What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
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What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
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Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#2Turkey is nice, been a few times. You really need to become immune from this kind of thing, or at least play them at their own game. If they say 100 euros, you say 20 and agree on 40. Seriously - they are there to rip you off and would sell anything for any price if they thought they had got you to pay more than you first wanted to. :)
Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#3Turkey is nice, been a few times. You really need to become immune from this kind of thing, or at least play them at their own game. If they say 100 euros, you say 20 and agree on 40. Seriously - they are there to rip you off and would sell anything for any price if they thought they had got you to pay more than you first wanted to. :)
In India I once hailed an auto rickshaw and had him take me about half a kilometer in the rain. I asked him in American-accented English what the fare was, and he said 200 rupees. I started yelling at him in perfect Bengali that I wasn't born yesterday even though I am a foreigner, and that I spend a lot of time in India. He countered with an offer of 10 rupees, and I gave him 20 because I was laughing so hard. The sad thing is I know that the 200 rupees must work on some people.
Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#4There is also perceptual contrast. By explaining that the rug is worth $3000, it makes $1100 look very cheap.
Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#5Turkey is nice, been a few times. You really need to become immune from this kind of thing, or at least play them at their own game. If they say 100 euros, you say 20 and agree on 40. Seriously - they are there to rip you off and would sell anything for any price if they thought they had got you to pay more than you first wanted to. :)
In India I once hailed an auto rickshaw and had him take me about half a kilometer in the rain. I asked him in American-accented English what the fare was, and he said 200 rupees. I started yelling at him in perfect Bengali that I wasn't born yesterday even though I am a foreigner, and that I spend a lot of time in India. He countered with an offer of 10 rupees, and I gave him 20 because I was laughing so hard. The s…
How did you know that he spoke Bengali?
Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#6Great article. I wonder if rug merchants will have to adapt now that their tactics are getting wider exposure?
Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#7I had some similar experiences in Morocco; going to a bargaining country is a great education. An example of the kind of social hack they use is that if they offer a tourist their hand, the tourist feels compelled to shake it. One guy used this trick, then used the beat of inaction to wrap a snake around my friend's neck. She was understandably startled, and while she was standing there confused, he pulled out some other snakes and draped them on her arms. It took about thirty seconds to disentangle her, at which point the man said "pay me".
This kind of trick can evoke some powerful negative emotions. A friend was somehow tricked into allowing a hawker to start tying an intricate string bracelet using his finger as the base. His finger was stuck in the knot, and the guy ignored my friend's requests to be let go. It ended with quite a lot of shouting.
Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#8reminds me of dr seuss's "green eggs and ham"...
Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#9Great article. I wonder if rug merchants will have to adapt now that their tactics are getting wider exposure?
It isn't just rugs, its everything sold by independent merchants...food/drink, cigarettes, clothes, jewelery, if its got a price tag on it you can generally half it...
Re: What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey
#10Great article. I wonder if rug merchants will have to adapt now that their tactics are getting wider exposure?
Why would they? It's not about what's new, it's about what's effective. And these tactics have been effective for thousands of years. Of course, they're more effective with tourists who haven't been exposed to this sort of bargaining before, and have been trained to smile, nod, and pay whenever someone tells them a price. Still, this sort of salesmanship is -- and will always be -- effective. Why? Because it's personal, and it's relatively enjoyable for both parties if done properly.
In fact, it's only fairly recently that this sort of haggling has stopped being the way you did all your shopping (at least in the Western world.) Probably until the late 1900s, you walked into a store and expected to haggle with the owner over the price of the items that you bought.