Irritating sales people in China!!!?

Question

How many of you who have been or living in China experience those pesky sales people at the malls who tailed your every steps? These "idiots" will keep asking whether you wanted the item and before you can decide, ask you to pay at the cashier. Can anyone tell me why in China, a customer must pay at the cashier first before collecting the goods unlike in other countries, a customer will bring the goods and paid at the cashier together???? Are the people of China so dishonest that they will shoplift the goods?

In other countries which I have visited, one can pick up many items and walk around the entire floor without paying first. When I have decided which item I really wanted, I would then pay at the cashier TOGETHER WITH the items. This is not the case in China.......even in modern Shanghai!!!

Answer 1

Having been to China, I honestly have to say I don't think they are trying to be helpful. Perhaps my experience is colored by the fact that I am clearly a Westerner (non-Asian descent) and also I speak fluent Mandarin.

As soon as I'd enter a store, I'd hear them start to shout, "Wai guo ren! Wai guo ren!" (which means "foreigner") to each other and they'd all run towards me to begin the high pressure sales tactics. They think Americans are all rich because 1 US $ = so many more Yuan. They never give you time or space to actually examine the goods and I think this is to distract from the poor quality. I have seen people say they will wrap the product as you go to pay the cashier, then as soon as you have left replace the product you selected with an inferior quality one, such as a broken piece of cloisonne or a scratched or dented pearl.

There are very large "friendship stores" geared specifically towards tourists, and tour agencies will tell you that the government mandates every tour stop at one or another of these stores for a certain length of time. The tour guide will give you a special "coupon" and tell you this guarantees you a "special discount" when, in fact, it is a red flag designed to alert the salespeople to the fact that you are a stupid tourist who has tons of money to be spent if high-pressured.

Now, I never saw any Chinese being high pressured in such stores and, I can tell you, they are always offered better prices. In fact, sometimes I would speak in English, evesdrop on a price given to a Chinese, and when the sales person quoted me a price 200% higher, tell them in Chinese that I knew it was an unfair price and I wanted the Chinese price. Of course, they then felt so humiliated at the loss of face that I got an even better price than the Chinese.

But back to your comment. If you know a little Chinese, they seem to treat you a bit better and not follow you around so much because they assume you already know the deal and you will bargain them down on the price, anyway, so the high pressure tactics won't work. The only other thing that worked for me was when I was clearly sick with the flu and would look at them with misery and pain on my face and say, "I'm sorry, I'm sick ..." and most of them would let me be.

P.S. I absolutely love China and don't want to sound cynical... It's just that following -around in the store thing really gets to me!

Answer 2

Its just sometimes a different culture. When I was Tokyo, I was the Tokyo Tower and the sales girl at the counter would not relinquish the ticket until she collected my money (or credit card). Plus, they always put your card/money on a tray and not throw it back at you.

Sometimes, you pay first because they are concern about shop lifting and sometimes its cultural. Look when I am in another country, I do expect certain things to be a little different. A lot of department stores in Shanghai require me to pay first, bring the receipt back to the sales lady who will then pack my stuff.

Really, you have to expect China to be different than say the US. Its China friend. These sort of things don't really bug me too much. It does not matter if the city is modern or backward as a city in Rwanda....things are done slightly different.

Like Dorothy said, "There is no place like home". Well for a foreigner, China isn't home, that is why we are foreigners in a strange land. Get it.

Answer 3

I too have wondered about this, but I have a theory:

I assume that this process is to keep the staff from "lifting money" from the till. If the sales staff are being paid a small Chinese salary, then it would be very tempting for them to dip into the till and run. There is a big difference in the price of goods aimed at the middle class market and the cost of living (and the salaries) of less-well-off Chinese.

If only one person is responsible for handling cash (the cashier), then the employer can keep things under better control and knows who to blame if money goes missing.

Answer 4

I guess they do it these for a numerous of reasons.

Stop thieving. Shop workers don't get paid much.
Time saving while your paying at the cashier there wrapping up your goodies and how many times have you had to wait in long queue in a shop in the west for something because that person in front of you has a trolley full of stuff.

If those sales people get on your neveres I have found the following helps

a) Don't talk to them unless you want a closer look. Look at how the Chinese in the shop go about wanting stuff, they will never talk to the shop assistant unless they want something.

b) Don't touch anything unless your instested in buying it, as soon as you touch it the shop assistant will think that you want to buy it and bother you into a sale.

c) Spend as little time as possible in the shop.

Answer 5

....actually they are just trying to be helpfull - tailing is just customer support ...i agree that in some major stores the practice of paying for the item and returning the receipt to get the item is a waste of time but that is just the way it is - no bargaining...notice though that in a restaurant the waitress/waiter will stand at your table patiently while you decide on your order...this might bother some westerners but is considered proper in china...i'm also amazed at the number of employees working at shops with few customers ...and the school i worked at in shangdong province had more staff than students - hilarium!!!

Answer 6

I always thought this was just a way to employ as many people as possible. What would take one person in the states takes three in China.

Answer 7

They do that to keep honest people honest.

Answer 8

very bad