Can you haggle over prices?
Short answer
No. The marked price is the price, and asking for a discount will be met with polite confusion.
Prices are not a starting position
Shops, markets, taxis and restaurants all work from fixed prices. There is no expectation that a first number is negotiable, and no cultural script for the back-and-forth.
Asking anyway does not cause offence so much as a stall: the person you asked has no authority to change the number and no practised way to say so.
Where a discount does exist
Discounts are applied by the shop rather than requested by the customer. Supermarkets and department store food halls mark down fresh food in the evening, and the sticker is the negotiation.
Electronics chains and duty-free counters sometimes match a competitor or bundle items, which is a stated policy rather than a haggle.
The two grey areas
Flea markets and antique fairs are the exception where a modest offer is part of the event, and vendors there expect it.
Long stays at small inns and multi-item purchases from an independent craftsperson can occasionally be rounded down, but that is a courtesy offered rather than a price extracted.
Good to know
- Evening markdown stickers in food halls are the closest thing to a bargain here
- Flea markets are the one place an offer is expected rather than awkward
Not where a price tag hangs — marked prices are a legal requirement, and the tag is a ceiling. Markets without tags are a different world.
In markets and casual shops, yes — the tourism board's own word for it is gentle negotiation. Ask a few vendors first so you know what the number should be.
Only in traditional markets, and only gently. Everywhere else the price is fixed and asking reads as odd.