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  • Destinations of our boats including Phuket, Lanta, Krabi and secluded islands in Thailand reachable by ferry only.
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Bargaining in Thailand

In some countries, bargaining is par for the course and no one would even consider buying a newspaper without asking for a discount. In other countries, the quoted price is the price you're going to pay, no matter what. If you know which of those types of countries you're in, it makes things much easier. Alas, Thailand seems to fall into neither category, making things a little confusing and potentially a little embarrassing, for the average tourist consumer.

In some places, you wouldn't dream of paying full price. Those include any market designed primarily for tourists and when you're hiring someone, such as a guide, who has approached you off of the street and offered you their services. If you are a tourist and the person you are buying a good or service from has control of the price and stands to personally profit from the transaction, they will likely try to get the highest price from you that they can.

On the other hand, if you are in a place where the person doing the transaction has no personal stake in the price you pay, such as in a supermarket, shopping mall, department store or restaurant, not only will you be expected to pay full price but you'll embarrass everyone if you ask for a discount. And some places, such as local markets, especially when you are buying in bulk, seem to fall in the middle. You won't get a huge discount but you may get a few percentage points knocked off if you ask.

In places where you should bargain because the price has already been inflated, there is no hard and fast rule about how much of a discount you should ask for. In certain markets, such as the Patpong Night Market in Bangkok, vendors' first offered prices are insanely high, often four or five times the "right" price, and they tend to be very aggressive (smart shoppers window shop in markets like this and leave the purchasing for better markets with higher quality merchandise and fairer prices). But unless you know what you're buying and how much it sells for somewhere else, it's hard to gauge. At that point, it's best to decide for yourself how much you're willing to pay for an item and negotiate from that point. Another tip when you're shopping in a market such as Patpong where the bargaining tends to be fast and furious: when someone tells you their "best price", it's pretty much impossible to know whether they are telling you the truth or not, so consider statements like that to be more posturing than anything else. And if you witness vendors running after tourists yelling out their final offers, you know what you're in for.

In other markets, such as in Bangkok's Chinatown, the Chatuchak Weekend Market or one of Chiang Mai's night markets, vendors generally do not over inflate prices despite the fact that most of their market is tourists (one tip off is that prices are clearly marked). In that case it's appropriate to ask for a discount if you're buying more than a few items. Expect to get anywhere from 10% to 15% off but not more than that.

Sometimes tourists get caught up in the game of haggling, hoping to score a win without realizing that they're bargaining over what amounts to one or two dollars. You definitely don't want to get ripped off, but considering the relative economic positions of the average person in your country versus the average person in Thailand, it's not going to kill you to spend a little extra.


Suzanne Nam

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