Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Whatever you're in the market for, always check prices in a few shops before buying. The
most common way for shopkeepers to cheat tourists is to simply overcharge. In some of the
electronic stores in the tourist shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui, many goods do not have
price tags. Checking prices in several shops therefore becomes essential. Sometimes stores
will quote a reasonable or even low price on a big-ticket item, only to get the money back
by overcharging on accessories.
Spotting overcharging is the easy part, though. Sneakier (but rarer) tricks involve mer-
chants removing vital components that should have been included for free (and demanding
more money when you return to the shop to get them). Another tactic is to replace some of
the good components with cheaper ones.
THE LOWDOWN ON HIGH-TECH SHOPPING
Hong Kong has a plethora of shops specialising in electronic and digital gadgets, but
the product mix and prices may vary. Similarly, vendors' command of English can
range from 'enough to close a deal' (Mong Kok, Sham Shui Po) to 'reasonable' (the
rest). Shopkeepers are generally honest but some have been known to sell display or
secondhand items as new ones. All things considered, Wan Chai is your safest bet,
but if you're a bit of a geek, the malls and flea market in Sham Shui Po are worth ex-
ploring.
Bargaining
Sales assistants in department or chain stores rarely have any leeway to give discounts, but
you can try bargaining in owner-operated stores and certainly in markets.
Some visitors believe that you can always get the goods for half of the price originally
quoted. But if you can bargain something down that low, perhaps you shouldn't be buying it
from that shop anyway. Remember you may be getting that DSLR cheap but paying high
mark-ups for the memory card, or worse, it may have missing components or no internation-
al warranty.
Don't be too intent on getting the best deals. Really, what's HK$2 off a souvenir that's be-
ing sold for HK$20? Probably not much to you, but it may mean a lot to the old lady selling
it.
