Nixon wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2019 12:02 pm I was in desperate need for size 46 shoes when I first arrived. Not that easy to haggle as next to no one is selling larger sizes than 44. After getting pissed off at a woman trying to sell these crappy plastic size 46 shoes for $30 I had to go to a real shoe store. Sure, paid more but at least I got a decent product.

Beautiful Shoes on st 143 will make you a pair bespoke. Great quality. And a trustworthy shop.

curiosity wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2019 11:04 am how do you play the haggling game correctly?

So, as you already know you shop wherever possible at places where you are known and liked and there is no need to haggle (except when subs are in place).
If you need to buy something at a place new to you:
Consider buying it at a good superstore such as Thai Huot or Aeon or Makro (if possible).
If you have to haggle at a stall or small shop:
First, try to find out the correct price. Then ask the seller for her price. Whatever she replies, counteroffer the correct price and stick to it until she relents, keep smiling throughout. If you enjoy the experience you can let her have 10% too much.
If you don't know the correct price it is more difficult. Sellers fall into two distinct groups on pricing, ime. Some overprice to such an extent you need to reckon to pay 40% of their first price. The others are only 10% over the correct price. Hopefully you have enough idea of the correct price that you can figure out which you are dealing with and act accordingly. Again, keep smiling. If a price does not get agreed, there should be no bad feeling although the seller will not be exactly happy of course. This is subject to one major caveat and that leads me to the final guideline.
Don't go haggling early in the trading day. Khmer (actually also Thai, Chinese) sellers are superstitious about the first encounter of the day. If it does not end in a sale she will regard it as having jinxed her entire day and is likely to get angry with you as a result.
Hope this all helps.

The above is more applicable to buying non-food items btw.

I like my small oranges, and for quite a while I was buying from one of the stalls in the old market east side. Same price, whichever one of the several stalls. Then one day, as other stories above, one of the stalls was run by someone else that I didn’t recognise. New barang price was double, and all of a sudden all those small stalls were trying to charge me double, including the first old girl who I was originally buying from.
New price, new price. And also more expensive than at Sorya, by 1000r. New new price as I walked away came down, but no thanks. As I tend to buy 2-3 times a week, and a lot of other fruit, too, they screwed themselves. Maybe they don’t care, I don’t.
If there was a bit of cheeky banter and good humour, then I might have thought differently. But the one who instigated it was plain rude, with it.

So now we buy from the west side of the market, same as the old price, and mostly herself does the buying now because she gets embarrassed when I shout the chancers down.

I also buy lovely soft leather belts from Beautiful Shoes ($20) and my wallet came from there. It's a gem of a shop.