When you’re on the road backpacking you are inevitably going to get your haggling skills tested. Now for all you penny pinchers and people who are budget conscious being good at haggling and being bad can definitely add up the costs as nothing really has a price tag when your in poorer countries.
What I found when I first went backpacking was that I was getting ripped off a lot and this is bound to happen if its your first time, anyone who says they haven’t been ripped off is lying! So while I can’t guarantee a formula that will stop you getting ripped off I can get you prepared and in the right mindset from the start. For any solo travellers first time on the road getting out that airport or train station in a buzzing world of new culture and hectic traffic you stick out like a sore thumb for rip of merchants.
Rice terraces in phillipines
You will find that a lot of people that rip you off in poor countries are actually good people believe it or not and sometimes you have to give them a bit of leeway as people in the western world have it a lot better than 3rd world countries. Their mindset is that anyone from a developed country must be stinking rich and because they have so much money they have a god given right to just throw cash out like well.. A malfunctioning cash machine that’s spitting out money, well it isn’t true, in reality a lot of people who are on the road months are actually poor buggers looking for the cheapest option possible.
El Nido , phillipines
Experienced travellers obviously don’t get ripped off because they have that air of confidence and comfort about their swagger like they know the ropes but for a newbie walking out onto khao san road looking like a helpless little sheep the wolves will come out to play.
Anyways enough rambling I am going to keep this short and sweet. This mindset that I adopt and serves me well might come as a shock to you, but get into the mindset that no one is to be trusted! Yes that’s right, don’t trust no one. All scams come from a stranger coming up to you in the street and sweet talking you trying to be friendly, you get sucked in and then soon enough their sweet talking you about how they can get free tuck tuck rides and then you get in the tuck tuck and suddenly your being taken to a jewelry store and hassled for money or taken to a fake tourist information office where they will charge extortionate prices. Its a sad world we live in where we have to adopt this mindset but in my opinion 98% of people who approach you all friendly in a street want something out of you, I had to learn the hard way, I hope this can help anyone reading this, its such a shame for that 2% who are genuine curious people who just want to see what your like as most are intrigued by foreigners in their country.
Deserted golden beaches in El nido
As far as haggling goes in most poor countries I would say you could haggle for absolutely anything! My haggle technique is simply this, you ask how much an item is and whatever price they say, offer just under half in a firm manner (not rude) and most of the time they will say no, you will both be haggling and after about a minute turn as if to walk away, this is where the beauty happens… id say 90% of the time you turn to walk away it sinks in to them that they are going to loose commission so out of sheer desperation they will suddenly start lowering the price, milk it a little and carry on walking away slowly and you my friend will most likely get what you want for the desired price.
Some places will just let you walk away but what I described above is a very good technique, even better for you is if you know what to pay before you even bought it or haggled as you can go more direct and just offer a very low fee straight from the bat until you haggle to your desired price.
The best mindset I found is for it to be fun, believe me I used to hate it but I suddenly started to enjoy the process. Its not a competition about who can get the most out of the seller because truly good haggling is when both the seller and buyer come out happy. Never get heated or into an argument over haggling, remember keep it fun, have a laugh with the seller and enjoy yourself.
Halong bay Vietnam
