Shopping and haggling in China

In markets the first price is an opening line. Answer with 30% and be willing to walk out on foot — it is that willingness, and not the argument, that moves prices.

Where to shop and where to haggle

There are two worlds. On one side, shopping centres and official stores, with fixed prices and an invoice that gives you a warranty and a tax refund. On the other, markets and shopping streets, where everything is negotiable and where what matters is found: tea, silk, minority crafts, ceramics, lacquer, ink and paper, village sketches and paintings.

We take clients to both, for different reasons. For quality tea, a house with decades behind it and a price list is more reliable than any market. For a piece of hand-stitched Hani embroidery, you only find it in the village, and there you haggle.

Haggling step by step

1. Ask the price without reacting to the first answer.
2. Answer with 30%, calmly and with a smile. Never aggressively.
3. The seller counters. Creep up again, slowly, a little.
4. Meet in the middle, around 40 to 50% of the opening figure.
5. Get up and leave if it does not get there. Half the time they call you back at the third step.

Three things ruin a negotiation: showing excessive enthusiasm for an object, negotiating as a large group with no one empowered to decide, and asking expert questions when you are only starting out.

What to actually buy

Tea. Pu’er from Yunnan, Longjing from Hangzhou, Tieguanyin from Fujian, jasmine tea from the south. Buy in specialist houses and ask to taste: a good shop always tastes before selling and explains the origin of the batch.

Silk. Hangzhou and Suzhou are the historic capitals. At the Shanghai Silk Market there is good choice and persistent sellers in equal measure. A genuine silk scarf costs more than 200 yuans; below that it is a blend.

Minority crafts. Miao embroidery, Bai batik, hand-worked Miao silver, Dong weaving. Buying in the villages of Yunnan and Guizhou puts the money directly into the hands of the people who make it.

Ceramics and lacquer. Jingdezhen for porcelain, Fuzhou and Chengdu for lacquer. Good-quality reproductions cost a fraction of what they cost in Europe and pack well for travel.

Calligraphy and paper. Brushes, stone inkstones and rice paper are sold on the culture streets of the old cities and make light gifts.

What to avoid

Antiques. Unless they come with a certificate from a recognised house, they are reproductions. Panjiayuan market in Beijing is a fascinating place, and it is where most fake goods are bought as genuine. Buy for the look, not as an investment.

Wildlife products. Ivory, coral, turtle shell, furs. It is a crime on exit from China and on entry into most countries. It is not a matter of opinion.

Street-market electronics. Phones and earphones “the same as” the originals, at bargain prices, are counterfeits. Without an invoice from an official store there is no warranty to enforce at home.

Unlabelled traditional remedies. There are good products, but buy them in recognised pharmacies, never at stalls, and never accept a powder or tablet without a legible label.

Tax refund on departure

China operates a departure tax refund scheme for visitors, applying to purchases made in shops carrying the official seal. It works like this:

• Buy in the same shop, on the same day, above the defined minimum (in the order of 500 yuans).
• Ask for the invoice and the refund form with your passport in hand, at the moment of purchase.
• Keep the items accessible in cabin baggage — they may ask to see them at the airport.
• Present everything at the refund desk at the departure airport before check-in, with time to spare: allow 30 minutes.

The refund arrives by transfer to the card or in cash, depending on the operator, less a service fee. Two practical notes: the process is only done at the airport of international departure, and the items have to be unopened and identifiable — which is why you never send the purchase to the hold without keeping the receipt to hand.

Buying tea without being taken in

It is the purchase that most often goes wrong and the one most worth making. Three rules from people who know:

1. Taste before buying. A serious house opens the pot, pours away the first water and serves three infusions. If they refuse to let you taste, it is a sign the batch will not stand comparison.
2. Be suspicious of “30-year-old Pu’er”. Aged Pu’er exists and is extremely expensive; what is sold in tourist markets at a bargain price is, almost without exception, new tea that has been treated. Buy for flavour, not for promised age.
3. Ask about the origin. Anyone selling quality tea knows the village, the harvest and the year. Anyone who answers “it’s from Yunnan” is selling you a pretty box. And always ask for two separate samples to taste at home: the first infusion tells you little, the third is what reveals whether the batch has body.

On quantities: ask for vacuum packing in a sealed tin, because tea picks up smells and humidity from everything else in the suitcase — especially if you are travelling with spices and incense. Keep it in cabin baggage if you can.

For silk, the test is simple and quick: pull a thread and burn it. Real silk burns smelling of hair and leaves an ash that crumbles; polyester melts and forms a hard little ball. No serious seller is offended by the test, and it is the only way not to be sold a pig in a poke at the Shanghai Silk Market.

Getting your purchases home

Always ask for packaging suited to hold luggage. Porcelain and lacquer travel well wrapped in foam in a double box — sellers do it free of charge when asked in advance. For large pieces we use the local postal service: sending a 10 kg box home from China costs a fraction of an extra suitcase on the plane, and takes two to three weeks by sea.

On our tours we include shopping time whenever the client asks for it, but we never include commission-paying shop stops. It is common practice in the industry and we refuse it: a visit to a “silk factory” that nobody asked for steals half an afternoon from the day.

As an alternative, we suggest places where people actually shop: the tea houses with price lists in the big cities, the morning markets — which close around 11am and are where locals buy — and the embroidery workshops of the Yunnan villages. The guide haggles for you when asked, and takes no commission from any of the houses we take you to.