| Pages:
1
2 |
pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
Member Is Offline
|
|
Haggling
I've read either that it's expected, or that it's deeply insulting. My intention is not to blend in as much as to be a good neighbor when I visit
Todos Santos in July. Since we plan to cook many of our own meals, we'll likely be combing the markets daily. So should we pay the asking price with
a naive smile, or astutely drive a bargain?
|
|
|
tiotomasbcs
Super Nomad
Posts: 1837
Registered: 7-30-2007
Location: El Pescadero
Member Is Offline
|
|
Paul David, Welcome. Regatear means bargainining, I believe. In Segundas, internet, etc como no! In local stores or markets--Olvidate! This is
the expensive part of the Groove. Suerte. Tio
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
I think it's an outdated custom. I never could do it. If I like a price, I make the purchase. If I don't like a price, I walk.
What with all the Segundas here now, the opportunity to haggle presents itself often. I still don't do it.
|
|
|
Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
You won't blend in, that's a given. It'll be immediately apparent that you're visitors. You'll be a guest in a foreign country and will certainly be
welcome and treated kindly and with respect.
If you insist on haggling you'll fail completely at being a good neighbor. Basically, prices are set in advance and are the same for everyone.
No one is likely to go out of their way to take advantage of you, don't worry. Relax, smile and enjoy your stay enough to come back again.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
|
|
|
woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
|
|
if you don't like a price, try to bundle a few items-or ask if it's their best price. it's your money and they want it, nothing to be ashamed of if
you get a good deal-on both sides.
|
|
|
monoloco
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6667
Registered: 7-13-2009
Location: Pescadero BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
Save the haggling for beach vendors and trinket stands, it doesn't fly in the supermercado.
|
|
|
pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
Member Is Offline
|
|
Thank you for some good, common sense answers. I don't do it in the U.S. unless I'm at a Flea Market or buying a used car - so it follows that I
wouldn't do it when I'm the guest of another country.
|
|
|
Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
I've read either that it's expected, or that it's deeply insulting.
|
If the price is high than it's expected, but if it's fair than it's insulting.
That applies mostly to open markets you find throughout Mexico, not supermercados.
|
|
|
Bajajorge
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2604
Registered: 10-13-2005
Location: Topaz Lake, NV/San Felipe
Member Is Offline
|
|
Haggle over Tee shirts, junk jewelry, etc. Go to the mercado, the carniceria and buy for the stated price. Occasionally you can haggle at a
pescadaria.
Why do Liberals insist and demand that achievers pay the way for nonachievers who are to lazy to succeed, or are just failures by their own choice?
Criminals prefer unarmed victims, dictators prefer unarmed subjects.
Why do ignorant people continue their blabbering when it only proves to others how stupid they are.
|
|
|
Mulegena
Super Nomad
Posts: 2412
Registered: 11-7-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
Haggling may gain you a few pesos, discretionary money which will likely make no difference whatsoever in your pocketbook or quality of vacation.
The clerk who is so anxious to make a sale that he accepts a few pesos less still must answer to the shop owner and pay him his due for the goods sold
at the end of the day. Those pesos haggled over were denied the clerk who makes a meager living at best.
In the open-air markets check out the stalls and each's price for goods. Go with your instincts and trade with someone you like.
Also, tourists need to know that the person who bags your groceries in the market receives no salary other than the tips that are shared, so please
don't forget. You'll find a tiny tip jar discreetly placed somewhere on the check-out counter. You'll be sincerely thanked for the 5-10 pesos you
place in it.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
|
|
|
Lee
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3495
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
Member Is Offline
|
|
Nobody wants to overpay or look like a fool.
I am the have, they are the have nots. I'm viewed as rich, I view them as poor.
A generous attitude is better than a cheap one.
If you're buying a $1,000 USD rug, haggle, have fun.
If you're negotiating to save $1-2-3 dollars from a vendor, forgetaboutit.
In Pescadero, folks are lining up at Baja Beans, MX and gringo, to pay $3.50 US for lattes. Prices can only go up. I tip 10-20 pesos.
