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  3. Bargaining Lessons Bargaining skills are most important when negotiating for more expensive goods -- most typically handicra

Bargaining Lessons Bargaining skills are most important when negotiating for more expensive goods -- most typically handicra

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问题                   Bargaining Lessons
    Bargaining skills are most important when negotiating for more expensive goods -- most typically handicrafts -- but you can practice many of them on vendors in the local marketplace, where a fiasco(大失败) is just a good laugh. Some of the most challenging, complex, and instructive bargaining you will do is in the public produce market.
    The produce is usually sold by the kilo, and these prices are sometimes displayed. But don’t expect to start bargaining after they have already weighed it and told you the standard price. Many of the scales just collect dust, because the buyers offer a price for exactly the pieces they want, after guessing the weight, If you think in pounds, instead of kilos, you are already at a disadvantage. In the beginning, you should have a few items weighed, and maybe pay the kilo price -- this is a long learning experience. At some point you will get a feeling for what a good price is for a medium avocado(锷梨), a small papaya(番木瓜果), or a large pineapple. Then you go to a new country, or just down to the coast, and the prices all change! Don’t forget to factor in quality, too!
    In more underdeveloped areas, weight may be ignored altogether, and various measurements are used. The single piece is basic, but many goods may be sold by the "pile", the bundle, the handful, the cupful, the hatful and several other strange ones. Then you can also bargain about whose pile, hand, hat, or cup is used. Cloth material and rope is often sold by lengths that you have never heard of before.
    As with other bargaining, you should be able to get the price down if you buy more things from the same vendor. Now it starts to get really complicated. You want two tomatoes, two avocados, and a papaya) The vendor offers you a smaller papaya and only one avocado for your price. You accept the papaya but put back another avocado. Then she adds some to your price and throws in two limes, which you never even asked for! Now you are completely at sea, and she has only started warming up. Limes at 20 cents a kilo, tomatoes at 45, (how much would those tomatoes weigh?), avocados at ... how much was that? Let’s see ... Then you are interrupted, "Hey, Randy, get two extra avocados will you, and a couple of red onions." Oh, my God, here, just take all my money, and give me some food!
    The good news is that a major miscalculation in the marketplace (like a factor of ten) may only cost two dollars, and will be about what you would pay at home. If you go to the vegetable market every morning, even if only for lunch supplies and some fruit, you will not only have great fun, but you will quickly pick up some sharp bargaining skills, and from some of the nicest experts you will ever come across!
Team Bargaining
    Go shopping with a friend. The best reason is that they can talk you out of an unwise purchase, or out of a shop that you find difficult to escape. They can also offer a second opinion on the usefulness, value, or beauty of the merchandise you are considering. It is best if only one of you is actually buying in any particular shop, and the other is assigned to be on guard against ploys(策略) that draw you away from rational bargaining.
    Use your palmer as a foil in the negotiations. You can say things to each other which would be more confrontational if said directly to the vendor. Your partner can point out flaws in the merchandise, tell you there is better stuff down the road, that you cannot afford it, and that you already spent too much money. She’ can say things like "The German guys got some yesterday that were better than this for the same price. Come on, let’s go take a look at them." Most vendors selling to tourists will understand enough of this to get the message loud and clear.
    You can seem genuinely interested in the merchandise and friendly to the vendor’, while your partner points out all the disadvantages, without belittling the merchant directly. A vendor may feel confident in his ability to "reel you in" for a purchase that you really want to make, but not if you have an equally strong force trying to drag you away from the place. Don’t imagine that you will fool anyone with this ploy, but the force is still there, and you at least show yourselves to be savvy(精明能干的) bargainers.
    In summary, buy from people you enjoy doing business with, (you don’t have to like or trust them personally). Believe nothing that you hear and only haft of what you see, don’t give an inch until the last moment, do it all with a smile on your face, and have fun.
Other Bargains
    Along your travels, you may be presented with opportunities for some special guided tours for which you may have to negotiate the price and itinerary. Examples range from a few hours exploring caves, visiting a waterfall or isolated tribe, to several days or a week of walking in the jungle or mountains, exploring islands by boat, going on a camel or jeep safari, or just exploring the countryside in a hired truck or taxi. Many of these guided excursions can be shared among four to eight people to reduce the cost, and in some cases you will have to bargain as a group. The more involved the service, the more you should be careful that the guide is happy with the deal. A halfhour temple tour is not as critical, or expensive, as a week-long excursion.
    You could say "We want to see these 10 islands in 5 days, and get three meals a day and diving gear, for this price or no deal." The captain may finally agree rather than risk missing the business, but once you get out to sea, guess who is in charge? The food may be inadequate, you miss three islands due to "engine trouble" or "bad winds", and you may have an unpleasantly antagonistic(反对的) relationship with the captain at sea) You lose -- and you have a rotten time at it, too! I have seen this happen many times. Better to strike a friendly bargain with someone who charges a little more.
    Like many shops, tour operators may lower their price rather than let you walk out the door to their competition. You may be able to bargain a lower price on fixed tours, especially if you are just "filling out" a tour which a number of others have already paid for. In this case you are told not to tell anyone else how much you paid; if you did discuss it, you would probably find a few who paid even less than you did, so just be happy with the price you got.
When tour operators lower their price, they may ______.
选项
答案tell you not to tell the others
解析 见本文最后一段。
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大学英语四级

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