Hi everyone! I hope you all doing well. Today we’re going to learn one important skills in Indonesian daily life, which is how to bargaining in Indonesian language. Shopping is fun activity to do in Indonesia. Especially if we find that the prices is good for our pocket. But, we have to know how to bargain well to get the best deal.
First of all, we have to know what places in Indonesia we can practice bargaining. Indonesian traditional market is the one example where we can practice bargain for every goods. You can learn more about Indonesian conversation at the market here.
Of course we cannot bargain in supermarket or other place with fixed prices. If you want to bargain, just focus on traditional market or street shop. And, not every goods can be bargain, for instance food and beverages. It usually already has a fixed price, even in street food stall.
Before you do bargaining, it’s important to know the offering price from the seller. If you are interested in one product and want to ask its price, you can use several phrases below:
Phrases for Asking the Price
- Berapa Harga Barang ini? (How much it cost for this good?)
- Berapa Harganya? (How much it costs)
- Ini berapa? (How much?)
Look at the phrase above. The word “Berapa” is Indonesian question word to ask about anything related to number. In this case, we use “Berapa” to ask how much the price for the goods. “Berapa” can be place in front of a sentence or after the sentence/phrase (look at the third phrase).
Placing “Berapa” in front of sentence can make it look more formal, especially if the sentence is long like the first phrase. In the third phrase, the word “Berapa” placed in the end of the sentence and followed by question mark. This is the example of the used of “Berapa” in an informal way.
After you got the first offering price from the seller, then it is the time to do the bargaining. Bargaining can start by asking the seller whether the price can be lower. Below are examples of bargaining phrase in Indonesian Language.
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Example of Bargaining Phrase in Bahasa Indonesia
- Apakah harganya bisa ditawar? (Is the price bargainable?)
- Apakah harganya masih bisa kurang? (Can I get lower price?)
- Harganya Kurangin, dong. (Lowering the price, please)
The first phrase is the example of bargaining in formal way. It is a questioning sentence. Just like first example, the bargaining sentence began with question word. “Apakah” used to ask about possibility. In this case, “apakah” use to ask whether it is possible to make the price lower.
Unlike “Berapa”, the word “Apakah” is always used in front of sentence. The second phrase is more informal. It is still use question word (Apakah), but it used “Kurang” in the end of sentence. The word “Kurang” is not means “lack”. Instead, it is used to describe possibility to lowering the price. The third phrase is the most informal phrase to bargain since it used slang word “Dong” in the end of sentence. The word “dong” is always be used in the end of the sentence to softening the meaning of the sentence. In this case of bargaining, the word “dong” used to persuade the seller to lowering the price.
In case of bargaining, please note that you have to ask for reasonable price. It has to be not too low and not too high. The normal price in the bargaining process is usually 20-30% lower than the first offering price. Below is example of bargaining conversation in a traditional market.
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Bargaining Conversation in Indonesian Traditional Market
Buyer: Berapa Harga Sepatu Ini ? How much this shoes costs?)
Seller: Harganya Rp. 250.000,- (It costs Rp. 250.000,-)
Buyer: Apakah harganya masih bisa kurang? (Can I get lower price?)
Seller: Mau tawar berapa ? (How much do you want?)
Buyer: Bagaimana kalau Rp. 180.000,- ? (How about Rp. 180.000,-?)
Seller: Paling kurang saya bisa kasih Rp. 200.000,- (I can give you Rp. 200.000,- the lowest)
Buyer: Oke, saya beli satu. (Ok, I take it one pair)
From conversation above, we can see the example of bargaining for a pair of shoes. In this case, the seller lowering it’s price after the buyer bargaining for lower price. Since the seller lowering it’s price from Rp. 250,000,- to Rp. 200.000,- (20% off), so it means that the price is can be categorized as a good deal.
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Now you are know how to bargaining in Indonesian language. Bargaining can be fun if we know how to do it in a correct way. And also notice that not every place or stuff can be bargain. The perfect place to practice your bargaining skill in Indonesian language is obviously a traditional market. If you are still curious about bargaining words, you can learn here. Good luck!