The $5 difference over the skeleton box left me feeling embarrassed and left with nothing.
Haggling is a time-honored tradition that is an integral part of the shopping experience in travel destinations around the world. Tourists are not required to pay the full price. Instead, buyers and sellers engage in verbal negotiations. Depending on the situation, especially in times of growing inequality and threatened resources, that negotiation can be light-hearted and fun or uncomfortable and uncomfortable.
Katie Leary Sebastian, director and co-founder of Ixöq, a store that specializes in home goods and accessories made by Guatemalan women, said she used to enjoy haggling, but now she’s more willing to give in and accept higher prices.
“Maybe their ratings would have been lower,” she says, “but I’m more sensitive to their situation.”
Travelers can avoid conflicts and get great deals By learning the business and practice of ethical negotiation. The ultimate goal is shared victory.
Know where to bargain
Many countries, including Egypt, Türkiye and Ecuador, are known to be hotspots. But don’t think this practice is a national pastime: While it’s common in many parts of Mexico, it’s not embraced with much enthusiasm in the popular tourist destination of Oaxaca, for example.
““There isn’t much of a culture of haggling here, and locals don’t really haggle,” says Suzanne Barbezat, co-owner of Discover Oaxaca Tours and travel expert for Go Ask a Local, “but some tourists do expect it, and that can sometimes be a problem.”
Even within the same city, such practices may be tolerated in one type of commercial establishment, such as a souk or an open-air market, but discouraged in another, such as a shopping mall or international retailer. As a deterrent, some managers post signs stating that prices are fixed.
“Trying to negotiate in these situations can be seen as rude and such efforts do not usually result in a discount,” Ignacio Curbelo, director general of Uruguay’s tourism ministry, said in an email.
Fernando Rodriguez, Peru president for Intrepid Travel, encourages travelers to haggle at Peru’s produce and craft markets in South America. This is especially true in tourist areas, where prices are often higher than at local stores. But Rodriguez says that bargaining should be avoided in stores that have cash registers and price tags.
Sherif Khalil, managing partner of Dunes & Beyond Travel and a Go Ask a Local expert, said the guidelines are similar in Egypt. He tells clients to haggle in markets like Cairo’s Khan el-Khalili, but not in shopping malls with designer brands. He said tourists used to haggle for cheaper taxi fares, but the practice has died out with the introduction of meters.
Leary Sebastian, who visits Guatemala several times a year, often bucks convention on principle: She refrains from haggling at produce markets because goods are already cheap even at “tourist” prices.
“Vegetables are so cheap that I don’t care if I’m paying five quetzales and the Guatemalan woman next to me is paying three,” said Leary Sebastian. “I just bought an avocado for 50 cents.”
If you are not sure whether bargaining is appropriate or not, walk around the venue and observe how customers and merchants interact. To avoid mistakes, hire a guide or ask a local for advice. They can offer advice and tips, but bargaining is usually not allowed.
Adopt an appropriate negotiating stance
When you’re ready to take the plunge and lower the price, start gently by asking, “Is this the best price?” Or offer a third, half, or whatever the customary discount is. (In Peru, for example, this is 10 to 20 percent, says Rodriguez.) If the seller agrees to lower the price, keep negotiating. Keep negotiating until you find a price that works for both of you.
Negotiations should be light, friendly and fun, said Anu Taranath, a professor at the University of Washington and author of “Beyond Guilt-Free Travel: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World.” Taranath, who has haggled all over the world, encourages travelers not to take negotiations, or themselves, too seriously.
“There has to be conviviality,” she says. “If you get caught up in feelings of superiority or dissatisfaction, the interaction becomes dull.”
Hala Benkhardoun, Morocco manager for Intrepid Travel, said novice or competitive hagglers could insult merchants by offering huge discounts, such as 70 percent off the original price, and then sticking to their amounts.
When negotiations get tense, pause and check in. Kristin Bujindo, professor and chair of the College of Community Resource Development at Arizona State University, reminds travelers of the larger purpose of negotiations: connecting on a human level, not a material one.
“If we take a more interconnected approach to becoming a global citizen, we won’t have to worry so much about how cheap we can get,” Bujinde says. “We can go beyond the transactional element and get more into the question of, ‘How can I get to know this person better?'”
If you can’t compromise, accept the final price or walk away. It’s no insult to walk away from a situation, experts say, and if the seller is still interested in selling, they’ll likely come after you.
Khalil said people shouldn’t get disheartened if a deal fails, as there are many similar items available in the market and they can just get smarter and get back in the game.
Understanding the souvenirs you are bargaining for
As you shop around for souvenirs and crafts, you may notice a wide range of prices for the same items. One reason for this is that an influx of cheap imports has devalued and commoditized what were once unique and handmade items. Before you start haggling, ask sellers about the origins of their products and the effort that went into their production. Adjust your asking price depending on whether the item is handmade or purchased in bulk from overseas.
Rodriguez said one of the most popular Peruvian trinkets is a llama set in a miniature Machu Picchu, and vendors in tourist markets who source their goods from China and sell them by weight are happy to bargain hard, but that’s discouraged when buying directly from local artisans, many of whom spend hours preparing and crafting their products using natural dyes and fibers.
“We ask that you do not haggle with the locals because they are not traders. They do not like to haggle,” Rodriguez said. “It may be very expensive, but it is a fair price.”
Bujinde said a country’s cost of living, wages, economic and political stability needed to be taken into account to calculate a “fair” price.
“It may be a good deal for us, but it may be depriving them of the quality of life we ​​want,” Bujinde said. “At the end of the day, we may feel like we’ve gained, but they’ve lost.”
Taranath said tourists should be mindful when interacting with locals, but warned against overthinking it: Worrying about social inequality can make you miss out on the joy of interacting.
““If I’m in a market in Guatemala and an old lady is selling something I want to buy, I want the interaction to be enjoyable for both of us,” she says. “Thinking only about how much I have and how much she doesn’t have takes us away from the experience of that moment.”
If you feel guilty, you can always pay the full amount.
A few years after learning that hard lesson in Mexico City, I bought a hand-carved stool in Ankara, Turkey, without haggling. To show her gratitude, the seller also gave me a free pillow that she knitted herself.
