Markets and wholesale buying tips Bali

Ubud marketplace The market in Ubud is open from 10am till 5pm. There are loads of knick knacks you can get for souvenirs so you will always have something to sell if you have a garage sale after spring cleaning. But seriously, the vendors do have a bunch of neat little things for visitors to buy to have as a momento of their trip. It also gives you a chance to interact a little with the local people who are trying to earn a living. Usually the price starts out quite high and after some good natured bargaining you can negotiate a fair price. For people with limited time this is a good place to see a good variety of handicrafts.   Along the Monkey Forest Road are many shops mixed in between the resturaunts and can be quite an interesting walk working your way down the street. Sometimes there are some unusual items. For those planning to buy things to ship back home for resale it is better to go to the wholesale shops on the road to Tilgalayan. There are shops after shops with many different woodcarvings, pottery, metal work, bamboo wind chimes, etc. It would take days or weeks to get a chance to look through all these shops. Then when you went through again you would realize that you missed half the stuff. Your exploration would only be limited by the time you have. There are other places to buy as well. Batabulan has great stone carvings. Mas has some fantastic furniture and high end woodcarvings. Celuk has more of the silver jewelry. Many towns seem to have a specialty that they concentrate on. Kuta and Denpasar have more of the t-shirt, sarong, and shell type jewelry geared for the comercial buyer in addition to a thousand retail shops lining the streets. For buying wholesale it is best to move slowly and do a lot of ground work checking out quality and price. A lot of times the dealers sell from a sample but this can lead to a lot of problems for the buyer if the end product is of a lesser quality. If you have not dealt with a dealer before it is best not to order too heavily until you are comfortable with the quality you are getting. Low quality stuff is hard to sell. The wholesale business is more competitive and when you request "business price" it will be a realistic price and there will be less room for haggling than at the tourist market where the final price is often less than half the start price. When doing wholesale business if you negociate a good price it is expected that you then make an order or a purchase. As you become more well known people will want your business. Keep in mind that cheaper is not always better. Quality and trust are important parts of your success. Some of the stuff sold in Bali is actually made in Java where there is a whole different network of wholesale shops. It is easiest for a new buyer to start off in Bali because the infrastructure for exporting is so well established for the small or start up operator. Bali - Ubud market 2006 www.dutchpickle.com

 

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