Sunday, March 05, 2006
The Joys of Bargaining
Bargaining is trying to get the lowest price by talking back and forth with the salesman. First you find the item you want. I wanted a pair of pink leather slippers with beaded embroidery on the top. The salesman named a price quite high. Then we named a price less than half of what he said. He picks a price a little lower price a little lower than his original price and we go up a little. Eventually, we agree on a price and a deal is made.
We always need to be prepared to leave without the item we want, if the price isn’t right. But, the salesmen never want you to leave without having made the deal although salesmen who have had a good day and a good number of sales will sometimes let you walk down the streets... and never come back. Sometimes the salesman will chase you down the street, grab you by the shoulder and force you to buy the item.
Bargaining is hard to do, but if you get lucky, you get what you want for a good price and have fun laughing at it after. Even if you don’t get lucky, you can still laugh because whatever you want can be found in another stall or shop. There are whole souks dedicated to slippers or spices.
A favourite line used by salesmen (who are working hard on their English) is “Okay, let’s do this the democratic way” of course they mean, “Let’s be fair”, but it comes out as “Let’s vote on a good price.” Usually, there are two salesmen and our family of four plus our two friends, totaling six. That’s six against two. We win! Not really…But those words sure make you think about the meaning.
When we were crossing the Straits of Gibraltar, heading towards Morocco, we were discussing what we thought Morocco would be like. We were also talking about haggling. Dad said, “ If when you leave the store and salesman is grumpy, you know you have made a good deal.” He learned it when mom and he were in India. In India you can bargain as well.
“ A good bargain is usually ends in the street.” Mom had said.
Many of our good bargains have ended in the streets or at least enroute to the street. Rug sellers have a special technique to stop you from going into the streets…
Step One – Give the customer tea to make them sit and stay for a while. You feel welcomed and feel you can’t leave till you’ve finished your tea.
Step Two - Start pulling out rugs, but place them in a certain fashion, so that the customer can’t leave very easily. Put the carpets between you and the door.
Step Three – Keep pulling out rugs until the customer doesn’t want to see another rug…then keep pulling them out.
Step Four – Force the customer to choose a price that is “in their heart”. A favourite line of a rug man is “What ever makes you happy, will make me happy. In the end we will all smile. We are friends.”
When you are the customer, you feel you are trapped in the carpet salesroom and sometimes you have to think of an excuse like going to the bathroom to get out. It is very difficult to get out of a rug salesroom.
There were some places that had good prices, so we didn’t bother to bargain. If the salesmen feel you have paid too much for an item, they sometimes give you a free item. But, technically you have already paid for your free item. Sometimes we would get a free gift. Most of the free gifts were given to me. So, I have quite a collection now. Some people give the younger people in the group a “free gift”, but when you start to walk away they ask an older member of the group “ Do you have a gift for me?” Meaning, please give me money for the item I have given your children.
When we were in Marrakech, we took some pictures of snake charmers and then they wanted 200 Dh, about ($30 Canadian for the picture.) We didn’t pay the crazy price, but have the pictures anyway.
In Fes we were buying little ceramic salt and pepper dishes, our guide asked the price and then told us it was 10 Dh ($2.50 Canadian), Mom and Dad tried to haggle as you are supposed to do. We didn’t know our guide had already haggled for us, the salesman just laughed said “I can’t lower the price anymore. I told you’re guide it was 15 Dh and he told you 10 Dh!” Then we all started to laugh. We bought several dishes and everyone went away happy.
Bargaining is fun, but sometime it tires you out. Sometimes you just want to look, but you get bugged so much. “Come, come. Look at my shop. Or Ok have a look… don’t worry, I won’t push you to buy”. But, most places in Marrakech do anyway. Places like Fez, they didn’t push you at all. They would ask you politely and if you said no, that meant no and they wouldn’t bother you.
In the end, we got what we wanted, paid a fair price (democratic!), had a great time finding it and had fun bargaining for it. One of the most fun things in Morocco was haggling over the prices.
We always need to be prepared to leave without the item we want, if the price isn’t right. But, the salesmen never want you to leave without having made the deal although salesmen who have had a good day and a good number of sales will sometimes let you walk down the streets... and never come back. Sometimes the salesman will chase you down the street, grab you by the shoulder and force you to buy the item.
Bargaining is hard to do, but if you get lucky, you get what you want for a good price and have fun laughing at it after. Even if you don’t get lucky, you can still laugh because whatever you want can be found in another stall or shop. There are whole souks dedicated to slippers or spices.
A favourite line used by salesmen (who are working hard on their English) is “Okay, let’s do this the democratic way” of course they mean, “Let’s be fair”, but it comes out as “Let’s vote on a good price.” Usually, there are two salesmen and our family of four plus our two friends, totaling six. That’s six against two. We win! Not really…But those words sure make you think about the meaning.
When we were crossing the Straits of Gibraltar, heading towards Morocco, we were discussing what we thought Morocco would be like. We were also talking about haggling. Dad said, “ If when you leave the store and salesman is grumpy, you know you have made a good deal.” He learned it when mom and he were in India. In India you can bargain as well.
“ A good bargain is usually ends in the street.” Mom had said.
Many of our good bargains have ended in the streets or at least enroute to the street. Rug sellers have a special technique to stop you from going into the streets…
Step One – Give the customer tea to make them sit and stay for a while. You feel welcomed and feel you can’t leave till you’ve finished your tea.
Step Two - Start pulling out rugs, but place them in a certain fashion, so that the customer can’t leave very easily. Put the carpets between you and the door.
Step Three – Keep pulling out rugs until the customer doesn’t want to see another rug…then keep pulling them out.
Step Four – Force the customer to choose a price that is “in their heart”. A favourite line of a rug man is “What ever makes you happy, will make me happy. In the end we will all smile. We are friends.”
When you are the customer, you feel you are trapped in the carpet salesroom and sometimes you have to think of an excuse like going to the bathroom to get out. It is very difficult to get out of a rug salesroom.
There were some places that had good prices, so we didn’t bother to bargain. If the salesmen feel you have paid too much for an item, they sometimes give you a free item. But, technically you have already paid for your free item. Sometimes we would get a free gift. Most of the free gifts were given to me. So, I have quite a collection now. Some people give the younger people in the group a “free gift”, but when you start to walk away they ask an older member of the group “ Do you have a gift for me?” Meaning, please give me money for the item I have given your children.
When we were in Marrakech, we took some pictures of snake charmers and then they wanted 200 Dh, about ($30 Canadian for the picture.) We didn’t pay the crazy price, but have the pictures anyway.
In Fes we were buying little ceramic salt and pepper dishes, our guide asked the price and then told us it was 10 Dh ($2.50 Canadian), Mom and Dad tried to haggle as you are supposed to do. We didn’t know our guide had already haggled for us, the salesman just laughed said “I can’t lower the price anymore. I told you’re guide it was 15 Dh and he told you 10 Dh!” Then we all started to laugh. We bought several dishes and everyone went away happy.
Bargaining is fun, but sometime it tires you out. Sometimes you just want to look, but you get bugged so much. “Come, come. Look at my shop. Or Ok have a look… don’t worry, I won’t push you to buy”. But, most places in Marrakech do anyway. Places like Fez, they didn’t push you at all. They would ask you politely and if you said no, that meant no and they wouldn’t bother you.
In the end, we got what we wanted, paid a fair price (democratic!), had a great time finding it and had fun bargaining for it. One of the most fun things in Morocco was haggling over the prices.
# posted by Anonymous @ Sunday, March 05, 2006 
