Shops and services

Nothing official... a but foreigner (all rich) in Vietnam = 2 tiered pricing. Negotiation is a fine art (may involve walking away). 

cruisemonkey wrote:

Nothing official... a but foreigner (all rich) in Vietnam = 2 tiered pricing. Negotiation is a fine art (may involve walking away). 

I did ask her if it was because of my nationality (WLM🤔)

Jlgarbutt wrote:

... I ask why price of Sting is 2k higher than price shown on shelf..

At first she say don't understand.. so I point to shelf and suddenly in perfect vinglish she says the price is wrong..

Don't know about the UK, but in the US this would be a violation of the law on her part.  If the price is publicly posted it has to be honored.  Admittedly this is a fairly new legal concept even in the US, so such laws might be expected to exist in Vietnam in maybe another decade or two.  Don't be holding your breath.   

One of the mysteries of Vietnam is, It can work 'both' ways -
I was in the local market and found the perfect canister for my coffee grounds. There was price sticker on the bottom - 65k. I paid with a 100k note and got 55k in change. When I tried to tell the vendor she gave me the wrong change, she insisted the price sticker was wrong. 

Maybe she like you 😜

I'm finding in my travels throughout the country that such pricing problems are usually confined to foreigner-friendly areas.

In HCMC around Chợ Bến Thành, a pushcart vendor sells a single portion (hamburger sized styrofoam container) of xôi (sticky rice) for ₫40,000 VNĐ and refuses to accept less.

In Qui Nhơn (not yet a truly foreigner-friendly city) I get the double-sized container of xôi for ₫10,000 VNĐ.

Yes, the cost of living is higher in Ho Chi Minh City, but that's an 8X price increase in Saigon.

But in Vũng Tàu (semi foreigner friendly) one street vendor insists on ₫20,000 VNĐ for the individual portion, while farther away from the Expat area of Phan Chu Trinh street, a woman is happy to get ₫10,000 VNĐ.

Today I'm at Tam Thanh Beach near Tam Kỳ; an area almost totally devoid of English signage or English-speaking people.

I stopped at a tạp hóa to buy a bag of potato chips: ₫6,000 VNĐ

In Đà Nẵng or HCMC, I'd be paying between ₫10,000 VNĐ and ₫20,000 VNĐ for the exact same product.

I'm sharing this because knowing the normal price ahead of time really helps.

About 1Km down the road from here I walked into a store and picked up a 1.5 liter bottle of Aquafina water, offering the woman the normal local price of ₫10,000 VNĐ.

She got upset and held up two fingers as if to say 20,000.

I put the water back on the shelf and turned to walk out of the store.

She started yelling "okay! okay! okay!"

Who knew she spoke English?

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

I put the water back on the shelf and turned to walk out of the store.

She started yelling "okay! okay! okay!"

Who knew she spoke English?

That's the key.  You have to be willing to walk away.

THIGV wrote:

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

I put the water back on the shelf and turned to walk out of the store.

She started yelling "okay! okay! okay!"

Who knew she spoke English?

That's the key.  You have to be willing to walk away.

Exactly!

Almost all the best deals I've gotten on purchases here have come only when they have been convinced I was done negotiating.

For several weeks recently I have been buying green, seedless grapes in Vung Tau (Phan Chu Trinh area) from my 'regular' fruit cart lady for 35,000/kg. Then, one day there was a different fruit cart lady... who wanted 70,000/kg (I'm sure the grapes were from the same vineyard - probably around Dalat). I said "Gamun but no gamun"... and walked away.

cruisemonkey wrote:

For several weeks recently I have been buying green, seedless grapes in Vung Tau (Phan Chu Trinh area) from my 'regular' fruit cart lady for 35,000/kg. Then, one day there was a different fruit cart lady... who wanted 70,000/kg (I'm sure the grapes were from the same vineyard - probably around Dalat). I said "Gamun but no gamun"... and walked away.

