Been here across 3 out of 6 days of my stay in Ho Chi Minh. Definitely a must visit if you are here in the city, especially if you're looking for a bargain on knock-off luxury/well-known brands like apparel, handbags and so on.

Read a few short reviews on Google which simply states that things are expensive without elaboration. Here are a few points to note based on my pre-trip research and personal experience:

1. Bargaining is the name of the game here so never take the first price given by the seller as the potential transactional price. A counter-offer from the buyer (you) is always expected and hence no one will get offended if you counter offer them, unless you low-balled way too much. A general rule of thumb is to counter-offer between 1/3 or half of the initial offered price (depending on item) and work your way from there.

2. Those who complain that things are too expensive either didn't do their research prior to visiting the place, or just couldn't bargain in an effective manner. While most goods here are mass-produced and are knock-offs, do keep in mind that the sellers have to make a living as well, and naturally no one would sell their goods if the price hits below the bottom line. If you can't get a satisfactory price, just walk away as many other vendors would be selling the same thing. But if the price you offer gets rejected by every vendor selling the item, then perhaps your offered price is way too low for them to make any profit.

3. One or two vendors have marked the prices of their items with the words "Fixed price", which is pretty self explanatory. That being said, you can always try to bargain for a slightly lower price if you buy in bulk, but don't get offended if they don't nudge. Otherwise, as long as there is no price (or "Fixed Price") marked on an item, it is very safe to assume that the price is open for bargaining.

4. Do take note that certain items (e.g. football jerseys) have different qualities despite all of them being knock-offs, from those immediately discernable to be fake from a distance away to those that you can't tell apart from the real deal. Hence the price difference.

5. Ben Thanh Market is a popular tourist spot, and hence it is entirely possible you can get the same thing at a slightly lower price elsewhere. However, it is also the largest congregation of such vendors so if you factor in the time, effort and money (on transport) to find that lone shop which sells for maybe 5-10% cheaper than in Ben Thanh, one might come to realise that there are no real savings.

All in all, bargaining over prices by itself is a sport which some enjoy (even more so than the cheap prices), and if you go to Ben Thanh with this mindset and some research done, it will definitely be an enjoyable experience.

But if haggling over prices/browsing knock-off goods is not your thing, just skip the whole place entirely and leave more walking space for the rest of us 😂