For many people, bargaining and bartering are seen as economic activities developed in the past, used in the past and stuck to the past. Thus, having to come to terms with them again in the 21st Century may appear awkward.

If you are hoping to travel to Vietnam, you may need to get ready for the aforementioned. Not to worry however, we at VivuTravel have you covered. If you would pay attention to this post, you would not have to deal with the culture shocks that may come with haggling and exchange of products and services prevalent in Vietnam.
Like many other Southeast Asian countries, the Vietnamese welcome bargaining and bartering as a way of life. To the average tourist, it may look like a plot put in place to rip unsuspecting people off their resources, however, in Vietnam, bargaining for any type of goods and with anyone – native or tourist – is commonplace.
Find below some tips will help you get used to bargaining and bartering in Vietnam.

1.    Don’t be in a rush to part with your money
If you are too much in a hurry, you may end up overpaying for a good or service. The rule of thumb for bargaining in Vietnam is to cut the asking price by half at the first time and aim to finally pay about 40% of the initial asking price. However, this rule mainly applies to tourists-focused markets. This is because many of them tend to mark up their prices for tourists.

Usually, smaller markets in non-tourist areas would offer fixed prices and their goods and services are often lower and more reasonable than in tourist areas, hence you may not have too much of bargaining to do.

2.    Try buying very early in the morning
In many cultures in the world, particularly in Africa and some Asian countries, there is a strong belief that the first purchase of the day can bring good luck.
There are many places in Vietnam, Bali for example, where vendors tend to offer buyers lower prices for goods and services in the morning so they can access this good luck. VivuTravel agents around you can point out some of those places to you.

3.    Understand the exchange rates
It is advisable to have a currency converter handy when you are out there on the streets of Vietnam. Even if you are good at arithmetic, you would save yourself a lot of time by simply punching your calculator after hearing the rates for services or prices for goods.

Most vendors offer prices in USD and usually they also accept payment in USD too, however, it is advisable that you try to make transactions using the local currency – the Vietnamese Dong. Usually though, you would tend to pay a little higher if you are paying in foreign currency. This is because most merchants would factor in the costs associated with exchanging currencies.

If you are billed in the local currency, by simply doing a conversion, you would easily be able to tell if you are being ripped off or not, and then act accordingly.

4.    Stay wide awake
Some Vietnamese notes look quite similar and if you are not carefully, you may end up massively overpaying for a product or service. For instance, the 10k and 200k Vietnamese Dong notes look a lot like each other, same as the 20k and 500k notes.

Thus, it is imperative that as a tourist, you quickly become familiar with the notes so you do not end up losing your money, not to worry though, if you stay close enough to your VivuTravel tour guide, this kind of mistake would most definitely not happen.

5.    Break up large currency notes as soon as possible
When you use the financial institutions – the banks, ATMs or even currency exchangers – in Vietnam, more often than not, they would issue large notes. It is best to break them up as quickly as possible on arrival, so that you do not have to forfeit your balance with every vendor or waste precious time waiting to get your balance.

6.    Do your background work before choosing to buy
Chances are high that before you settle on buying a particular thing, you would have seen it somewhere else. It helps a lot if you take time to check out prices before deciding to buy. You do this by asking a few vendors for their prices. After doing this, you would have had a fair idea of how much such an item would really cost and that would prepare you to bargain well when you are finally ready to buy.

Watch the amount natives are paying or make friends and ask them directly, hear what other tourists have to say and don’t hesitate to check online for the best prices of same items by local sellers.

7.    Learn a little of the language
Although most Vietnamese sellers speak English, there are still a number who do not understand English and would only punch their asking price on a calculator screen. By learning a few Vietnamese phrases, you are able to communicate better with the natives and there is a psychology to it. Sellers automatically warm up to you and would usually give call an asking price lower than they would to other tourists.

These three phrases may come in handy for you at the market:
Hello - ‘xin chào’ (‘sin chao’), Thank you - ‘cảm ơn’ (‘gum un’), Too expensive - ‘dắt quá’ (pronounced ‘dah kwah’)
Finally, have fun with bartering and bargaining. If what a vendor is asking for is simply not a good enough deal for you, just walk away, there is no need to take it more seriously than it is. The Vietnamese are a very friendly people, you may hear them calling after you once you are leaving, and then offering you an even better deal. If they don’t, not to worry, you would easily find the same product or a close substitute in the same market.

One last thing, don’t spend too much time bargaining over low asking prices, it is not really worth it. Instead, use that extra time to relax and enjoy your tour. This is because in reality, if you’re able to afford a holiday to Vietnam, then low amounts shouldn’t really mean much to you. However, for the Vietnamese vendors trying to eke out a living, those ‘bloated’ asking price may make a huge world of difference for them.