In Reply to: Bartering Etiquette posted by cyberbirth on Tuesday, 16. November 2004 at 18:21 Bali Time:
Start by asking for "Morning Price" even if it is not morning. But if it is morning it is bad luck for Balinese to lose the first possible sale of the day. Never agree to buy anything until you offer a price and the merchant says "Bankrupt". On Bali this means that the merchant will "lose money" on the deal. My experience is that they never use this word unless they will actually lose money at that price. Another technique is to get the merchant down as low as possible and then walk-out of the shop while saying to the merchant that you will try the "Beach Market". The merchant will immediately drop the price to as low (or nearly as low) as it will ever get. At this point if you offer a lower price the answer will probably be that classic line "Bankrupt"; then you buy the item.