Markets/Bartering

I assume that bartering is quite common in many places of the world, particularly tourist spots, but having not traveled much, this was all very new to me.
Hua Hin, day two after arriving in Thailand I was already introduced to Thai markets and the concept of bartering. The markets in Thailand are amazing. They seem to sell anything and everything at these mile long markets. Some daytime markets have mostly food:
Others are only open in the evenings and sell clothes, jewelry, home decorations, gadgets, etc.


The non-food markets encourage “bartering”, which essentially means that they would rather you buy something for a lower price than what’s posted than leave the store empty-handed. Because Hua Hin is such a tourist spot, the Thai sales people are all equipped with a calculator to communicate prices.

An example of how this works (choose your own adventure style):
The owner of a Thai kiosk spots you looking at a miniature tuk tuk made up entirely of a Singha beer can and will rush over to you with their calculator and show you that what you’re looking at will cost you 350 baht.
You:
A) Reach into your wallet and pull out 350 baht to pay for your tuk tuk
B) Decide that’s too much for a beer can, no matter how clever it’s been transformed
C) Offer them 175 baht for the tuk tuk
These options will usually have the following results:
A) You’ve got a tuk tuk can! Congrats! 350 wasn’t THAT much…
B) You’re followed by the sales clerk who is now holding out the calculator with the price of 320.
C) The sales clerk laughs at you and then offers it for 300
You:
A) Are super happy that you’ve got your tuk tuk and are out of that crazy market. An extra couple hundred baht was a great price just to get out of that place in a hurry!
B) Still act uninterested. It’s just a beer can.
C) Offer 200 baht
Results:
A) You’re at home playing with your tuk tuk. Good times.
B) You leave the store empty handed (they’ll generally only lower the price once without you participating in the bartering before giving up)
C) They laugh again or just plain shake their head and then offer 280
With option C you can generally get them to knock between ¼ and 1/3 of the price off whatever you’re buying by faking disinterest, acting concerned about the price, pretending you can get a better deal elsewhere, or if you’re male, flirting with a female sales-lady.
I, personally, went with option B. Although there were a couple of people back home who I thought could appreciate the tuk tuk, and who have likely had a Singha or two during their time in Thailand, I couldn’t justify taking up the room in my suitcase with something so unnecessarily fragile. :P