The Bargaining Game

A simple volley:
"That will be $4.20."
"Why not make it $4.00 even."

And again:
"One piece is 40 cents."
"I'll give you 70 cents for two."

With that, you are ready to start play. You head for the market, say, to the seller of brassware. He is a wispy, benign man who has smiled and greeted you every time you have entered the market. Now, you select a serving tray and he names a price. With a distinct feeling of stagefright you name a lower figure and find that, instead of laughing at you, he reduces his price.
It is a marvelous moment.
And before long you will have (everyone does) a deflating encounter that goes like this:

"I'm interested in that ring, the silver one. How much do you want for it?"
"$100"
"Oh. Um, that's a bit more than I want to spend. Could you give a discount?"
"It's $100."
"You see, I'm buying it for my friend and he only wants to spend about $50."
"$100"
"Look, how about $85?"
You pay $100.
You will probably have another, equally devastating session that goes like this:
"For this I'm asking $100."
"Do you suppose," you timidly venture, "you could make it $60?"
"Sold!"

You feel like a mouse that has accidentally wandered into a cat farm. You realize the wretched thing must be worth about $30 at the most, but the deal is already closed. He is getting out the wrapping papers. Your only way out is to decide to put something else as well, and to re-open negotiations for the two items together. Or, you could renege on your offer and slink away in a dark cloud of fully justified disapproval. (A note on saving face: that is not the way to do it.) At this point some novice bargainers lose heart. Alternatively, some novices begin paring down prices cent by cent, rupiah by rupiah, and satang by satang, and they lecture shopkeepers, who learned the art by haggling over sweets when they were five years old, about the ethics of bargaining. When this stage is reached, it is time to move into intermediate bargaining.
One of the most effective ploys used by sellers is based on the psychology of the lie. The seller says, "5,500 rupiah is my last price; it cost me 5,000 rupiah and if I sell any cheaper I'll lose money." If you proceed to offer any price less that 5,000 rupiah, the clear implication is that he has lied. It's a good shot, a backhand to the far corner of the court while you are rushing the net. But let's carry on. You reply, "Then I'm afraid I can't buy it. This is a gift and the most I can spend is 3,000 rupiah. I don't see anything else here I like." A good recovery, and likely to be your point. (When he sells it for 4,000 rupiah, you will both maintain a discreet silence about his earlier statement. Now you are beginning to understand about face.)

One day I was in the cloth market at Jogiakarta, Indonesia when a sea of batik enthusiastically vended by a very though set of market ladies. I stopped at a stall and asked the price of a piece of batik.
"4,500 rupiah,"
I tried offering 500 rupiah. It was far too low. The woman's eyes narrowed, her mouth tightened, and she said, "Terima Kaseh." ("Thank you.") Then she turned her back on me.
Down the line I tried again.
"This piece is quite cheap, only 1,500 rupiah. And that one, well, you can see that one is nicer; it's 2,700 rupiah."

A quick calculation: she was asking 4,200 rupiah for the two pieces. I stood up and walked away, saying over my shoulder, "I'll give you 1,200 rupiah for the two of them."
"Come!" The crowd gasped. A forehand smash and it was game for the tourist!
Paying the real price, "the price the locals pay," is for many travelers the objective of the bargaining process, and for some it becomes an obsession. It is a goal which can lead to a great deal of frustration, for in a bargaining situation there is no "real" price. The price you pay will depend on your relationship with the seller and the quality of goods you buy.

Needy clients are subsidized by charging the well-to-do a bit more. Fruit and vegetable sellers save choice items for regular customers, but might even charge them slightly more. As a tourist and someone the seller will never see again, you have little leverage and little claim to a special price. On the other hand, no one will manage to retire on the profits of one sale, and if you are clever at producing reasons why the price should come down, it will.