutes. That is by far the record this great woman in the name of my mother has set and no one has yet broken (at least that I know of). �
