Buying Computers in Taipei

In the years that I have been here, purchasing things everywhere has changed. Taipei used to be a negotiation based environment. I learned numbers in Chinese very quickly by going to night markets and negotiating for useless trinkets that were meant to be sent home to my family. One of my personal favorite places for doing this is computer alley.

Computer alley (located around Ba De Liu - map below) is the heart of computer shopping in Taiwan. While it has never been the most friendly of places for the foreigner (mostly complicated with 'foreigner' pricing) it has become more and more aggravating to shop there.

Some quick tips for the foreigner buying a computer or computer components -

1. Try to stick to the stores that publish a price list or Jia Mu Biou. They are all in Chinese, but with a little effort even non-Chinese readers can puzzle them out.
2. Know what you are going to buy before going. --well duh
3. Never buy at the first place you go, rarely do I go to the cheapest store first.
4. Always try to negotiate prices, your chances are much lower than say 5 years ago... but they still have room for small discounts.
5. Never buy with a credit card.
6. Always, always, always ask them for a receipt with their stamp or make sure they place their store sticker on your device. Too many times they expect to never see a foreigner again so they dont want to waste their time with this.