Randy's Travel Tips: Shopping and Bargaining

Collecting

Like your Aunt Ethel and Uncle George who collect anything that looks like a turtle, or a penguin, some travelers make a hobby out of collecting similar trinkets from various countries. These are often small, mundane, and cheap. It's certainly not required, but a collection of colorful cigarette packets can be as interesting as a more expensive jewelry collection. "Kitsch" postcards are also popular, and in some underdeveloped countries, most of the ancient postcards you find will be entertaining far beyond their original intent. For some it is just an amusement, like collecting beer labels or match boxes, but it could be a more serious artistic endeavor, like collecting sarongs from various tropical areas. One of my traveling friends has a marvelous collection of musical instruments, and you can only imagine the trouble he has gone to, getting some of them home.

I have inadvertently gathered a collection of hats, and while I don't plan to get one from every country, I sometimes end up with a number of unique hats and (preferably) caps at the end of a trip. My only serious collection is of paper money, which I find much more beautiful, easy to carry -- and expensive -- than coins.

Count Your Fingers!

Count your change. Whenever you make a transaction for anything, don't let down your guard until you have received your change and counted it. If you find that it is always correct, (yes, lucky you, indeed), you can relax and stop counting for awhile. In India, you just keep bobbing your outstretched palm. Even if you have no idea how much change you should get, the longer you stand there holding out your hand, the more of your proper change they will return. If you have the Patience of Job, you may even get it all.

Notice that you won't know if the change is correct unless you have already calculated it ahead of time. Stay on top of each transaction by knowing just how much change you should receive. While you're at it, calculate the total of several items you buy, so that you know that the final price is at least approximately correct. When someone overcharges you in this way, he can always just plead ignorance -- but only if you catch him; otherwise it is you who must plead ignorance. This is when a calculator comes in handy.

Make sure you go away with exactly what you bought. If your purchase goes into a bag or box without your watching it, it may not be what you just finished buying, or it may not be all of it. This kind of thievery is beneath the dignity of many merchants, and it is much more likely in some cultures than in others. But it will happen to you somewhere, when you least expect it. Don't let it happen with something really valuable; keep your hands on it.

Be aware that in many poorer regions, large denomination notes will be as difficult to spend as gold. In a market where you are buying goods worth less than one dollar, a note equivalent to five dollars may prove completely useless. Banks will often give you the largest bills they have, and you should try to convince them to give you smaller bills which you will actually be able to use, especially in the countryside. When you do encounter this problem, try to use the large bills at your hotel; you may have to go back to a bank later and plead for smaller ones.

Another small precaution while shopping is to avoid taking notes which are torn. It is true that scotch-tape (celo-tape) still seems to be legal tender in Peru and several other places, but in many countries, merchants will try to pass on torn bills which no one else will accept. Even at banks (especially in India), inspect all your money and refuse to accept bills which are at all torn. Sometimes you wish you had gloves to handle some of the notes you will receive.

Mailing it Home

Some shops will arrange to mail your purchases home for you, for a small fee. Be very careful about doing this, unless you are quite sure it is a reputable company. If they don't steal your money altogether, it is tempting for them to substitute an item of lesser quality. Or they may mail it the cheapest (and least reliable) way possible, after charging you for airmail, insurance, etc. You are generally better off mailing it yourself, if you can take the time and trouble to do so. Higher quality tourist shops (in higher quality countries) can usually be trusted, but how do you know for sure? Well, many people have done it successfully, but just think twice before you hand over a lot of money and get nothing in return.

Mailing Packages

This is often a hassle, and is not always reliable in many places. Just sending a box is not nearly as simple as it sounds, but done properly, travelers have sent dozens of boxes from all over the world (including many countries I would call unreliable), without losing a thing. Plan your mailing points ahead of time. Get whatever information you can before you leave home, and ask other travelers along the way which countries are the easiest, cheapest, and safest. You won't buy as many souvenirs if you have to carry them for two months to the nearest safe post office.

Determine the postal rates before you start putting a package together. Costs vary tremendously from country to country. Air mail will be significantly more expensive than sea mail, and, naturally, much quicker and safer. Sea mail will take anywhere from four weeks to four months, airmail should arrive within two to four weeks. When you use sea mail, put everything in at least one heavy plastic bag, inside the box. Even then, everything will end up smelling like the inside of a ship, but it may be protected from soaking.

Each country has its own rules for wrapping packages; ask at the post office before getting started. Often you need paper, tape, and string. In west Asia and the Middle East, you usually must have the package sewn up in a cloth bag! If there is no one outside of the post office performing this service, you may have to go to a tailor shop to have it done. The cloth should also be sealed with sealing wax, stamped with your unique 'seal' -- use a ring or a coin from home.