Not meaning to tell you what to do, but in a similar situation I would simply take the 35,000 and hold it out and stand there to let her know that I knew the actual price and then if she fails to work with me, then I start walking away.

Now she's got a reason to call out to me and get me to come back, because I've made her a counter-offer which is the going rate.

Your knowledge of the local price will probably get you the local price, if you really want that product

This is why I explained to my wife why I always buy from the same people who don't try to rip me off.

I have read some comments on Facebook about this subject. It seems some expats are happy to overpay saying they are guests in this country, I wonder how it would work in reverse?

I really don't see this in D2 which has a lot of foriegners.  I did just have one instance last week where my wife asked me to pick up bananas from a certain lady who has very good ones and cheap - 10,000/kg.  She charged me 15,000.  While 15k is still a very good price for good quality bananas when my wife went there a few days later she made it clear to the lady who her husband was and that she repectfully asked that she honor normal price for her husband.  She said now that she knows I'm her husband they should be back down to 10,000.  That remains to be seen. 

On one hand i think 15K is a really good price for quality but on the other I understand my wife's position that if 10K is the price then that should be the price.  In my mind it's a lot of work and effort to lug loads of bananas from hometown on her motorbike and trailer to only get 10,000 but I don't want to argue.

Two more instances going both ways, both for Grab.

One I had been out drinking at dinner with suppliers and booked a Grab car home.  It was late and he must have thought I was drunk and wouldn't count but my change was short 190,000.  When he handed me a wad of bills I counted it and showed him.  He saw his "mistake" and took the extra 10,000 bill back and gave me the 200,000 bill that was missing.

Another case where my wife ordered the grab for me.  When I got to the house I went to pay and he pointed to his phone.  I gave him the money and he shook his head and refused and was just showing me that she had prepaid the fare.  I couldn't read it in Vietnamese and only saw the total charge.  He smiled and pushed my hand away.  He could have easily took the money and been double paid and I wouldn't have known the difference.

In my mind it's a lot of work and effort to lug loads of bananas from hometown on her motorbike and trailer to only get 10,000 but I don't want to argue.

But does she, most just buy them from a wholesaler.

Always use prepaid for grab.. no need to worry about wrong change. Doesn't stop the wrong collection or delivery that can happen.

colinoscapee wrote:

In my mind it's a lot of work and effort to lug loads of bananas from hometown on her motorbike and trailer to only get 10,000 but I don't want to argue.

But does she, most just buy them from a wholesaler.

& poster to say they come from Da Lat & that doubles the price but if the truth is known they probably came from China or Laos  & have been dipped in all sorts of strange chemicals 1.... to make them look good & 2 to stop them rotting quickly.

colinoscapee wrote:

In my mind it's a lot of work and effort to lug loads of bananas from hometown on her motorbike and trailer to only get 10,000 but I don't want to argue.

But does she, most just buy them from a wholesaler.

My wife said it was from their hometown.  Of course I cannot prove or disprove.  Regardless the quality is excellent.

goodolboy wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

In my mind it's a lot of work and effort to lug loads of bananas from hometown on her motorbike and trailer to only get 10,000 but I don't want to argue.

But does she, most just buy them from a wholesaler.

& poster to say they come from Da Lat & that doubles the price but if the truth is known they probably came from China or Laos  & have been dipped in all sorts of strange chemicals 1.... to make them look good & 2 to stop them rotting quickly.

Actually pretty easy to tell "China" bananas from local bananas, though I doubt China is the out of country source for that crop.

Dalat carrots are the dirty ones; China carrots are pristine clean.

SteinNebraska wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

In my mind it's a lot of work and effort to lug loads of bananas from hometown on her motorbike and trailer to only get 10,000 but I don't want to argue.

But does she, most just buy them from a wholesaler.

My wife said it was from their hometown.  Of course I cannot prove or disprove.  Regardless the quality is excellent.

