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Shopping in Silk Market Beijing

Silk Market is becoming a shopping paradise for foreign visitors in Beijing. This foreigners-must-go place is a big shopping center located in CBD area Beijing. It accommodates over 1,700 retail vendors offering wide selection on Chinese silks, jeans, trousers, scarves, jackets, shirts, watches, bedding covers, carpets, electronic gadgets, trinkets, and fine jewelry etc. The market is famous for selling counterfeit luxury designer brands with very high qualities at rather low prices.

The shopping experience in Silk Market for most foreign visitors might be the same: dizzying fine Chinese products, aggressive sales girls and surprising low price. This is the place for showing your bargaining skills, and the bargaining experience here may be the most impressive one for most foreign visitors I believe. So those who want to go shopping in Silk Market should be prepared and make sure to bargain with the shop owners and sales girls.

Watch our Silk Market Beijing shopping videos to learn more Beijing Silk Market shopping tips and other travel tips. These tips will bring your Beijing travel more fun and happy memory.

Silk Market Beijing Bargaining Video

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Here editors from Beijingimpression.com are going to give you some suggestions and tips, teaching you how to bargain in Beijing Silk market.

1. Shopkeepers and sales girl

Most of them are young at the age of 18-30, and they can only speak relatively poor English. The words you would mostly be heard are "cheap, cheap", "come, come", "good quality", "higher, higher", "you say how much", "no profit", "highest price".  In order to avoid confusion, they may frequently use big calculator to tap numbers to offer their prices.

One thing should be noted: They may behave very aggressively and even grab your hand asking you to take a look at their products. Please don't be afraid or get angry, or just smile at them and go away if you are not interested in their products because this happens very commonly and they don’t mean to offend you at all.

2. Be patient to ask for lower price

Once you went into their shop and take a look at the products you are interested in, they may say some simple complementing words on their products and give their price. This is their first price and is often very high. Please don't be scared away, just smile and ask for cheaper. Please be noted: usually the fist price is 3-5 times of the final price. So be patient and wait for lower price.

3. Remember not to reveal your price until at the end of the bargain process and don't be afraid of giving low price

When it is not possible the shopkeeper giving lower price again, just give them your lowest price. Don't worry your bargaining hard might hurt their feeling because this is happening very often to them. Example: if their first price for a coat is RMB800, just give them your lowest price RMB150. (Usually reasonable prices, for Shirts RMB90, T-shirts RMB50, Jeans RMB120, Coat RMB180, Silk Scarves RMB60, fine Silk ties RMB100.)

4. If they don't want to lower their price to your expectation, try to walk away from the shop

This is a very effective way to lower their price to be close to your price, and it very often happens in the market. It may be hard to do so because the product might be very attracting to you. Just force yourself out of the shop, for there is most likelihood that you'll be called back or physically pulled back to the shop. If you are called back, that means you are close to the final price.

5. Attention to their reactions

Sometimes the shopkeeper seems like getting really angry and starting to throw items around. Don't be worry, this is just a tactic to show they are upset and instead you just keep smiling and stick to your price. If there is not any chance to lower their price to your expectation, or they are not shouting you back when you leave their shop at the first time,  try to higher your lowest price a little bit, or try another similar shop and gave a bit higher price.

6. When you buy more than one item, you may get you a better price

The products are really worth their prices compared with that in American or European countries, so buy more than one and give to your friends as a gift when you back home. The price can be better.

7. Please be friendly and bargain with a smile

8. it's important to confirm and double confirm the price and the currency (eg.RMB) when you made the deal

These tips are what the editors from Beijingimpression.com offer to you. Wish you a happy shopping and bargaining in Silk Market Beijing.

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