You must now buy your box, paper, tape, and string. In more modern countries (like Singapore and Hong Kong) you can now buy special mailing boxes from the post office which only require sealing with mailing tape, and this is by far the easiest. Otherwise, you have to scrounge around in shops, often paying for old boxes. Make sure the box is sturdy and all the seams are intact. Then visit a stationary shop and buy more brown paper, string, and tape than you will ever need, although you can occasionally buy sheets of paper or even lengths of string. Try going down to the post office and buying some from other travelers in the same situation.

Put a copy of the destination address inside the box, in case the outside is damaged. Also put the address on the box before wrapping it with paper, for the same reason. A thick permanent marking pen is a real convenience when addressing packages; I sometimes carry one around. After writing the address on the outside, cover it with clear mailing tape, if you can find any, as this will protect it from moisture, not to mention monsoon rains.

In many places, you must show the contents of the package to the postal clerks before you wrap it for mailing! So you have to bring all your materials with you and wrap it up there on the floor; make a dry run beforehand so everything is already cut to size. Find out if this is necessary, and pick another country or city if possible.

You will always be asked to fill out a list of the contents and their value.Be reasonably accurate about the contents but avoid words like "jewelry" or "gold" that will help to get it stolen, or "leather" or "tortoise shell" (shame on you) which will draw the attention of customs agents at home. Since you probably won't be insuring it, underestimate the value for the same two reasons given above. Always list the items as "gifts"; small amounts of unsolicited gifts are generally immune from customs duties. If you are mailing large quantities of goods, mail them in small boxes to several different addresses; your customs officials notice when twelve boxes arrive at the same address. In Pakistan, you must get permission from the Department of Commerce to mail a package valued at over 500 rupees ($20!); so naturally, all of your packages are worth exactly Rs.500.

In most countries, packages are automatically "registered" and you will receive a numbered receipt. It won't do you much good six months later on the other side of the globe, but it feels good just to have it. You may be able to pay more for certification, insurance, etc. This might help keep it safe, but don't count on any results if the package does get lost. Pay your money, see the stamps stuck on the package -- and cancelled -- and kiss that baby good-bye. There's no use worrying about it now. Don't send letters in packages. Send a separate letter at the same time as the package, announcing that it should be arriving within a certain time. Include a list of the contents so someone will know if something has been removed in route. There, that was easy, wasn't it?

Air cargo is an alternative for quicker, more secure shipping, but wrapping and customs requirements are tougher, and the addressee may have to go the nearest customs port at home to claim the package. Inquire at large airline offices if they have air cargo.

The Import Business

Along the Road you travel, you will discover a number of special gifts and useful articles that are incredibly cheap. If you have an ounce of capitalist blood in your veins, you will eventually consider the idea of going into the business of importing these items into your country, and getting rich very quickly. Every traveler has thought of it, many have tried it, very few have even managed to break even. Travelers have spent a great deal of time and money stocking up on such amazing bargains as carpets, sweaters, hammocks, waistcoats, emeralds, rubies, amber, jade, black coral, ancient coral beads, saffron, jewelry, and plenty of other things that don't even sound this interesting. Most of them still have a box or two of these treasures at home.

Buying gifts for yourself and your friends is great fun; importing them for sale is a business. It takes work, knowledge, and a place to sell them. The people who do it successfully, do it for a living. They own, or have connections with shops where they can sell, they usually pay the proper customs duties, and still make a profit (maybe). First of all, it is very easy to get ripped-off. There are local merchants who make a very good living selling exclusively to naive travelers who do not know what they are buying. The emeralds, rubies, amber, jade, coral, pearls, silver, gold, and saffron they sell are fake, or of such low quality as to be worthless. Tales of such rip-offs fill the Travelers' Mythology.

Still, it is a good fantasy. If you want to get serious about it, here are some sobering guidelines. You should be able to sell your treasures for at least four or five times what you paid for them. If you can sell them retail, you should be able to get that much; but if you have to sell them wholesale or on consignment, you may receive only 50% of the retail price. You must know that there is a ready market for your product, and hopefully, exactly where you can sell it.

Next, you should be able to recognize the quality and approximate market value of what you are buying, especially gemstones or jewelry. If you really get into the business, you should be prepared to pay customs duties, and know how much they are; this varies tremendously with the product and where it comes from. Packages are more likely to be inspected at customs when mailed from countries that have poorer trade and tariff agreements with your country; do you know the best places to mail from? Consider also how much time you will spend preparing and selling your goods, and how much that time is worth to you. Some people make a modest living by traveling around to crafts fairs, "flea markets", and selling on the streets at home. This is not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme if you could be working at a higher-paying job.

Probably the easiest items to buy, sell, and transport, are ready-made jewelry (not unset or uncut stones). The jewelry that you find attractive will be interesting to people at home, and you can always give them away as gifts. Be aware, however, that hundreds of your compatriots are already trying to sell the same jewelry in various shops and bazaars at home. If you are still curious, pick up "How to be an Importer and Pay for Your World Travel", by Mary Green and Stanley Gillman.