Its the formaldehyde that makes them taste so nice!

goodolboy wrote:

they come from Da Lat & that doubles the price but if the truth is known they probably came from China or Laos  & have been dipped in all sorts of strange chemicals 1.... to make them look good & 2 to stop them rotting quickly.

SteinNebraska wrote:

My wife said it was from their hometown.  Of course I cannot prove or disprove.

Rules of thumb (with exceptions of course):  fruits and veggies that are large, have good shape, nice appearance, and are ripened evenly are not to be bought if you want to eat healthy.  The reason?  If they're not from China, they're injected with chemicals by whosoever hands they passed before they are sold to you.

If your wife said the bananas were from her hometown, they're from her hometown.  There are many ways for her to decide that she could trust the seller:  the seller's knowledge of the town, the timing the fruits are sold, the look and taste of the fruits (fruits grown in one part of the country do not look or taste the same as from another part of the country), the seller's reputation, etc. 

The thing is, most Vietnamese women can't tell you how they know in re buying good food because the knowledge comes so natural to them they never think of explaining it.

Hello there,
Same here went to countless shops in Saikhan or SG  to buy something. One day took a cab from An Suong Bust Station to Au Co in District Tan Binh, that shop sells american brand shoes advertised for discounted price on their website. Was caught in traffic for more than 30mins as the cab driver pretended he didn't know the way and was driving me on a merry-go-round so i paid him lesser than the meter fare at destination anyway. Entered the shop said hello three viets stood there starring at me and my two tourists friends, then asked of i could use the toilet they replied flat said no.
Ok so i just tolerated with my urgency of peeing and thought no problem ill just pee in their floor, wet my pants since they didnt allow borrowing the toilet when i was going to buy something from them.
Found the fake vietnam made Vans shoe for 250000vnd so i thought. But he went to the counter spoke to the biatch at the counter turned back to me said no more discount, usual price, promo over. I bought it for 370000vnd,a week later the shoe sole detached by itself wth wtf!!!
  Another day i went to this Xiaomi store which advertised on their webpage air purifier. Initially thought of ordering online and get it sent to me saving all the trouble travelling all the way there from Xa Mat Tay Ninh. But changed my mind fearing the item getting damaged or scratched during delivery so i went to the shop myself. Went in the shop see four viets greeting and serving local viet customers. Pretend or ignore the me entering. So i asked one of them showing him the picture of Xiaomi air purifier from theor webpage. The 1st viet turned me to the 2nd viet who didn't know anything about the item, and turned me to the 3rd viet. The 3rd viet was a young girl sat there no eye contact no reply no questions in relation to my query. So i stood there and started to turn angry i mean any customer woulda change their mood when they meet such treatment, asked again i want to buy this, show me the item! So the girl snapped back rudely i have to check. I said loudly in retaliation, yea you check of cos it's easy, yes you have or no you don't have it. Then she told me to wait awhile, after that informned me i have to order online in advance they don't keep stocks in HCMC but got ready stock of the goods in Hanoi. i said you should indicate that on your webpage so customers can make plans on ordering. 500% of what this viet shop ass-istant saying is lie and nonsense as when locals approach them they would offer to deliver the goods right away with just a phone order. You all get it? These type of viets they just unwilling to sell goods to foreigners out of hate on foreign races. Well fine,,,​don't ever import goods from foreign countries since the brand Xiaomi originated from China!

Hey man i observed you respond to only certain people. Are you afraid to share comments or do you prefer exchanging views with european class people?

Hey man i observed you respond to only certain people. Are you afraid to share comments or do you prefer exchanging views with european class people?

Hey hey you are pulling us legs... Right? Because viets who sell their merchandise at inflated prices never give way to any foreigners or expats whether you walk away or tell them no to their calling price. So when you said the shop vendor yelled ok ok ok it's unbelievable. I am not sying you lied but maybe you heard wrong.

Meet the right viets they would tell you don't buy from such viets.
And thanks for sharing the ugly side of viet sellers who try to rip foreigners off. It's letting the truth out when they are denying it all