the prices are not a guideline because you never know for how much the vendor buys those teas , what profit he/she needs in order to keep running the business or support the other stuff ( which again, you probably never find out ) .
I have heard many " experts " claiming this or that tea must be fake because it's much cheaper / below the
general market price ( I'm not talking about those types of teas like from 1960 for 10$ incl shipping from Ali. of course ) . How to they know the market price from US or EU?
)))) Of course from their very trusted western vendor who is being copied by other vendors , so those vendors have sort of similar prices. Or from some reputable bloggers who never made any wholesale tea business in China just rewrite some theories researched on internet or during some travels , yet being famous masters art tea gong fu or whatever the fancy names come with the status ;-D
So how is it work?
Simple example for not the antique aged teas : you buy tea ( directly from factory or the authorized agent ) for 100CNY and you can sell it for 150CNY and still be happy because you don;t have any rent to pay or employees , neither pay expensive apartment in US , EU, HK ,SZ ,SH...etc. The other vendor might buy it even for the same price ( maybe more expensive trough the other hands or not being same level of customer of the factory or agent...different levels / prices ) but need to sell it for 300 CNY because has bunch of expenses not only for life and running business, but probably some other projects aside ( like buying some more expensive tea next year and flights to China ) .
I know the wholesale prices of factory teas in Kunming tea markets ( from authorized dealers ) and there is quite big margin from not only western vendors now, since Chinese have to ( I believe they not complaining ) to follow the "laowai"
market price .
So the smart vendors go just few kuai below that threshold to be competitive but not suspicious. Those who miss that threshold ( like not following the crowd ) will get thrown away by community of "believers" ...tea forums.
( in order to judge the market price of other teas , u also need know the price of fresh leafs from the farmer of that particular place and yet, not a 100% guideline coz not same price for everybody )
I'm astonished how many people focusing on real vs fake without being a collector or expert on that particular brand at the first place. As "m" pointed out here already. Some tea you pay high price just for the status , not for the flavor / quality / enjoyment from drinking it. And I'm amazed how some vendors just cruising on that reputation and making bunch of money on "believers" and genuine label chasers.
The ultimate answer to any question about "how is the tea from this vendor? " ...
was,
is and it
will be ....buy samples and decide your self.
But I don't want to over pay for some fake or for something what worth the money ...... how to find out what worth money for you or for me? Try the tea , feel if u like the taste and count how many steepings / time can enjoy the taste and feeling associated with this ( type and intensity of the feeling ) ...then compare this " happy moment " to something more familiar to you. I don't know : glass of wine , cup of coffee, piece of chocolate....or whatever.
Compare price of that with your sample and count if worth to buy a full product. Humans naturally evaluate things by comparing , buying tea is not different. Since you don't have any previous experience with lao cha and probably not long experience with any tea , compare it to other things then.
Some Chinese people paying ridiculous money for cakes labeled as Bing Dao , LBZ without even liking or understanding the taste. Or like the taste of some other tea but not sure if that is good ( since it's not from the famous place ) , forgetting the fact that that "good" is choosing for them selves and that's what they are experiencing just right now in the cup
I have personally witnessed purchase of 1300CNY for 200g cake claimed to be BD and it was just some LC tea made by new concept , but Shandong tourists couldn't say the difference , yet they believed coz tea was really sweet. I just sit beside and play stupid, didn't dare to interfere ;-(
Overall advice, it takes a while to find certain criteria based on what you going to buy the tea ,yet they are keep changing with your experience and probably even with age. The answer is not on forums but in your cup
Buying a tea is actually more simple than it seems. Puerh was probably too exaggerated by Chinese vendors or those called them selves "lao shi". That transformed and made more complex looking by foreigners who went too deep into something which is not the point of actual enjoyment from drinking the tea at the first place.
Human desire for the "best" ( which is also very individual ) and greed for the most expensive yet want it cheap ...those factors are building blocks of any marketing strategy ....the puerh tea business is The very best example of it!
But yes, we can blablabla over and over same topics here when sipping the cup of tea ( I'm having my b-fast shu now ) which I'm about to finish and do some work.
So have a grate day