Shopping in Vietnam, and how the haggling actually works

Shopping in Vietnam divides cleanly in two, and almost every visitor mistake comes from mixing them up. Markets and street vendors expect a negotiation. Shops, chains, supermarkets and restaurants do not, and haggling there reads as odd rather than canny.

Where do you actually haggle?

Anywhere without a printed price. Markets, street stalls, souvenir sellers, cyclo drivers and boat touts all open above what they will take, and the opening number is a position rather than a price.

Anywhere with a printed price, you pay it. That includes supermarkets, convenience stores, most cafes, and the fixed-price shops that have multiplied in the tourist towns.

The confusing middle is the tourist market with tags on some items. Ask, politely, and read the answer.

How does the haggle go?

A Vietnamese haggle runs four steps and is friendlier than it sounds: ask the price, come back at about half, let the seller move twice, and settle near two-thirds of where it opened.

1. Ask the price. Bao nhieu? — the language guide has the handful of words that do this work.
2. Come back at about 50 percent, in a tourist market. Say dat qua, too expensive.
3. Let them move. They will, usually in two steps.
4. Settle near 65 to 70 percent of the opening number, or walk away pleasantly if you are far apart.

Two things to keep hold of. Smile — this is a transaction, not a contest, and a sour haggle gets a worse price than a cheerful one. And do not fight hard over an amount that is trivial to you and material to them; the sums here are small.

Outside the tourist areas the opening price is usually close to real, and the half-price opening becomes rude rather than expected.

What is worth buying?

Seven things reward the suitcase space, and shopping in Vietnam rewards the flat and the consumable above all: coffee, tailoring, ceramics, silk, lacquer, fish sauce and a printed poster.

Coffee is the easiest good answer. Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee producer and grows mostly robusta, and the coffee guide explains why the beans here are not a weaker version of anything. A kilo costs a fraction of what the same bag does at home and weighs nothing.

Coffee: which beans are worth carrying home?

The easiest good answer to what to buy in Vietnam, and the lightest. Vietnam is the world's second largest coffee producer and grows mostly robusta, which is stronger and more bitter than the arabica most visitors drink at home rather than a worse version of it.

• Price — 150,000 to 400,000 dong a kilo for good roasted beans, a fraction of the same bag at home.
• Where — a roaster rather than a souvenir shop; Da Lat and the highland towns sell at source.
• What to avoid — pre-ground tins aimed at tourists, and anything flavoured with butter or "weasel" branding.
• How to carry it — beans travel better than ground, and both are fine in hand luggage.

Ceramics: what comes out of Bat Trang?

Blue-and-white household ware, made 15 km from Hanoi in a village that has fired pots for six centuries. It is the souvenir most likely to be used at home rather than shelved.

• Price — 50,000 dong for a cup, a few hundred thousand for a teapot set.
• Where — Bat Trang itself for the price, Hanoi shops for the selection.
• How to choose — ring it with a knuckle; a dull sound means a crack you cannot see.
• How to carry it — wrapped in clothes in the middle of a checked bag, and it survives more often than people expect.

Silk: how do you know it is silk?

By burning a thread, which any honest shop will let you do. Real silk smells of burnt hair and turns to ash; polyester smells of plastic and melts into a hard bead.

• Price — 300,000 to 900,000 dong a metre for genuine silk, far less for the blends sold as silk.
• Where — Hoi An and Van Phuc near Hanoi, and the textiles guide covers what the hill-tribe fabrics actually are.
• What you are told — "100 per cent silk" is said of everything; the burn test is the only answer.
• Best use — buy the cloth and have it made up while you are here, which is the whole Hoi An proposition.

Lacquerware: why is it the easiest thing to pack?

Because it is light, flat and almost unbreakable. Son mai is layered lacquer over wood or bamboo, polished between coats, and the good pieces have depth rather than a painted shine.

• Price — 100,000 dong for a small bowl to several million for a large panel.
• Where — everywhere, and the quality varies more than the price does.
• How to choose — look at the rim and the underside; sloppy edges mean few coats.
• What to expect — the cheap end is thinly lacquered MDF, which chips within a year.

Posters: what is actually on sale in the Old Quarter?

Reproductions, almost without exception, and that is the right thing to buy. Vietnamese propaganda posters were printed by hand in small runs from the 1950s onward, and the originals sit in museums and private collections rather than on a rack in Hang Bac.

• Price — 100,000 to 300,000 dong for a good screen print, and a few thousand for the paper-thin tourist version.
• Where — the Old Quarter print shops in Hanoi and Ben Thanh in Saigon, and the poster guide says which images are which.
• How to choose — hold it to the light: a screen print has ink you can feel, a digital copy has none.
• How to carry it — rolled in a tube, which every shop sells and most will throw in.

Fish sauce: can you actually fly home with it?

Yes, in checked baggage, double-bagged. Phu Quoc nuoc mam carries a protected designation of origin, and a bottle of it is the one Vietnamese souvenir that changes how you cook at home.

• Price — 60,000 to 250,000 dong a bottle depending on the first-press grade.
• What to look for — degrees of protein on the label: 30 to 40 is the good stuff, under 20 is diluted.
• The rule at the airport — checked only, and some destination countries restrict food imports regardless.
• Where it is made — the island itself, and the fish sauce guide explains the vats in the photograph.

Conical hats: why do they rarely survive the trip?

Because a non la is made of palm leaf stitched over bamboo and is built to be replaced, not kept. It crushes in a bag and the tourist versions are thinner than the ones people work in.

• Price — 30,000 to 80,000 dong, and a few hundred thousand for a Hue poem hat.
• The one worth buying — the Hue non bai tho, with a poem cut into the leaf that shows against the light. It is the rare Vietnam souvenir that is cheap and specific to one city at once.
• How to carry it — hand luggage, on your arm, or not at all.
• The honest alternative — the non la guide explains why the hat is better watched than bought.

What about the tailoring in Hoi An?

Give it 3 days, not the 24 hours advertised. Hoi An shops advertise 24-hour turnarounds and they can technically do it, but a garment made in a day has had one fitting and no alterations.

The sequence that works: a fitting on day 1, collect and alter on day 2, a final fitting on day 3. Bring a photograph of what you want and, if possible, a garment that already fits you to copy.

The commonest disappointment is not bad work; it is a rushed schedule and a customer who described rather than showed. The tailoring guide covers the fabrics, the number of fittings and what a suit should actually cost.

What should you not buy?

Anything you are buying because it is cheap rather than because you want it. That is most of the conical hats, most of the lacquered magnets, and all of the fake branded goods, which may also be seized on the way home.

Age is the other claim to be careful with. Genuine antiques face export restrictions, and almost everything sold as antique to a visitor is not one.

What can you not take home?

Three categories worth knowing before you buy. Antiques face export restrictions, and Vietnamese customs can stop a genuine one at the airport — which is academic, because almost nothing sold as antique to a visitor is one.

Fake branded goods are freely sold here and freely seized at the other end. Several countries confiscate counterfeits at the border and some fine the traveller carrying them.

Anything from a protected species, including some shells, coral and traditional-medicine ingredients. If a stall is selling something that was recently an animal, leave it.

Liquids are the practical fourth. Fish sauce, rice wine and coffee liqueur all go in checked baggage, double-bagged, and some airlines and destinations restrict food imports outright.

How do you pay?

Cash, for most shopping in Vietnam outside the malls and the chains. Markets and street vendors rarely take cards, and the money guide explains why one larger ATM withdrawal beats several small ones.

Carry small notes. A vendor who cannot break a large note has a strong position in a negotiation you have already finished.