When I arrived in Santiago, Chile two years ago, I received an orientation packet from the University, which included a section on shopping. We were told that in Chile, unlike most places in South America, people don’t bargain, or regatear. While in Ecuador and Peru, however, I got a chance to flex my bargaining muscles. In these countries, there are rules for shopping in markets and artisan fairs:
1. NEVER buy anything from the first stand you see. You have to scope out the competition before you even think about buying something. And trust me, you will find another dozen stands or so selling the same thing, so odds are you’ll find someone asking for a cheaper price right off the bat.
2. Whatever price you’re told, offer to pay half and work from there.
3. If the seller hasn’t budged for a while and you’re still not satisfied with the price, walk away. I’ve been told that you may get called back (although that’s never actually happened to me...)
4. As I mentioned before, most of the vendors in any given market are selling similar products, so the more you buy from one vendor, the more willing they are to lower their prices.
However, no matter how much you master the art, if you’re a gringo, you’re going to pay a higher price. So you’re best bet is to make an Ecuadorian friend and send them to ask about price. That being said, it’s likely that a lot of time and effort have gone into making these handicrafts, and one dollar or one sol or one peso means a lot more to them then it does to you, so don’t worry about it too much.
Bargaining goes beyond shopping. In Quito, the taxis have meters, but they only run during the day. Any time after 6pm, you have to negotiate. In Peru, traveling at any time required some pretty heated negotiations. In fact, it was in Lima that I had my greatest triumph – you remember rule # 3 about walking away? Well, that trick had never actually worked for me. I’d walk away all the time and no one seemed to be bothered about letting me and my money go. But one night, Colleen and I caught a cab from San Borja to el Centro, and after negotiating from 15 to 12 soles, I told the cabbie 10, he stayed on 12, I walked away, and he called me back! It was only 2 soles, which is the equivalent of less than a dollar, but nonetheless, it felt like an achievement.
To be honest though, while a successful transaction may give you a sense of satisfaction, I’d rather not have to argue with cab drivers, or wear down the sellers at artisan markets. It’s kind of tiring, for me anyway, and I can’t avoid those nagging thoughts afterwards: if I got them down to that price, could I have gotten them to go even lower?
