Merchants double profits when posting prices in dollars

Many shops in Hanoi are still posting prices in dollars and collecting dollars from sales, ignoring the regulations on prohibiting sellers to post prices in foreign currencies.

Under the current laws, merchants who post prices in dollars and collect dollars from sales without permission from competent agencies will face fines of up to 30 million dong. However, the regulations have been ignored by many shops.

Cameras and camcorders available at private run shops or put on sale online are mostly the products that have prices tags in dollars. While most of big home appliance centers respect the laws of posting prices in Vietnam dong, on some websites, the products are displayed with price tags in dollars.

If buyers cannot pay in dollars, they can pay in Vietnam dong. However, the prices in Vietnam dong will be calculated in accordance with dollar prices and the exchange rates to be applied in the transactions are always the black market’s exchange rates, which are always much higher than the ones quoted by commercial banks.

Some shops have been trying to “dodge” the laws by not posting prices. However, when buyers come to ask about prices or call to ask about prices, they always inform the prices in dollars.

Besides cameras and camcorders, many other kinds of products, especially in souvenir shops also have prices posted in dollars, from bamboo made dragonflies to bookmarks, and from pictures to small wooden statues.

No matter if the products are cheap or expensive, all the products are posted in dollars. A bamboo made dragonfly is priced at 1-3 dollars, a bookmark at two dollars, while a picture at hundreds of dollars. However, different shops apply different exchange rates.

For example, a souvenir shop on Hang Be Street converted one dollar into 21,350 dong, while a salesman of the shop on Hang Khay street decided that one dollar was equal to 21,400 dong.

When asked why they do not obey the laws by posting prices in Vietnam dong instead of dollars, a shop owner on Hang Be street said that most of his customers are foreigners who do not always have Vietnam dong in their pockets.

She also said that the souvenir products are mostly cheap, just several dollars per product. Therefore, it is very difficult to ask customers to convert into Vietnam dong before buying goods.

In general, small merchants can cite thousands of reasons to explain why they need to post prices in dollars. In all cases, sellers always have a hold over buyers: the dong/dollar exchange rates they apply are always higher than the official exchange rates, and sometimes even higher than the rates at which dollars were traded on the black market.

A camera shop on Trang Thi street quoted the price of a tele-lens at 1200 dollars and the exchange rate at 21,350 dong per dollar. Meanwhile, some websites require 21,400-21,500 dong per dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar prices hovered at 21,150-21,200 dong per dollar only at the same time.

Quan, who lives on Ho Tung Mau street in Hanoi, related that he bought a lens for 700 dollars on April 1 and he had to pay 21,400 dong per dollar, which was 500 dong per dollar higher than the banks’ exchange rate and 200 dong per dollar higher than the black market’s exchange rate.

A shop owner on Trang Thi street said that he has to apply the black market’s exchange rate, because he has to collect dollars on the black market because banks refuse to sell dollars to him. Therefore, he has to calculate the sale prices in dollars to ensure profit.

However, Long, a buyer who has much experience in buying digital products, said by posting prices in dollars and applying black market exchange rates, sellers can “make double profits”.

For example, for a product worth 1000 dollars, if calculating in banks’ exchange rate, the product would be valued at 20.9 million dong. However, if calculating in black market’s exchange rate, the product would be sold at 21.5 million dong. Besides, sellers can also profit from the dollar price gap at the time they import the products and at the time they sell the products. – Vietnamnet