A Day In Shenzhen.

[thomasng]

I spent a day in Shenzhen yesterday shopping for replica goods. The KCR ride up to Lo Wu was fine, at least I got a seat for the long trip from Tsim Sha Tsui East. I just had to go on a Sunday, the queues at immigration checkpoints on both sides were ridiculously long. I make an idiotic decision and gave up my HK Permanent Residence and could have went through automatic clearance channels which take a minute to go through, but went through regular lines. I waited for 45 minutes just on the HK side. WHen I got over to the Chinese side, an even worse story. Again, if I kept my HK PR I could have went through quickly, instead I had to use a British pasport with a visa through the "Foreigners" lane, and this took more than 1 1/2 hour to go through. Absolutely ridiculous that they only had 2 Foreigner lines open.

After clearing immigration, I took the Shenzhen metro to the Seibu department store, which sells a mixture of high end goods. I went just to take a look at prices for luxury goods in China. Of course, I had to buy a damn ticket and waited 15 minutes to use the machines that sell tickets. I found the reason why Chinese go to Hong Kong to buy luxury goods, everything there is more expensive because of taxes from the Chinese government. For example, I was looking at AP, Vacheron watches and found that they were 20-30% more expensive than Hong Kong in terms of list price, and to add the final kick in the balls, there was no discount available.

I returned back to Lo Wu and began my quest for replica goods. I started from the top levels and worked my way down. I saw a nice FM Crazy Hours in Rose Gold in a window that I just had to have. I went in and asked how much it was. The woman said 400 Yuan! I chortled and left. She went catching after me and said how much I wanted to pay, which I entered into a calculator. I said 150, and she countered with 250. I said no way, and continued walking away. I then said 180 and she went with 220. I said "I'm not going to buy it if you won't do 180". I continued walking, and then she said, fine! 180! I ended up with an awesome watch, it is every bit as good as the one we get from our dealers, but I paid jsut about US$20 which even might have been a bit expensive.

I went to a few more to ask about ETA replicas, but all asked for 2000 Yuan+ and I said goodbye to them. I asked for a Swiss Daytona and one asked for 4000 Yuan, which isn't too bad at about US$500. Still, I just traded for one so no need. Overall, the watch shopping wasn't that great, or maybe I was just lacking effort yesterday. I found all the displays were of numerous FMs and Jacob and Co. pieces. Every single watch store had these in their window for some strange reason. I was tempted to buy an FM Vegas as well, but didn't feel like bargaining for it again.

I then went on to look for a Hermes bag for my fiancee. I went to a one store, they took me to a store that was covered with posters, and they had to make a few phone calls, and the door opened. Hundreds of replica bags, with 30 odd people stuffed in that small store space. I asked for "Super A" Hermes and was disappointed, the printing and markings weren't sharp.

I went onto the next one, and asked for a "Super A" Hermes again. They took me up to a office in Luohu Commercial Centre which had no air conditioning and I was getting a very serious headache from the heat. It was 33C without the humidity. When we got up there, the bag offered was a little better but I noticed the leather on one side seemed a bit scrunched up, and looked like total [censored]. I was told they didn't have another one, but if I could return the next day they would offer me a better one. They asked 600 Yuan for it, which wasn't bad considering it was real leather and the genuine is US$20,000. On my way out, I spotted some Hermes passport holders and began haggling with them for one. They wanted 200 each and I laughed. I then offered them 120 for one. They said "no way", and brought me back to thier main store. The owner then asked me again what I wanted to pay for the passport holders. I said 120 again, and he said "no way, below my cost". I said, if you don't do 120 then I don't want it. I was then offered 140 and still stood my ground and said "No". I walked away and then he chased after and accepted 120, at which time I offered to buy another one. Also real leather, and the quality was really good, the stitching was excellent, I got a black one to use as a gift and a beige one for myself.

I then decided to look for replica clothing. Searches for football shirts were disappointing, and all were really bad obivous fakes. I looked for replica jeans, and searched numerous stores, all carrying huge amounts of D&G, Diesel, Energie, dsquared jeans. I stopped at one store and looked at a pair of 2006 D&G jeans, and was allowed to try them on. This store had the largest selection of designer jeans, and the quality was unbelievable, the wash looked exactly like the real thing, and the material was okay, but there was a noticeable difference in the stitching inside. Anyways, I tried on a pair of D&G jeans and offered to buy them. First offer was 280 and I threw them on the floor. I said 120 is the most I'll go. The price came down to 160 almost spontaneously. I then walked away and said "120 only!" then after a few seconds the woman comes back after me and said fine, 120!

I finally went to one of the numerous foot massage parlours and a whole hour was only 30 Yuan.

