5 tips to bargain when traveling in Vietnam

29, June, 2016

5 tips to bargain when traveling in Vietnam

When traveling in Vietnam,  foreign tourists sometimes complain about being overcharged by the locals when buying something from the local markets to the shops which is considered as bad thing for Vietnam's tourism and image.

The only explanation is the different culture. Vietnamese tend to bargain everything  and bargaining is the habit or culture that foreign tourists need to know when touring in Vietnam as it is not ashamed to bargain and it will definitely give tourists memorable experience at the end.

To avoid being overcharged, Vivutravel would like to advise tourists to follow our 5 bargaining tips for your shopping in Vietnam as below;

1. Check price at different stores/shops
When you want to buy an item, it is advised to check the general price at different stores/shops before bargaining for the best price at a certain place. Do not show that you really like the item you want to buy. Keep cool attitude to the questions of the seller.

2. Boldly bargain
It is no problem if you pay 50% of the item's price. If the seller does not sell, just say "thank you" and walk away. If not, the seller will ask you to pay a bit more, which means, you are going to get a good price by paying another 10% more.

3. Find out the defects
This is another way to beat the price. The next step now is to bargain for lower prices.

shopping in vietnam

4. Take advantage of the crowd
It is always cheaper, the more you buy, the cheaper the price is and bargaining is easy. So visit the crowded shop or ask your friends or someone to join you.

5. Time to buy
The first day of a lunar month will be important for sellers, they want to sell even with lowest price so that they can get good luck for the whole month. So this is the best time to buy. This is about Vietnamese culture, so when traveling to Vietnam, please check with your tour guide.

Note:
- Do not go shopping early in the morning, if you are the first visitor to the shop and bargain hard, but not buying anything. The sellers will get angry as you bring bad luck to them for the whole day. They are unhappy and will make you the same.

- Bargaining is a must for both Vietnamese and foreign tourists. Please do not feel like you are being mistreated or  Vietnamese people are trying to get money from foreign tourists.