In Reply to: Bartering Etiquette posted by cyberbirth on Tuesday, 16. November 2004 at 18:21 Bali Time:
If you barter with a smile, you can treat very low offers as a joke then up it a little bit. In my experience they will always try 5-10 times above the real price. If you don't barter hard you will get ripped off. I have seen people pay 100 Aus dollars for an hour massage but in real money it's only worth around 30-40000 rp. You can calculate the exchange rate. A driver is worth 100-200000 rp a day and some people have paid 1500000 rp. Workers in the hotel only get up to 500000 rp a month so if you give it to someone for a days work, they're laughing. If you are at your lowest price and don't want to budge, Say " minta maaf, terlalu mahal " and start to walk away and they will usually call you back.
Knowing some Indonesian is beneficial. If you are walking along the beach and someone follows you trying to sell watches or whatever and you are not interested, just say "maaf, tidak mau" and keep walking and they usually stop. Remember to always barter with a smile and don't get angry and if you agree on a price don't back down. Also, don't say I will be back tomorrow and don't turn up because they will be waiting and expect business from you.