Bargaining in China: Such a must!!

Sunday, Elisa (a native Beijinger) and I went to Yashou Market in Chaoyang, which is where both Beijingers and tourists go for fake goods. I wanted to buy a fake designer bag, but after looking and looking, that didn't work out. But, I did get a pair of adorable ballet flats, which if real, would cost $325 USD! I got it for just $20 USD...and the reason why I couldn't get it for half that price was because the shoes were made of real leather. Also, to most everyone but the shoe owner, it looks real. Besides just getting a beautiful pair of shoes for cheap, though, the highlight of the Yashou shopping trip was definitely bargaining with the merchants. It's quite a comical process and one that's quite entertaining (for others, sometimes it's stressful). It went like this (in Chinese):

(When looking at the shoes that I liked)
Merchant #1: Do you like it?
Me: It's okay
Merchant #1: It's very nice, right? All leather! Do you see the quality of this shoe?
Me: (Nods) How much?
Merchant #1: 300 RMB
Me: (Feigning shock and disbelief) What?! That much? You must be kidding!
Merchant #1: 300 RMB, 300 RMB. All leather! Don't you see, the quality of the shoe?
Me: (Laughing) That's way too much for that shoe.
Merchant #1: How much do you want to pay?
Me: 50 RMB
Merchant #1: (Laughing) Now that's ridiculous!
Elisa, my friend: How much is the bottom line for you?
Merchant #1: 300 RMB, not one RMB less. These shoes are special! Real leather all around! Can't accept any less! I promise that you will not find these shoes for less than 300 RMB. Worth too much.
Elisa and me: That's crazy! Let's go look elsewhere...

We walk off and are half expecting the merchant to come running after us (a common tactic used when they decide they still want your business), offering to slash the price down. But alas, he didn't and we were a little surprised. I definitely did not want to pay 300 RMB. After walking around almost the entire floor of the shoe stalls in Yashou Market, I was a little sad b/c I didn't see the shoes again at other stalls. But, as we were about to hop onto the escalator, we passed by one last shoe stall where I saw the same pair of shoes again! This time, it went something like this:

Merchant #2: Beautiful shoes, eh?
Me: It's okay. How much?
Merchant #2: 560 RMB
Me: 560 RMB?!!! That's crazy! How can you charge so much?
Merchant #2: How much do you want to pay?
Me: 100 RMB.
Merchant #2: (Feigning shock and being quite dramatic) You're killing me here! Do you realize my livelihood is on selling these items? 100 RMB? These shoes are real leather here!
Me: They're still fake! Not worth that much.
Merchant #2: How about this, I give you a 200 RMB discount. 360 RMB.
Elisa and I: (smiling) No, 100 RMB.
Merchant #2: Come on! I gave you a huge discount, now come meet me halfway! Up your price!
Elisa: We were originally going to offer you just 60 RMB! We went all the way up to 100 RMB!
Merchant #2: (half joking) 60 RMB!! If you had said 60 RMB, I would have taken this shoe to hit you on the head with it! You crazy girl...60 RMB?!
Elisa: Come on now, 100 RMB
Merchant #2: No, 260 RMB.
Elisa and I: No, we are not in a department store. You can't charge these prices! Let's look elsewhere.

We leave...and then lo and behold, the merchant comes running after us, yelling, "Come back, you two girls! Come back!" We go back, and enter another round of bargaining. The price is lowered to 160 RMB, and then the merchant is unwilling to go any lower. Elisa is quite annoyed with them and says, "Look, we're willing to do 140 RMB since it is real leather. But that's it. You can't lower it by 20 RMB? How ridiculous!" So then, Elisa and I leave again. Then, the merchant comes chasing after us and other merchants in other stalls say to us, "Go back, go back...she is giving in!" We go back, and the merchant says, "150 RMB." We say, "Come on, you can't match us by just lowering 10 RMB?" Finally, the merchant gives in and mutters to us how we stole a deal from her.

After that, I see a pair of winter boots that I like at the stall and ask the same merchant how much it is. She names a ridiculously high price and Elisa and I both feign shock. We plead with the merchant to lower the price by five-fold and she insists that the shoes are of superior sheepskin. She continues to refuse to agree to haggle with us, and then says, "Look! Earlier with your ballet flats I will admit -- I was lying to you guys about the beginning price! But you guys were smart and got me. So I let you haggle. But I'm telling you -- with these boots, they really are this much!" Hahahaha. I love how she even admitted that she was trying to trick us. After all this, I was really happy to get my shoes for still a very considerable bargain. I even considered going back to the first stall where the guy refused to let me haggle and say, "See, you told me I couldn't get it for less than 300 RMB...but look what I got and for how much!" Oh, bargaining. It can be so much fun!