Is overcharging common in China?

[pazu]

Just come in my mind, is it common to be overcharged in China because you're a foreigner?

[wame]

well~they did overcharged you sometimes but actually those foriengers i met re really really good at bargaining~

[pazu]

can they pay less than local then?

[Lu]

It is VERY common, unless you know what you're supposed to pay and bargain until you get that price.

[wame]

well~sometimes i have to say~like this time i was travelling in Yangshuo~

you can try yourself maN,

[hanbaoren]

yes, sometimes some people tend to overcharge Lao Wais slightly, but seldom more than factor 10 . As a chinese, you can get your shoes cleaned for 1 Yuan, as a Lao Wai they would charge you 10 Yuan. Also souveniers and fake watches that you can buy on the street are ususally overprized. And beware of taxi drivers welcomming you with 'Taxi, Sir ?!' in the airports arrival hall...

[wame]

Em~yes,hanbaoren is right,especially those taxi-men waitting at the airport or train-station,they even cheated the locals sometimes! the goverment always keep saying they will find someway to stop them but the result is the same~

[carlo]

China as the land of rip-offs has an almost mythical status. Yet, IMHO the Chinese are sometimes overprotective of their foreign friends. Very rarely have I seen someone *refuse* to sell something at a certain price only because the buyer was a foreigner: what typically happens is that people don't have a clue as to what they are supposed to pay and/or how to bargain for prices without seeming insulting, and so they're inevitably destined to be hacked to pieces (宰). Generally speaking, what you know and especially who you know are overwhelming factors in the bargaining process (yep, this is true even on Wall Street).

Pay less than a local? Sometimes, surprisingly, yes. There was one memorable instance when a vendor got tired haggling with me over the price of a tie (ahem, I don't normally do this -- I wasn't even really interested in that tie, I was just enjoying the conversation ), laughed at my very bad impression of an Anhui dialect and finally gave it to me.... for free. I was so humbled by that experience that I decided I'd never show my face there again.

[gougou]

They indeed overcharge a lot. Probably even more than they intend to, because they expect you to bargain, which many foreigners don't...

That's the bad news. Good news are, only by asking for a small discount, you can get prices down suprisingly fast. In the end, as an inexperienced foreigner you will inevitably pay more than locals. But since this price in most cases is still much cheaper than in your home country, it in fact turns out that the buyer goes home, gloating over his bargaining skills, while the buyer counts the money, stunned by the laowai's (involuntary) generosity.

[Jizzosh]

Just like guoguo said, if they do, it still seems like you're making out like a champ, Either shop where the prices are set, like department stores and the like, or try to pull down the price a little. Even at (posted) retail, often times you forget to haggle because it's 1/4 the price of back home, but if you don't haggle at all, inflation will seem to happen on a weekly basis. Keep your sanity and just try to pull things down a percentage...

[aeon]

In markets frequented by overseas tourists, the prices quoted to those with a white face are considerably higher than those who look Asian, and it can be hard work or impossible to get them to drop. However, when we tried our local food market I was given the same price as a chinese friend (Although she speaks with a HK accent, so maybe we both got the 'foreigner' price).

[pazu]

Being a Hong Kong CHinese, sometimes I got overcharged too. Depends on where I was overcharged, once I was charged more in a local restaurant in Yangshuo, I just went back there with my friends and ate something without paying the full price this time. The staff were shocked at first, but I just told them, "I'm Chinese, how come you want me to pay more?" (Sorry, the overtone seems to be "you can overcharge laowai but not tongbao", I don't really mean that...)

They agreed us to pay less (just because of this simple reason).

Then how about Hong Kong? Is it common to be overcharged in Hong Kong except in the Temple Street?

[Chappie]

Luckly Im almost never overcharged...

Instead of overcharged they wanna kick me out. They think im from poor part of China or a beggar. Oh dont speak too often the truth.

I dont blame them if you overcharge you. Pay 5-10 more yuan wont hurt that much. Its just <1 dollar/euro. THe 5-10 more yuan for them is 1-2more meals

[Lu]

I even got overcharged in a Chinese restaurant in Holland, that is, I had to pay for the tea, which is free if I come there with Chinese-looking friends. That really pissed me off.

[skylee]

Lu, look at it this way, the free tea was a discount for Chinese customers. You paid the regular prices.

Once I ate at a Chinese restaurant in Florence. All the conversations with the waiters were in English. But when they saw the name on my credit card they asked if I was Chinese. And then they gave me a discount.

[pazu]

Haha, I usually also got some discount if the owner knew I am Chinese. I paid ten baht less at a pharmacy for buying a cream.

[Ian_Lee]

I heard that Won Kee in London's Chinatown is notorious in providing lousy service to non-Chinese customers.

Once their waiters were even in a brawl with non-Chinese customers.

Anyhow London's travel brochure still recommends this restaurant to tourists.

And it is still filled with non-Chinese customers albeit its service towards them has only slightly improved.

[Chappie]

Its called discrimination...

But that is common discrimination

[pazu]

it's called positive discrimination in my case...

[Lu]

Skylee, but then, with what right do they deny me that discount? Because I wasn't born from Chinese parents? Yes I know this is very common, it just pisses me of to be discriminated against like this. In my own country even.