#fakemarket

[shanghaiali-blog]

The seller didn't think it was as funny as I did. #wart #starwart #translationfail #fakemarket #lego #shanghai #china (at Shanghai, China)

[shanghaiali-blog]

A panda within a panda. Pandaception! #panda #fakemarket #shanghai (at Shanghai, China)

[suzukimasahito]

🇨🇳北京 ・ 北京動物園 近くの市場。 ・ 衣類がメインでした。 外国人観光客はほぼ居ません。 中国人が買い付けに来るような市場です。偽物から破格の衣類などなど。 こう言うのを見ると、ブランド力って凄いなぁと感心します。 パクられるようになって一流。ってことなんですかね。 #やっぱり都会が好き #北京 #Beijing #北京動物園 #beijinzoo #fakemarket #偽物市場 (Beijing Zoo)

[sparrow-in-shanghai]

Fake markets

One of the first things that I picked up was the phrase 不要，谢谢 (bú yào, xiè xiè! - I don’t want this but thanks anyway!).  Bargaining is an art that has to be practiced here and I often have to laugh at the tourists being happy about an allegedly good deal when in fact they have been ripped off by the seller on the fake market. As a foreigner (e.g everyone who is white and does not speak fluent Shanghainese) walking past a shop selling fake products, you get approached by seller, dragging you into their little stalls - “You like? Wanna buy bags? We have! Please come inside! What’s your size? Xtra small? Come look!” When asking “How much?” they name you a price that’s 4 times as high as the price they are willing to settle for. Then the hassle begings. “But for you, my friend, I give good price” and lower the price by 10%. Many people think it’s a good deal because it is often cheaper compared to the original goods, but you’d be surprised how low you can get it. 

Unfortunately, life is a cruel teacher that gives you the test first and the lesson afterwards. We learned the hard way, that it’s not a good idea to buy any eletronics on the fake market. The powerbanks were not charging, our headphones and speaker stopped working a few weeks after. 

Apart from that you can buy EVERYTHING. Shirts, jerseys, scarfs and sweaters, shoes, bags, souvenirs ... you name it. It is wise to ask for the prices before you settle for a deal. Don’t just walk in, if you have more patience and even go for the stalls that are further in or in side alleys, you are more likely to make a good deal because every store pretty much has the same stuff and fewer customers have the time and energy to make their way to the remote stores. There you can find sellers who are more willing and eager to make a sale. We prefer the knock-off heaven, AP Plaza (aka AP Xinyang Market) just in the subway station of line 2 Shanghai Science and Technology museum. The saying “Chinese quality” already hints that the quality is lacking, but it’s super cheap. Even if you want something really bad, don’t appear too attached. Remember that you’re in a place with hundreds of identical stalls with identical goods - even if they tell you “But this is better quality! I give you better price!” don’t fall for it.... investigate how far the seller comes down with the price and pay close attention to how low they go without you even trying - this will provide some clues on what their final price is. Sometimes it’s a good idea to simply walk away, often they even follow or yell after you, stating their final price which is often 10-20 percent of the asking price. There are really good fakes...

...and then there are the hilarious ones!

If anyone is interested, I’ll add a list with all the goods we bought and what we ended up paying?

[maryttravels]

The fake market

It's probably not news to anybody, that China has a large fake market. We went to this market, and there were stores on stores with fake bags, shoes, scarves and much more.  We would walk into a bag shop, and go into the back room. They would lock the door, and open the back wall, and then open a back wall behind that!  I bought a Michael Kors bag. The woman started me at 900 RMB and I bargained them down to 250 RMB!

We went to a watch store, because my friend Hanson wanted to buy a watch. The watches at the store were about 300 RMB, and we kept saying "show us the good stuff" because we wanted to see what would happen.  The woman brought us to meet a guy, he brought us down to the first floor, across the delivery dock, into a second building and up an elevator. We got off on the floor, and it was an office space. He took us down the hall and took out a key to open what turned out to be a boiler room! The four of us and the salesman got in, and he locked the door behind us. It was terrifying. We bargained, and got a bit nervous when the prices were higher than we anticipated. Hanson did buy a very nice watch for a good price. It was quite nerve wracking but a fun adventure!

[atygrysek]

Fake Market!

WOW! AWESOME!!!

Haha ok, so maybe more like awesom without an E. (Get it?) but still a pretty cool place. 5 floors lined with fake and nock off clothes, scarves, cellphones, random junk.

I had a blast! Really, brought in the New York experience to these people selling the junk. Basically all you have to do is, talk them down and then with a little smile and healthy attitude look em in the eye and say; "Do you want money or not?", they always fall for my game haha.

I bought a lot of random junk though, I will totally go back and get more =P.

Just the way things are here I guess.