Negotiations

Our discussion in class on Monday on Negotiation reminded me of a trip I made to China in the summer of 2008. I was in China for over two weeks, and of course, I did plenty of shopping for myself and friends. Shopping there is much different than here in the United States. In the markets in China, prices are negotiable. One would be unwise to not do so. I spent hours in the market negotiating a price for all my items. It was very different than what I was used to. The sales people are very aggressive. Sometimes they will even grab your arm as you walk away from a sale. I thought I was pretty decent at negotiating, but then saw some of my friends' technique of double teaming. One guy would go in and start negotiating and then a couple minutes later the other would walk up and tell him that it wasn't a good deal. They would both walk away, but the sales person would still try to sell to them. Eventually, the sales person caved in and my friends got a real deal. I was used to whatever negotiating in the US that took place where I meet the other person in the middle. There, however, to get the best deal, you have to stick to your price and not give in to anything higher. You had to be just as aggressive as they were, which takes some getting used to. You can get a glimpse into one of the markets I visited with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBSsbWVZzto&feature=fvw

-Marcus