Morocco Days 5-8 Marrakech: Haggling in the Souk

Haggling isn't everybody's idea of fun. It makes a lot of people anxious. My first real experience haggling was in the leather market in Florence, Italy 15 years ago. The process was at first a bit intimidating, but I quickly got into it and learned that not only does it not give me anxiety, it's downright thrilling!



This might hearken back to my childhood and all those Saturday morning garage sale runs I'd take with my mom in my suburban San Francisco hometown. She is a keen bargain hunter, and I think some of it rubbed off on me.



I still have the brown leather belt I bargained for in Florence those 15 years ago. And I still remember the exchange I had with the vendor whom I bought it from, and the charge I got from walking away with the item I wanted at the price I wanted.



Since then I've haggled many a market, tackling some of the greats like the Grand Bazaar in Instanbul. But the infamous markets of the souks of Marrakech take haggling to a whole new level, but this is probably the main reason I wanted to visit Marrakech. These people are serious, serious about squeezing every last diram out of you (see my last post). So here's my recipe for success in haggling in the souks of Marrakech . . .



First you gotta do your homework. Talk to other travellers about their experiences (or read their blogs:). Find out what the going mark-up really is in the souk. Talking to recent Marrakech visitors and other travellers we chatted with while in Marrakech, we learned the mark-up was as high as 65-75%! This piece of intel is key as it provides the basis for your starting offer. With this information I knew straight away that my goal would be paying roughly 30-40% of what they initially asked.




Armed with this knowledge, it's so tempting to just get in there and start haggling away. But you're so much better off spending some good time shopping around and doing reconnaissance on what you might want to buy, but also taking some time to begin browsing pricing. Take some time to browse the whole souk, eavesdrop on other people's haggling and begin asking about prices. This part can be touchy during the recon stage, because asking a vendor what his price is, is a sign of commitment to buy. But if you are committed to this data gathering stage and are firm in saying no thank you and walking away, you will have more data in the end to make a good choice. This step alone enabled me to buy a big beautiful bowl in Jerusalem for $20 even though some shops were selling the very same bowl for as much as $90. Be patient with this step!



Now that all your homework is done, it's time to hit the cash machine and put on your haggling hat! You've settled on a certain something you want to buy, say a lantern. You ask the vendor's price. You counteroffer about 25% of his asking price, which at first you might hesitate in doing because it seems drastically low. But you have to remember your homework that taught you what the real markups are! So don't feel sheepish and go with it! This will ultimately get you a price paid of around 30-40% (aka fair market value). You can't start where you want to end up, you've got to start a bit lower. He may appear shocked at this low offer, but it's disguising that he actually knows that he's dealing with no fool. He'll offer another price that is not much lower than his opening price. You stand firm and offer 25% again. I found this to be pretty key, making no move at this point sends a clear message that he's not going to get you to move anywhere close to his opening offer. He then gives you a sob story that usually includes the phrase "little profit for me" and asks for your "best price." You come up from your 25% opening offer a little, emphasising this is your best price. He comes down from his opening offer a little bit. You may (or may not) come up a tad bit more. He's not going for it. And you see at this stage you are still miles apart on price. Then you begin to show great hesitation. You might put the lantern down. You might tell him about the other shops you have seen with the same lantern. At this point he sees you might leave and comes down a little bit more, but still not close enough to the the 30-40% range (which you left off at on your last offer).



Then comes the key moment: you turn and walk away. After all of that effort it seems crazy to do, but yes you walk away! You have to walk away to get your price. You are risking losing the item you wanted, but chances are there really are several other stalls selling the same exact thing. And the risk here is slim. Out of all the shopping we did in Marrakech (we shopped a lot, the place is cheap!) I only lost one thing on the walk-away. You do have to be willing to give it up when you use the walk-away technique, but nine times out of ten, it works like a charm and is the best way to get your price. After you walk out he chases after you and asks you your next top price. Either firmly repeat what you said just before leaving while continuing to walk away or come up a tiny bit more. And it's usually at this point he quickly agrees. The risk of losing the sale is high, and he does not want to lose the sale! And then you turn back with him and make the purchase.



Don't flash cash outside of the shops. Get safely inside before pulling out your wallet. As a side note on a couple of instances did the seller try to switch things up or add another item after we had agreed on the price and money was coming out of my wallet. I never yielded.



In the end you walk out of the shop with the item you wanted at a price that was fair to you and the vendor. Things in Marrakech are cheap, and aside from knowing the going rate for mark-ups I'd always ask myself "what would this go for at John Lewis (or Target)?" Paying anything more I knew was way more than it was worth here in Marrakech, plus it wouldn't have been worth it to me period. At the end of our stay in this chaotic, colourful city I came home with bags full of so many interesting, beautiful things, and really I didn't actually spend that much at all.




























































At one point we were approached by a man from the dyers market, the area where they manually dye all the textiles. We were interested, and so we followed. In so doing we knew precisely this meant that we were signing up to make some kind of purchase of scarves or something in the end. We were okay with this and went into this experience knowing full well this was the case. Don't expect demonstrations of any kind for free. I actually kind of wanted a colourful scarf from Marrakech, and to see and photograph the dyer process sounded interesting so we were game.










I knew that during the demonstration I'd have full reign on photography without feeling restricted. I was fully aware of this and took full advantage of this. While he showed the group the dyes and how it worked, I roamed around snapping photos without fear or consequence (you really have to read my last post to understand this fully). I was also aware that I was at greater liberty, even invitation, to take as many photos as I liked before we agreed to buy anything so long as we appeared to be serious buyers. So I got some pretty good shots that I know I wouldn't have been able to get if I weren't a serious potential buyer. I was certainly better off working the photos before we made our purchases than after! For all the great photos I got back in the dyers markets, the scarves felt free!






Unbelievably risky work manning the dyers boiling rooms