VietNamNet Bridge – The banknote market has warmed up as the 2013 Tet nears. Vietnamese people rush to hunt for original banknotes to give to relatives and friends as gifts on Tet days.

Right after the one-dollar bank note designed specifically for the 2013 Tet, the Year of Snake was marketed in the US some days ago, Vietnamese have been rushing to place orders for the lucky banknotes to prepare for the Tet celebration.

Official information sources say the one dollar banknote was launched into the US market in mid-November on the occasion of Orient people’s Tet. 88,888 one-dollar bank notes have been offered on sale by the US Treasury.

In Hanoi and HCM City, banknote traders have offered to sell the banknotes at 500,000 dong for each. Meanwhile, with the current exchange rate, one dollar is equal to 21,000 dong only.

The traders have advertised that these are the lucky banknotes which have been put into red envelops with printed images of snakes and with gilded Chinese letters. The bank notes are special because their series numbers all start with 8888, the numeral which is in thoughts of Oriental people, can bring good luck and prosperity.

Especially, clients can order a crystal box to put the banknote into it, if they accept to pay about one million dong for both the banknote and the box.

When a client told Hau, a banknote trader, that he wanted to see the sample of the banknote, Hau said he still has not got the products yet.

Hau, like many other petty traders, would make calls to the US to place orders and pay deposit money. Hau began accepting orders since mid December and he has got two orders. However, he still expects some more orders before he calls to place orders.

“I think I need to be cautious in doing business this year, in the economic crisis. I am afraid that there won’t be many orders, because people have to fasten their belt in the difficulties,” he said, revealing that he last year bought a lot of dollar bank notes with original series numbers, but he could not sell them because of the weak demand.

Anticipating the low demand, other traders also don’t dare to place big orders with their US supply sources. On some websites, like phomuaban or 5giay, one could see some ad pieces offering the lucky one dollar bank note at competitive price of 450,000 dong.

Analysts believe that even with the price level, Vietnamese traders still can make profit, because the original price announced by the US Treasury is 5.95 dollar per banknote only, while those, who buy more than 50 banknotes, would enjoy the preferential price level of 4.5 dollars.

On eBay, lucky one dollar bank notes have been offered at 6.95 – 8.68 dollars. Besides, buyers would also have to pay the shipping fee of five dollars for each time.

Besides the one dollar banknotes, people have also offered to sell the banknotes with special features. These include two dollar bank notes, which are believed to be in high demand, because the banknote is believed to bring good luck to the owners.

In general, older two dollar bank notes would be more expensive than brand new ones. For example, a two dollar bank note issued in 1976 would be priced at 300,000 dong, while the one issued in 1928 at 600,000 dong.

VNE