Is it not great to travel with someone who really takes pleasure in bargaining and is always looking for the best deals in town? Bargaining is one ability which I find challenging even on one of my best days. I really do not have the so called ability or talent to out bargain the shop owner. As my friend and I made our way through the local market close to our house, we could not help wondering why a simple white cotton T-Shirt with no decorations was priced as the same rate as a taxi which could be hired for ferrying us around locally for 4 hours. No matter how hard we bargained, the shop boy simply stuck to his price. We left the stuff and started to move on. Just then we heard a familiar voice shouting above the noise asking us to come back. We turned around and looked and he quoted a lower price, but we stuck to our guns. We pretended as we were about to move on and asked him to lower his price. There was no response and we moved on and I thought that we had lost a good T-shirt just because it was overpriced by Rs 50. Just then, there was a tug at my sleeve and it was the same boy. Seems like he had finally agreed to our price.
It is not like he had lost money by reducing the price for us. Everyone knows that there is no fixed price when purchasing these items from the street vendors. Everyone it seems needs good bargaining skills when purchasing items from road side shops, since the majority of the items are overpriced and the shopkeepers want to make a quick buck. I really do think that the rules of bargaining are universal. A lot of people actually do enjoy bargaining and are quiet skilled at it. The shopkeeper at times knows that a lot of people will bargain no matter what, even if the product is priced just right. So their thinking is, why not set the price a little higher and then lowers it a little. So, if you are ever in this situation, just go out and have fun and try to get the best price.
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