Bargaining

Should you try to get a lower price? Yes. You don't have to haggle over everything, but do try to develop some bargaining skills. In the Third World, part of shopping is bargaining; it is not only acceptable, but an expected way of doing business for many things. You can save a reasonable amount of money by bargaining, even in untouristed areas. Even for some things that are not normally haggled over, you will not be insulting anyone by trying a little friendly horse-trading, even if it doesn't work. Bargaining is fun, challenging, and pushes you into social interactions with the local people on their own ground, not yours. Finally, it fights the outrageous inflation of prices in areas where naive tourists have driven them beyond all sense of reason.

Bargaining is definitely an acquired skill; the more you do it, the better you become, and the more at ease you will feel at it. Just realize that you will never approach the skills of your opponents! Most guidebooks give you some rules for bargaining, and I will do the same, but notice that not everyone's rules are the same. There is much more to bargaining than just a few rules. The important things are to have fun, and to avoid being badly ripped-off.

Bargaining should be fun. That's why I hate to bargain for things I really need, like a hotel room, a meal, a soft drink, or a bus ride. In most (but not all) places, these things -- as well as ordinary dry goods in regular shops -- will have fixed prices; sometimes the prices are fixed by the government and even printed on the labels. It is when you go into the market place, deal with vendors on the street, and shop for more expensive or touristic items that you will need to bargain, not only to get a realistic price, but also to join in the fun of negotiating that should be shared by vendor and sucker..er...buyer alike.

Bargaining for hours -- or days, on and off -- with a friendly salesperson can be a rewarding cultural interchange. You don't have to just talk business. If possible, take the opportunity to learn something about the vendor and his country. You might even ask a slightly personal or political question that you would not ask a stranger on the bus. On the other hand, some bargaining sessions can seem like a brow-beating or brain-washing from some very convincing, high-pressure con artists.

The only way to guarantee that you are not being ripped-off (on price, at least), is to know the going rate ahead of time. Simple. If you know what a fair price is, you don't have to pay much more unless you want to. This goes for pineapples as well as carpets, but you can afford to pay double for a pineapple once in a while, until you learn a fair price. Many vendors count on tourists being completely ignorant of reasonable prices and quality. If you can learn what both good quality and a good price are for an article, you can bargain with authority. It doesn't matter if you shop in the marketplace, or in a "fixed price" curio shop, you can ask for a price you know to be reasonable, and confidently refuse to accept anything more. That is how we would all like to bargain, every time.

In many instances, however, you have no way of knowing what a proper price is. But if you have the time, and take the time to do some informal research, you can often get a reasonable idea of prices. This is why you should refrain from buying the first example you see of a particular item; you could easily pay ten times the price for something of unusually poor quality. Since it takes a week or two to get a good knowledge of prices, the more time you spend in each country, the greater proportion of that time you will spend as a confident buyer, instead of as a helpless tourist.

Hang around in the marketplace or the shops to see what the local people are paying. For handicrafts, look in "fixed price" government tourist shops to get an idea of the quality and the top price you can expect to pay in the marketplace. Sometimes these shops have goods of much higher quality than anything you are offered on the street; sometimes they are just an airport rip-off. Once again, other travelers are one of your best sources of information on where to buy and how much to pay; just ask someone who has some nice-looking trinkets.

If you spend one hour "touring" a famous marketplace, you will pay what the tourists pay. If you spend a day or two wondering around, researching prices -- and showing yourself to be a prudent buyer, who is also interested in the local culture -- you can get a more realistic price. But wondering around a fascinating bazaar for a couple of days, and getting acquainted with the local merchants, is its own reward. If you can find some great souvenirs to bring home, that's great; and if you get a good price for them, all the better. But shopping should be fun, and can be much more rewarding as a cultural, rather than a commercial experience.

By the time you find out what a reasonable price is, you will have noticed what a difference there can be in the opening price from one place to another. In a neighborhood market, a vendor may ask a local for 25% to 50% over his final price for some vegetables or fruit. If he asks you the same, then you are in an area unspoiled by tourists. If a vendor originally offers you a price two times the local rates for goods, this may be a reasonable starting point; if he asks 8 to 10 times the price (or more), then there have been far too many tourists around.

Some guidebooks tell tourists to always offer half what the vendor says. This was fine 10 years ago before the hustlers started reading the same guidebooks. Now, the offers can be so outrageous that I just walk away. If I'm feeling scornful, I may offer a price just as ridiculously cheap -- one-tenth of a fair price -- and revel in their indignation. I doubt if it helps, but otherwise there is nothing to stop vendors from asking for the moon when they have nothing to lose, and the moon to gain.

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