IN THE beginning, matchmakers flew the prospective husbands to Vietnam to meet their would-be brides.

The trip could have cost the customer at least $12,000.

But good times didn’t last long.

In 2003, there were just two or three players in the field – Mr Mark Lin and Mr Francis Toh of the defunct Sin Ye International Matchmakers, and Mr Peter Liu of Life Partner (later taken over by MrJanson Ong).

By 2004, prices had dropped to around $6,000 as copycats jumped into the fray. Today, it costs between $6,000 and $8,000.

So that year, Sin Ye “innovated” by flying the girls here instead.

“When you buy a Mercedes-Benz, you don’t fly to Germany,” said Mr Lin.

Other than former employees, and friends and customers striking out on their own, even the brides wanted a part of the pie.

Said Mr Janson Ong of Life Partner: “The brides also brought in their sisters, cousins, neighbours, friends – they themselves became brokers.

“They may get a hongbao. Some of these brides are even more active than the agencies.”

In 2005, spurred by reports of Vietnamese women being tricked or forced into marriages, the Vietnamese government started cracking down on brokers organising contact between the women and the foreign husbands.

Nowadays, as more middlemen are arrested – including Mr Toh’s brother-in-law, Nguyen Van Phat, 35, as reported in The New Paper yesterday – they have had to do it “undercover”, such as relying on friends for recommendations.

But this is not human trafficking as the brides come here willingly, matchmakers said.

Mr Lin pointed out: “Everyone has the freedom to marry who they want.”

Business in recent months have taken a battering.

Mr Ong said he gets between zero and two customers a month now, compared to seven at the peak.

But he doesn’t think it has anything to do with Vietnam’s clampdown or even competition.

“I attribute it to the (poor) economy and the high prices of HDB flats,” he said.

This article was first published in The New Paper.