With whom is it proper to "bargain" in thailand?

[thaibound]

About to hit the LOS for my first time and wondering: if you bargain in the marketplace, do you also bargain in the cafes and the restaurants? if you bargain with the lb's, do you also bargain over the BF? do you bargain with the hotel manager before agreeing to a walk-in room rate? Is their a code? I don't want to play it by ignorant ear and be alternately impolite and ripped-off. How's a naive newbie to know?

[tropical]

Hey thaibound,
 You can haggle on alot of things,but man your going on holiday to Thailand,for the First time , dont get hung up on weather someone is going to cheat you out of a 1$ here or there.(you will pay too much for some things being a newbie,relax,if you can afford this holiday you can afford to pay a tourist price as most of us end up doing.)
 Your probably most vulnerable to get ripped by the GG and LBs you date, so remember always negotiate the price before you leave the bar, follow the pricing mentioned in the forums numerous times here, and you wont go wrong.
 You can (must) haggle with,
*Tuk Tuks
*Any market vendor/small independant shops, selling Clothes,crafts,jewllery,DVDs.CDs ,sunglasses,flowers,and various other items,
*The girls on long and short time,(only if they are quoting outrageus prices,(you should have researched this by now and know what is the correct price range to be in)
*Hotel room rates depending on the season,if you have accepted a quote via the internet or phone and find the place not to your liking,keep the room for the first day ,get out early do your homework and find another hotel,dont cause a scene debating with the staff about costs you have already agreed to pay ,they will never back down and you will look like a goose.
*Touts if you must get involved with them, (i never found the need of their assistance)
*Police,lol
*Tour guides,Tour agents,

I personally would never haggle these places,
*Street food carts,
*Restaurants,
*Metered Taxis,(only take a metered taxi ) untill your sure of prices and you way around,
*Big Chain Department stores,Small department stores,7-11s,mini marts,super markets(circle k)etc
*Medical practitioners,lol
Anyway that is just a few I am sure the other guys will have more, but the main thing is dont get hung up on small change,these people have to make a living as well.
 You can also TIP if you think your service was good, put things in perspective ,what would the same service cost you back home? I think you will find yourself tipping a lot of the time,so relax and enjoy.

[stogie bear]

Wise words...

Tipping is not commonly or traditionally practiced in Thailand although it is becoming more widespread as a result of foreign influence. Tips are sometimes expected in the more expensive restaurants, hairdressers and for hotel porters. Don€™t add a tip in hotel restaurants (where a service charge is added to the bill anyway) or in street restaurants. Taxi fares should be rounded up to the nearest 5 or 10 baht. (Remember; a 1 baht tip is considered offensive.)

In a bar, a tip is not necessary if you had nothing but a swig. If you took a go-go girl to sit by, you order drinks for her and that takes care of her service. You can go without any tip but then you become a marked man. Next time you come by, the girls may try to avoid you like the plague - if there are other customer around.

For taxis, you don't have to pay extra because they already charge Bt35 on flag-down. But if the driver brought you back to the hotel in one piece after showing you around without any hassle, a generous tip certainly would be welcome.

For a golf caddy, lugging your heavy golf bag and assisting you with the direction of your shots and line of your putts, the minimum tip is Bht.100 and the average is 150 -200 and more if you feel like it

The thing about tipping is, it's not an obligation as far as this part of the world is concerned. It's a gift you give to someone who deserves it. It may not fill a person's pocket but it will make a difference to his or her day.

Avoid tuktuks, but if you can't then be sure about the price ahead of time. same same with motercycle drivers. Aircon taxis are very cheap and are fixed meters. There are no other kind of taxis and there is NO variation on the rate. If the driver tries to haggle then get out (and leave the door wide open!)

Taxi drivers are fickle... They don't want to go long distances and they don't want to go short distances. The answer is to just hop in and say; "Just take me to where you feel like going and bill me for whatever YOU think is fare you CUNT!"

Don't forget there is a difference between bartering and arguing! Never argue - You will lose!

If you enjoy the convivuial haggle then stick to markets and knock yourself out. If you don't then stick to the stores where everything is priced or has a bar code.

Internationally, the rules become even more uneven. In most of Europe, tourists are expected to tip for many services, such as getting directions around town, things considered freebies in America. In China, on the other hand, tipping your waiter or bellman is considered rude. In Italy, customary rates of five percent are given to someone who is asked to wait to render a particular service. You shouldn't tip your hairdresser, but I always do!

