Ladies Market Haggling 101

Credit: Discover Hong Kong

Ladies Market: Tung Choi Street, Hong Kong

Exit: I recommend exit E2, walk straight, make a Right and turn LEFT when you see IZZUE.

Thinking about buying things at Ladies Market?

First of all, I am the worst person to bargain with – I’m always smiling and can never figure out the price I want to buy the item for. Thankfully, I have Sham. Jane and I had made up our mind to never go shopping at Ladies Market without Sham because she was so good at bargaining. We even went to get massages and Sham bargained our massages down because we had 3 people. So, before leaving Hong Kong Sham and I went to Ladies Market to pick up some last minute gifts. Of course, she did all the talking.  We always see visitors get ripped off, so if you are planning to buy some things from Ladies Market look below for some tips + also some of the gifts I got! 

1) Stick with a price and be confident.

Most of the time, Sham chose about half the price of the item or even lower depending on how much other sellers offered. The funny thing is – usually when people bargain they sort of meet each other at the middle but Sham just chose a number- ignored the sellers calls of “Give me more, it’s too low” and ended up getting it for the price we originally wanted it at. Only one seller did not accept our price, but we quickly found another place to buy the item at. 

Average price we chose: $50 HKD.

2) Just walk away.

I think everyone should know this… when you don’t agree with the price the seller wants – simply walk away. They ALWAYS yell after you and bring down the price; but stick to your original price (unless you think they won’t go for it.) Sham always just asked, “What is your last price?” Also, this is a double edged sword because even if we were just browsing a store and didn’t want anything… sellers would grab us quite aggressively and lower the prices on items we didn’t even want.

Funny story: Sham and I asked for the price of a MK bag that was $200 HKD and after walking away the seller asked if we wanted it for “$50 HKD”. It was a really nice bag, but we didn’t have room for any luggage after that. 

Such a nice bag, shame we didn’t have room though. 

3) Do not buy all your items from the same store.

Contrary to what people think, the sellers won’t give you bigger discounts for buying more items. Yes, they will give you a discount if you buy two of the SAME item; but not if you buy 2 wallets, 5 shirts, etc. Buy from different stores because they will probably charge you more since you are already taking advantage of such a low price. 

4) Learn from other sellers.

In order to choose the right price, learn from different sellers. Sellers will start at different prices, the ones at the very front and end of Ladies Market will charge more (because people typically start from those ends) while the ones in the middle will start lower. An example were the shot glasses: The first seller wanted 160 HKD for 1 shot glass, we left and walked a little before asking another seller how much she wanted – she wanted 130 HKD. 

5) You can always find the same item, at a different stall.

If you don’t get the price you want, then don’t worry. Everyone at Ladies Market sells the same thing! So, don’t give up and keep on looking around; and remember never to settle for the sellers price. 

Our Haul

1) Chopsticks

I decided to buy this for Brandon’s parents after debating on whether or not it would be too heavy for me to carry in my suitcase. I really do recommend buying this as it’s very classy and looks super nice. Also, it comes in such a nice box! I wanted to buy the “family” size which were 5 sets of chopsticks but no room.

Price the seller wanted: $180 HKD

Price we got it for: $60 HKD

2) Shot Glasses

They were available in two different colors, silver and gold but we chose gold because it looked better.

Seller wanted: $130 HKD for 1 shot glass.

Got it for: $50 HKD for TWO shot glasses!

 

3) Passport Holders

Ahhh, LM is littered with “brands” left and right. We had a choice between LB, Burberry, Coach and others. But, their selection was not big so there were really only four colors to choose from. I bought three (last one not pictured) for my best friends since we will be doing lots of traveling in the near future. 

The first time one we got, we ended up getting for $90 HKD. The next day we went back and Sham wanted $80 HKD for 2! We were able to get it for that price 🙂

Sellers Price: $150 HKD

Price we got it for: $80 HKD for 2

4) Lego Batman

Brandon wanted this, so after searching around some stalls we managed to find it. I wish I bought more, but I was running out of money so couldn’t get the other Lego sets. These were quite popular with visitors and their children… so I wonder how much they were charged :X

Price they wanted it for: $ 70 HKD

Price we got it for: $15 – $25 HKD (a bit hazy).