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
|
|
|
BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13195
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
Except for big stores like supermarkets, walmarts etc. where the prices are set in stone, I think it is great fun to discuss pricing! Be polite and
even joke about it. Have fun with it! You will find that you may make a friend in the process. Many vendors raise the price to a gringo and are
more than happy to volley back and forth. Trust me, when they reach their bargain price, they won't budge! Ole!
|
|
|
DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
Member Is Offline
Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
|
|
IMO Baja Blanca hit the nail right on the head. The magic word "discuss".
Baja California is light-years distant from the mainland as far as the subject of BARTERING is concerned. Except for wandering vendors I encounter it
sadly few times. I reserve the word "haggling" for high value purchases of multiple items.
Some wandering vendors on the peninsula are aggressive as hell. Ask them a question and you'll have a piranha clamped to your wallet. My favorite
polite refusal is that I prefer a color they obvious do not have. Or make them laugh "Estoy bancarota!" (I'm bankrupt).
For people, places, items, I am not sure are "barterable" I'll wait until the price is known and then ask "¿se puede compra para?"
Say PWAY-day COM-pra par-ah? (include the word SAY)
This means in Spanish: Can this be purchased for (amount)?
This is extremely polite. If the clerk shakes their head, then no, the price is fixed.
On the mainland I let Pilar and Dalia do the buying of groceries at the weekly tianguis. 11-year old Pilar will put her hands on her hips stare at the
vendor and say something like "What makes YOUR (tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, strawberries etc) so special?
But if a vendor is just too aggressive (hammock, hat, sunglasses, etc.) i'll wag a finger and say "No es la constumbre!"
No es la ko-STOOM-bray This is not customary. A polite yet firm rebuke.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
|
|
|
Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
|
|
It's common to haggle over the price of a taxi ride all over latin america. The locals would tell me to stay out of sight or behind a doorway during
the whole process. Then they would hail down a taxi and barter. Only when the price was set I was invited to come out. Once the driver sees you it's
hard for them to negotiate a good price.
This does not apply to bus rides.
|
|
|
monoloco
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6667
Registered: 7-13-2009
Location: Pescadero BCS
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
It's common to haggle over the price of a taxi ride all over latin america. The locals would tell me to stay out of sight or behind a doorway during
the whole process. Then they would hail down a taxi and barter. Only when the price was set I was invited to come out. Once the driver sees you it's
hard for them to negotiate a good price.
This does not apply to bus rides. |
Once I needed a taxi from the Managua airport to my hotel downtown, the
driver started at $50, but we ended up settling on 100 Cordobas. (about $4 US)
|
|
|
sancho
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2524
Registered: 10-6-2004
Location: OC So Cal
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
It's common to haggle over the price of a taxi ride all over latin america |
Bussed TJ/La Paz, taxi from the LP Bus station to the Malecon I knew was $3, the cab I got into said $12,
got out and into the next cab in line, which the second driver
said $3, the drivers then got into a mildly
heated debate, to which I was able to
gleen that the first driver was telling the second it is
OK to overcharge the Gringo
|
|
|
J.P.
Super Nomad
Posts: 1673
Registered: 7-8-2010
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
Mood: Easy Does It
|
|
Haggling price
all the places I have been in Mexico especially the tourist areas haggling is expected at the shops, big box stores and super markets no way.
When dealing with tradesmen the time to haggle is before the service is provided.
I always play it buy ear when shopping they will usually let you know.
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
Last Sunday, I was at Perry Ford in National City. Their method of selling is so high pressure and insulting that it drove me out the door....for the
second and last time.
Point is....these places are the home of haggling which I don't do well. I'm a bad buyer and a bad seller, but I try not to be a complete fool about
it all.
|
|
|
J.P.
Super Nomad
Posts: 1673
Registered: 7-8-2010
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
Mood: Easy Does It
|
|
Car sales
The guy on the lot is no more than a Greeter I will not deal with one I will only talk to the person that can say yes or no.
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by J.P.
The guy on the lot is no more than a Greeter I will not deal with one I will only talk to the person that can say yes or no. |
Yeah...I talked to one of those as well. He's the one who said, " What's it going to take from me to have you sign this paper here?" after I told
him I wasn't going to get involved in anything that day and would return the following day to take care of business, and it's a good thing I didn't.
Turns out, the vehicle, a 2011 Ranger with 70 thou miles, was being sold for three thousand more than it cost new. I won't even say what they were
willing to give for trade-in on my Jeep....BYE BYE.
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