Most restaurants add a 10 per cent service charge to the bill but an additional 5 to 10 per cent may be given, where deserved. When a service charge is not automatic,10 per cent is acceptable. There is no tipping for street vendors, very simple restaurants or food stalls. But the food here is shit, so you wouldn't want to be seen dead near these places anyway, right?

Personally, I try to avoid anywhere with a service charge if at all possible. I think of a tip as a small personal thank you. A service charge is just a means of hiking prices.

Have a great trip...

[stogie bear]

IMPORTANT!

Oh - I almost forgot...

If you leave a tip in the tip tray then it will be shared amongst the rest of the staff. If you hand it to the person directly then she can keep it all!

[PigDogg]

Stogie, Great list but one minor quibble.  The reason cabbies aren't tipped in BKK (or round up to the nearest 10 baht) is simply becausetipping is not a Thai custom.  Don't think it has to do with the 35 baht drop.  Cabs almost everywhere have an initial drop and in some of those places tipping is expected and others not.

I used to ba a cabdriver and would love to drive a tuk-tuk.  Does anyone know if one can rent a tuk-tuk anywhere in the LOS?  I'd really enjoy working in BKK for a day picking up passengers but I'm sure that's out of the question because of work permits,whatever.  Some of you may think that's nutty, but there was an article in the Times the other day about a guy who was worth about 10 million bucks who took a job as a railroad conductor cause he loved trains.  He's been doing it for about five years now.

I was talking to a ladyboy friend of mine about taking a trip to Issan though we wound up not going.  I told her I wanted to work in a rice field and asked if she could arrange that for a day.  She thought I was one nutty farang.

OK, so between the tuk tuks and the rice fields, you probably think I'm a strange duck.  By the way, I also like to suck ladyboy cock!

[thaibound]

You guys fucking ROCK! You put tripadvisor to shame, dudes! Not only have I here researched the parameters of reasonable pricing for LT and ST with LB's and GG's, but now I can intelligently approach the more conventional situations I'll confront without any self-concious paranoia that I'll be seen as a moby dick out of water quibbling over the meaningless while completely missing the big picture! I absolutely do NOT want to worry over pennies and I DO want to enjoy my adventures and be generous and friendly -- but as you more experienced travellers know, it's sometimes hard to tell when generosity starts to look like bribery or frugal tourism looks like cheap advantage-taking. Here in this one post, in one night, I got more useful, specific, good-natured, experienced advice than in almost two weeks of scouring what had been my favorite travel research site. So, cheers and thanks to the new ruler of travel advice, ATS, and the bros who here abide!

[PigDogg]

In Pattaya the baht bus is 10 baht for farangs and 5 baht for Thais.  If you are traveling with a Thai, then you pay the the farang price for your Thai friend for a total of 20 baht. You pay when you get off.

As far as tipping, a standard tip for many situations is 20 baht.  For example, if I happen to see the maid, I'll give her 20 baht.  For most meals I'll leave 20 baht.

Thaibound, you bring up interesting concepts re bribery and advantage taking.  I am a frugal tourist (anyone who's seen my second hand mobile can attest to that) yet try to be "jai dee" (good hearted).  At the same time we are operating on the edge of what's accepted as normal behavior (ladyboy threesomes) so being generous with the hotel staff has some practical benefits.

[Tomcat]

Both Stogies and Tropicals posts are worth the price of the membership alone..........as the Medium Exposer David Abbot once  said

" True words indeed, solid artifacts dug from the dirt of experience "


Once this thread moves of the page we should save these post for other members and greenhorns who should heed these pearls of wisdom.



TC

[stogie bear]

You guys fucking ROCK! You put tripadvisor to shame, dudes! Not only have I here researched the parameters of reasonable pricing for LT and ST with LB's and GG's, but now I can intelligently approach the more conventional situations I'll confront without any self-concious paranoia  that I'll be seen as a moby dick out of water quibbling over the meaningless while completely missing the big picture! I absolutely do NOT want to worry over pennies and I DO want to enjoy my adventures and be generous and friendly -- but as you more experienced travellers know, it's sometimes hard to tell when generosity starts to look like bribery or frugal tourism looks like cheap advantage-taking. Here in this one post, in one night, I got more useful, specific, good-natured, experienced advice than in almost two weeks of scouring what had been my favorite travel research site. So, cheers and thanks to the new ruler of travel advice, ATS, and the bros who here abide!

You know - I really like this guy!