Haggling Over Prices In Traditional Markets

Have you ever experienced shopping in a traditional market where prices have to be haggled over? Unlike shopping in supermarkets or mall or certain shops, where prices are tagged and fixed, shopping in traditional markets can be very annoying for some buyers who have never had shopping experience in the traditional markets. They may easily be ripped off as the initial price offered is usually 200% of the normal price! For example, if an item costs $10, the seller offers it at $20. If buyers are inexperienced, he or she will ask the price to lower to, say $15 or $17. I am the one who knows how to haggle over the price. For the price of $20, I will ask the seller to go down to $9, and in the end the agreed price is usually half of the offered price.

This probably happens only in Indonesia and in traditional markets. Make sure when you travel to Indonesia you know how to haggle over the price when shopping in traditional markets. For malls or supermarkets, I think it is the same as everywhere else in the world, where prices of goods are usually fixed and tagged.

Housewives are very fussy over prices. They spend longer hours shopping. When they finish shopping, they still grumble about the prices they still disagree. If I do the shopping in the traditional markets I usually go to, I never ask my kids to accompany me because I know my kids will have a hard time being with me. So, I am always on my own.

That is a little bit about traditional markets, where most prices are not known, and you have to be able to haggle over the prices. The best thing is you do the survey first, so you will know the prices in advance. You can ask people about the prices of goods. When you know the price, you can start doing the shopping there and of course you still have to bargain.