In Reply to: Shopping tip posted by 1964dragon on Saturday, 30. October 2010 at 09:54 Bali Time:
or dont buy, its that simple.
Sometimes you can get a real bargain from a shop,go back and they wont drop back to the bargain price you got before.
Its quite frustrating if you want something and cant be bothered negotiating the price,you just keep walking past the items as the first price is well over inflated,this can lead you to not buying at all as by the end of the trip you can be sick of the sight of the same old goods and end up with nothing or less than you intended.
If you pay less sometimes the quality or design is less.
You are already talking 20,000-30,000 for items so i doubt you will get "ripped off" but may get frustrated trying to negotiate these very low prices.
Paying $10 for a pair of shorts that somebody else has only paid $5 for is not really getting ripped off.
I used to love bargaining in Bali but over the past few years its become tiresome so i can see why so many ask where the fixed price shops are.
Bali stalls and shops are not "$2" shops even though the quality can be the same.
Personally i have found it to be a waste of holiday time trying to bargain for the lowest price all the time,as long as both yourself and the shop vendor are smiling after purchase its not a ripoff.
I have bought a fake gold belcher chain for $15 and no coins when the previous trip I was quoted $100 plus coins everywhere i tried.
I am glad I didnt pay the $100 plus coins as i would have been ripped off because its still sitting in the plastic bag with other Bali junk i didnt really need almost 2 years later :)