Negotiating or Bargain in China can be a tremendous challenge. The key to price negotiation in China, and probably in any negotiation is knowledge. If you know what the price “should” be, you are already half way there. In this article, I present some useful example for people who like negotiating with the Chinese.

Example One

One of my friends said that he had a surgery before, and it only takes about 15 minutes and she can go home immediately. But, the doctors admit her for more days which means she should pay the hospitals and doctors more money. So, she sit there and negotiate with the doctors as to the price of the surgery and the length of time to stay in the hospital. After a lengthy negotiation the doctors finally realized what my friend is talking about, and they began to lower the price and number of days. My friend finally told them that I also had the same exact surgery in the Philippines two years ago, that the price was minimal, and she also told them that the Chinese must be more clever than Filipinos, and that she was confident that the Chinese could do better. At last, the price instantly falls to 300 RMB and she was walking out of the hospital 5 minutes after the surgery was finished.

Example Two

In a retail situation, many visitors to China will be offered a very inflated price, which they successfully negotiate down – e.g. a leather bag from 3000RMB down to 1000RMB, they think they have got a bargain where in actuality the retailers cost was perhaps 50RMB and they could have sold it for 150RMB. My American colleague did that before, This was slow time for here, nobody else around. He said that really threw all his western shame aside and gave really low offer, and raised in small steps. After he failed and left and refused all her offers with polite attitude, the boss came 100 feet down the street and dragged my colleague back inn and gave my colleague the price he likes.

Most Advanced Bargaining is Time:

The biggest advantage is TIME. No one is forcing you to make a decision on the spot, you’re free to leave and comparison shop. Also, you always have the option of coming back later and deciding to buy. So avoid the “one-off” bargaining scenarios, especially for expensive items.

Assuming that you can find a similar item elsewhere and aren’t leaving town immediately you can often get a better price by actually walking away in order to “test” his walk-away price, in other words, haggle with a few different sellers by literally walking away to get a better sense of the “local price”.

The Most Important Negotiating NOTES as Following:

1. You should be confident in the Negotiation

2. You should be better to present your position

3. Knowing your bottom line

4. Making concessions

5. Confidentiality in the Negotiating environment.

When You Can Have a Negotiation At the Price, When You Can Not:

1. Some street vendors, family-owned stores or small businesses, then you can bargain.

Large malls, corporate chains, there is no bargaining.

2. You can bargain on material items only gift items, clothing, jade and so on.

3. Sometimes at small stores you’ll see signs that say “All prices final” or “No bargain!” — disregard these signs, they mean nothing and are only meant to trick the unknowing.

4. Never bargain on food at a restaurant or on the street.

5. You cannot negotiate prices on automobiles in China. You’ll be hard pressed to have them throw in free floor mats.

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