The first number is a starting position and everyone knows it
Nobody in these halls expects the first price to be the final price, and treating the opening number as an insult is a misread. It’s an opening.
What doesn’t work is a big round counter offer with nothing behind it. What works is a counter with a reason: this is what I’ve been quoted for a comparable build, this is the quantity, this is the timing.
Price isn’t the only thing that moves
When a supplier won’t go lower on price, the deal can still improve. Better packing at the same price. Spare parts included. Faster production. Better payment terms. Free samples on the next order.
Ask what they can do rather than insisting on the number. You’ll often get more real value out of packing and spares than out of the last two percent, and the supplier keeps face, which matters more than most foreign buyers realise.
Be the buyer worth keeping
Suppliers in Lecong meet a lot of people who ask for prices and never come back. Being clearly serious is worth actual money, and it costs nothing.
Turn up when you said you’d. Send the specification you promised. Answer messages. Pay the deposit when you said. A supplier who believes you’ll reorder prices differently from one who thinks you’re a tourist.
Do not squeeze the last drop
You can usually push a supplier to a price they’ll regret. They will take it, and then the foam gets a little thinner, or your order slips behind a better customer's, and you’ll never be told why.
Leave enough in it for them to want your next order. That isn’t sentimentality, it’s the cheapest quality control there’s.
Silence is a normal part of the conversation
Pauses are longer here than many foreign buyers are comfortable with, and the instinct to fill the gap by improving your own offer is a costly one. Let the silence sit. It’s doing work.