Great deal on ship in a bottle? maybe not... and other Amsterdam, Netherlands Tourist Trap Tips

I used to work in a souvenir shop on Damrak (the street just off central station) so let me share you a bit on one of the tricks those guys have.

In many of these shops there is a display full of ships in bottles (impossible bottles); with many of them made from crystal that cost more than 150 Euro's. Now, out of the 12 or so different type of ships there will be one with a big sign "Sale this month" or "Clearance" with the price of around 20 Euro's.

In the two months that I lasted there (they weren't that nice to me so this is why I'm sharing their secret) on average we would sell about 4 of those 'clearance' ships.

Now, is that one ship among the beautiful other 12 really a clearance item? Nope, truth is that particular one is a cheap glass one made from China, and we've got loads of them in the storage upstairs.
It's a smart trick really, putting one cheap version in a middle of the real thing gives people the illusion that all of them are of same quality. So next time if you see a deal like this, make sure you ask them to pull it out from the display, along with another one that is not marked 'clearance' read the labels on the bottom of the platforms to compare the two.

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