The Silk Market! 秀水街

(The following dialogue is a typical exchange between a buyer and seller at the 秀水街 Silk Market in Beijing. Keep in mind that the exchange rate is about 6 or 7 RMB / Dollar)

“HANDSOME BOY! You want to buy polo Lauren shirt! Good quality, good quality! Washable Cotton! You understand washable, yes? Very special model, you won’t find this anywhere else!”

“这个蓝色的多少钱?”（How much for this blue one?）

“For you? I give you special price. If it was anybody else I give you this price (she pulls out her calculator and punches in the number 1350 RMB, which is about 200 dollars), but you are so handsome and you speak Chinese so I give you very, very special price! (punches in 600 RMB) Only for you! Only for you!”  

“虽然这个衬衫很好可是我觉得太贵了。50元怎么样?” (Although this shirt is very nice, I think it’s too expensive. How does 50 RMB sound ?)

“50 RMB! Are you crazy, I make no profit! You are so hard to bargain! Come, look—very good quality. Cotton! You are so handsome, this color—just for you! How about 400 RMB?”

“太贵了！” (Still too expensive!)

“Because you are so handsome and you speak so well Chinese, I give you my best price (she punches in 300 RMB into her calculator) Only for you!”

“不用了，谢谢” (Thanks, but—no thanks) At this point I strategically started to walk away, and she got really antsy.

“Ok Fine, 100 RMB!”

“60!”

“OK 80!”

“好的，我买这个衬衫” (Okay, I’ll buy it)

“Wow, you good bargainer!”

(End Dialogue, and FYI, this is a very abbreviated version, it can easily go back and forth for 10 minutes or more….it's really so much fun)

The Silk Market in Beijing can easily provide hours of amusement, as you might be able to tell. Some of the fake clothing is actually very convincing (I won’t tell you which ones are fake when I get back), but the real fun is not in the purchases, but in fact the purchasing. The silk market is an indoor venue that houses around 1700 vendors that sell everything from fake designer clothing (like for instance, Ralph Lauren polos, or items that are clearly just plain white t-shirts with a logo from Versace, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana etc.), to fake watches (which are “Automatic!!” –meaning that you have to shake them to make them work…well, kinda work for maybe a day or two, at which point the clock hands fall off), to handbags (genuine Plada bag! Good Quality!), to pearls (which generally are actually pearls), bedding, assorted jewelry, electronics(not recommended)….really, pretty much anything you could ever want. 

The vendors start out with absolutely ridiculous prices, and if you accept their initial offers, SHAME ON YOU. Their first prices are usually marked up 500% if not more, and it is really not that difficult to get down to 1/6 of their asking price, or even cheaper. Before going, I read several online bargaining guides specifically for this market, but it really just takes practice once you get there. (The techniques mentioned in the online guides are really effective!). This place is FULL of tourists from all over the world; I think they get something like 60,000 customers per day on the weekends.

When making deals with vendors, they do their best to keep the negotiated price a secret between the buyer and seller—that way, they might still have a chance of tricking other buyers into paying high prices. As such, they always punch the prices into a calculator rather than saying them out loud for others to hear. I did all my negotiating in Chinese, so we actually talked about the prices out loud (I guess they assume that most buyers won’t understand the Chinese), and I think I may have gotten some brownie points for using Chinese. They will compliment you to the end of the earth, and really do anything to make sure you buy it from them. Don’t believe them when they say things like “you can’t get this model anywhere else! Very special!” …because in reality you can find the same exact shirt at 30 or more different vendors. (AP Econ-ers: think perfectly competitive market!)

One word of caution, make sure to double check the quality of the particular item you are receiving before leaving the vendor. I was bullied by some vendors  (more like guilted, the girl pretended to cry!!) into buying a “real 100% cashmere very good quality” Burberry scarf, and the one they were showing me was actually pretty nice and soft. Just after I handed over my money, she told me, “Hold on, let me get you a nice new one, only for your 妈妈!”. I didn’t realize what she was up to and didn’t think to check the quality again, but when I got home I realized that the second one she gave me was total garbage…

It’s definitely worth it for the experience, I went twice! Just make sure to bring your bargaining cap and you’ll survive. Also, be polite and smile a lot, it goes a long way