Bargain Much?

Be mindful when you bargain.

That's what my mom taught me to help me shop. When I was younger, my mom used to do all the shopping for me, though I'd tag along and give my opinion about what I liked or disliked but I used to leave the haggle or bargain to my mom. I used to wonder why my mom spent 3 to 6 hours at a shopping mall and didn't just go to one store - to walk around the 3 or 4 levels 10 times. It was such a chore. My mom is quite a shopaholic and also a really experienced haggler but she managed to make shopping a nightmare. Walking around or spending hours in a store to buy just one or two items seemed too much and let's not forget about the bargain part.

This went on up to my early 20s and then I developed my own sense of style and I wanted to shop for myself. And I did - but it never felt like winning because I almost didn't bargain. Before I used to wonder why my mother haggled a lot and did not buy anything at face value. But now I know better. The asking price of certain items didn't bother me at first and perhaps my reluctance to do any bargain made me willing to pay any price the shopkeepers would ask for. Then I'd find out that I was overcharged and made a little fool.

You see, shopping here isn't that easy.

The shopkeepers don't overcharge on basic items such as groceries or stationery. But items such as clothes and accessories are almost always double the price they're supposed to. It always costs an arm and a leg and feels like I have holes in my pocket. During the times I shopped by myself, I spent quite a bit, and after coming home, I compared prices and it always made me feel stupid. Such ridiculous prices and I believed it was right. When you pay double the price for something, it doesn't just tank your pocket but also you'd scold yourself for paying that. After a couple of those incidents, my dearest shopaholic mom gave me a piece of valuable advice.

Haggle and offer a price that's at most one-third of their asking price. Keep going back and forth till you come to an agreement.

In the beginning, I thought isn't that such a nuisance? Imagine, telling a shopkeeper you'd pay 300 when they asked for 1000!! Yes, at the time I felt a bit uneasy but I had my pocket full of holes to worry about. So, I let go of all that hesitation that doesn't help with my shopping. And later I found out that my mom is a genius.

So when a shopkeeper gives me a price that is too out of reach, I walk out of that store regardless of how much I liked that item. I still don't spend a lot of time shopping - not much of a hustler. But now I do go back and forth to buy something. Yesterday I went shopping to get myself shoes for regular use and guess what, the same thing happened. I went to a few stores and nothing was much to my liking. As it was for regular use, I was a bit more relaxed with my choices - I was willing to buy anything that seemed comfortable enough and wasn't too out of budget. Store after store I went and some shopkeepers even had the audacity to ask for almost 4 to 5 times the charge. The end of the story was, that I walked out of the mall with two pairs of shoes at a reasonable price.

The moral of the story is, to always bargain and pay what you're comfortable with.