I decided it was time to go back to Hong Kong. It was already 9:30 by this time and dark. Same story at immigration. I waited 30 minutes this time at the Chinese side and an hour at the Hong Kong side. Frickin ridiculous. The ride back to Kowloon Tong took forever, and I switched back to the MTR Underground and got off at Admiralty, which I nromally take a public bus or minibus to get back up to my apartment. Instead, I took a taxi because I didn't want to wait. When I was dropped off, I realised it was midnight already.

So overall, not a bad day. Breakdown of the days spending:

HK$2.50 to Tsim Sha Tsui

HK$38 to Lo Wu

180 Yuan for the FM Crazy Hours

240 Yuan for 2 Hermes Passport Holders

120 Yuan for a pair od D&G jeans

30 Yuan for a foot massage

10 Yuan for a tip

HK$38 for the ride back to HK

HK$10 for the ride to Admiralty

HK$25 for the taxi ride back home

Finally, another cost to be considered:

100 GBP for the passport

HK$2000 for the 3 year multiple entry Chinese visa.

[MechWatch]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I read it with great interest since I have never been to Shenzhen. I am sure I wouldn't be able to haggle like you did. Great job.

[ubiquitous]

Replica Diesels?? Please tell me more....

I love Diesel jeans. Unfortunately, their price tag gets in the way of buying watches. But, you have my interest piqued!

[jimmytim]

Great story!

Did you had any lunch at all?

[cornerstone]

Top haggling takes an Oscar performance - sounds like you earned one!!

Cheers!

[fitmic]

Nice stroy.

It seems that I will visit China...soon.

[swdivad]

Great story Admin!

Just goes to show you that they are marked up many many times and also shows us that we really have a great place here to purchase within the comfort of our own homes!!!

Thanks for that!

[robideaux]

look out for some goyard replica bags, these are less common but totally class. sounds like a great time!

[jonthebhoy]

Great story!

Did you had any lunch at all?

I wondered about this also!

JTB

[thomasng]

I had half a BLT sandwich at Admiralty station in the morning before I left, but I didn't eat anything else because I felt mildly ill and still do now. Not to scare anyone but I'm having a mild case of diarrhea at the moment and feel like [censored] (no pun intended).

I think it may have been a bad glass of soy milk I had that morning.

At ubiquitous:

Diesel jeans are very expensive, but I still think the quality cannot be beat. I have a few genuine pairs myself, I know they are expensive at over $300 a pop. If you want more genuine ones, I've seen them on sale at 30% off at Lane Crawford (a high end department store) in Hong Kong.

The fake ones look exactly the same, but the feel and stiching is different, and I don't know how long they can last. I compared a pair of genuine D&G jeans I have and the stitching on the replica is far inferior to the genuine article. Don't forget the genuine article for D&G is US $400 while the replica is something like US$15. Keep that in mind for the Diesel stuff too. Will pick up some more jeans in 2 weeks time when I go again. Another problem is the size, they may say 30 or 32, but when you try them on they might not fit you, and you may have to go through a few before you get the right size fit. I had to go through 3 pairs of 30 to get the right fit.

However, I find it amazing that the fake things have all the tags and holograms. The hologram on the tag and inside the jeans are complete and look exactly like the genuine. It even had a price tag of HK$2780 attached to it.

By the way, haggling is not easy. It is very time consuming and makes you want to bash your head on the wall talking to these people. I know that we wouldn't argue over a dollar or 2 dollar difference, but it's part of the fun in shopping in China. You like to mess with these people when you get there. It's even harder if you can't speak Chinese.

[bkatbamna]

Interesting about the jeans. Levi jeans material is made by Arvind Mills in Amdavad, India and you can buy jeans there that are the exact same quality a lot cheaper.

[Highflyingclive]

Anyone visiting China should make sure that they have plenty of time to spare when shopping. Haggling, as Admin said, takes a long time. And you have to haggle for everything. I bought a black bezel Rolex GMT11 in LoWu, last time I was there. I think that the entire process took an hour... just for one watch.

Walking away is a great haggling technique... but don't be surprised if the sales girl grabs your arm and tries to pull you back. It happens all the time. The only reason that I started haggling for the Rolex in LoWu was that the salesgirl had physically dragged me into her shop. Well, she was very prettty... she didn't really have to drag me too hard :-)

I bought a Dunhill briefcase for my Dearly Beloved in Guangzhou. I saw it, was given a stupid price, so countered with an equally stupid offer. As the salesgirl wouldn't come down much from her stratospheric pricing, I walked away. Quite quickly - I was now late for an important appointment with a beer.

A few minutes later, puffing and panting, she caught up with me... the briefcase wrapped in a carrier bag - she had decided to accept my offer, after all. One Dunhill briefcase, not leather but a convincing imitation, cost me about $7.50.

I love China...

[narikaa]

Its just that if you have serious shopping to do the theatricals of this ritual repeated over & over just swallows up your time.

.