Shopping in Vietnam: markets, bargaining and the VAT

Shopping in Vietnam: markets, gates and the price on the tag

Short answer

Vietnam's big city markets are organised by gate rather than aisle. Ben Thanh in Ho Chi Minh City covers 13,056 square metres with nearly 1,500 booths, opens around 6am, closes at 6pm and becomes a street night market until 10pm. VAT is 10 per cent, reduced to 8 per cent until 31 December 2026.

Last checked: September 21, 2026

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The numbers at one market

	Figure
Ben Thanh, current building	Moved in 1912, completed 1914
Area	13,056 m²
Booths	Nearly 1,500, with more than 6,000 small businesses
Visitors	More than 10,000 a day
Hours	Opens around 6am, closes 6pm
Night market	Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chu Trinh, 6pm to 10pm
VAT	10 per cent standard, 8 per cent until 31 December 2026
Excluded from the reduction	Telecommunications

Disclosure: VietSIM sells prepaid eSIMs for Vietnam. We sell nothing you would buy in a market, and no shop on this page is a partner.

Markets are organised by gate

The single most useful thing to know about a big Vietnamese market is that it is arranged by entrance rather than by aisle. At Ben Thanh in Ho Chi Minh City, each gate is effectively a different shop.

South gate: garments, textiles and clothing, plus shoes, jewellery and cosmetics.
North gate: fresh fruit, fish and poultry, along with cooked Vietnamese dishes.
East gate: dried seafood and poultry, roasted peanuts, candied fruit, coffee beans, tea, fish sauce, herbs and spices.
West gate: arts and ceramics.

A tailor shop stacked floor to ceiling with bolts of fabric, a dress form and a cutting table — A Hoi An tailor, the far end of the textile trade a market gate points you at.

Enter at the gate for what you came for. The market is 13,056 square metres with nearly 1,500 booths, over 6,000 small businesses and more than 10,000 visitors a day, and wandering in from the wrong side costs you the first half hour.

The same address is two markets

Ben Thanh opens around 6am and closes at 6pm. At 6pm, stalls go up outside along Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chu Trinh and run until 10pm.

The day market is where the food and the dry goods are. The night market outside is a different trade with a different crowd, and if somebody tells you the market was disappointing, ask which of the two they went to.

Where the price is fixed

The rule is the tag, not the district. A stall with no marked prices expects a conversation. A shop with a printed price does not, and pushing there reads as rude rather than shrewd.

If you cannot tell, ask the price of a single item and listen to what comes back. A flat number, stated once, is a price. A number followed by a pause is an opening.

Vietnam’s standard VAT is 10 per cent, reduced to 8 per cent until 31 December 2026, with telecommunications excluded from the reduction. In a market that tax is already inside the number you are told.

Reading the amount you are quoted, and the trap of the shorthand where 25 means 25,000, is in Vietnam’s money. Whether to leave anything extra is in tipping in Vietnam, and the words that make the exchange easier are in Vietnamese phrases.

The east gate list is essentially a shopping list for Vietnamese coffee. For comparing prices between stalls while you stand there, sizing is in how much mobile data for Vietnam with the plans in the Vietnam eSIM store.

Questions

How are the markets laid out?

By gate. At Ben Thanh the south gate is garments, textiles, shoes, jewellery and cosmetics, the north gate is fresh fruit, fish and poultry with cooked food, the east gate is dried seafood, roasted peanuts, candied fruit, coffee, tea, fish sauce and spices, and the west gate is arts and ceramics.

What are the hours?

Ben Thanh opens around 6am and closes at 6pm. At 6pm vendors set up lit stalls along Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chu Trinh outside, and that night market runs until 10pm. They are two different shopping experiences at the same address.

How big is it?

13,056 square metres, with nearly 1,500 booths and more than 6,000 small businesses selling wholesale and retail, and more than 10,000 visitors a day. Going in without a plan for what you want is how an hour disappears.

Where do I bargain and where do I not?

Market stalls without marked prices expect a negotiation; shops with a printed price do not. The dividing line is the tag, not the neighbourhood. If you are unsure, ask the price of one item first and watch whether a number or a conversation comes back.

What about tax?

Vietnam's standard VAT is 10 per cent, reduced to 8 per cent until 31 December 2026. Telecommunications is excluded from that reduction. In a market the tax is inside the price you are quoted rather than added at the till.