Can You Spot The Difference?

Last time we were in Gaungzhou, we paid one of the local shops to make two name paintings for Eli and Jeremy. Now that we have Leah, we decided we should continue the "tradition" and get a similar painting for her. After browsing the various stalls, we found a style that seemed to match the previous ones the best. Without thinking, we walked up to the stall and placed our order. We were careful to make sure the new piece would have the black frame and show artwork for the English name while only displaying the marking for her given Chinese name. When the shopkeeper gave us the bill, we paid on the spot and walked away. It took a few minutes of walking before we realized we had just shelled out two hundred and eighty yuan ($40) for some ink on paper!

After another ten minutes of walking, we decided to go back and contest the purchase. We stopped at a few other vendors who had similar art ranging from forty to eighty yuan. We returned to the place of purchase and pointed out the wide discrepancy in pricing and asked for a refund.

HA! Obviously the term "refund" does not exist in Chinese capitalism. The seller argued that her artist did better work than other shops. We argued that even if her artist was twice as good, it shouldn't cost 4X as much. She said the artist had already started. When we pressed, she offered to have another artist do another style for less. We suggested that if she could switch artists, she should have no problem canceling the current job altogether. She argued that her boss wouldn't allow a refund. We insisted that we could convince future CCAI families not to purchase from their stall. She offered to include a chop (name stamp) and fan in the current cost. We insisted she knock off half the price for the same artist.

Can you spot the difference between these two name paintings? They are similar to what is sold at souvenir shops on Shamian Island. Prices range from 40-280 yuan, and are supposedly based on skill of the artist.

This went back and forth for five or ten minutes. I kind of amazed myself at my resolve to knock the price down without yielding. Finally, she went over to talk to her manager. He played the same game for a while and offered a 100 yuan discount. I stood firm on a 140 yuan discount or a full refund. After much arguing in foreign languages, he yielded the 140 yuan.

We pick up our artwork on Tuesday for half what we were originally charged. We think we paid about $15 last time we were here and wound up spending about $20 this time around. All in all, we're happy with our haggling. Now we just have to make sure the Chinese on the final art actually spells "Ya Jiao" instead of "A Hole." LOL!