-Be kam? (How much?)
-Khamseen geneeh (50 LE)
-La’a, da ghaali awy. (No, that’s very expensive)
-Mumkin be talateen? (Is it possible for 30 LE)
-Laa mush mumkin… Arbaeen geneeh? (Not possible… 40 LE ?)
-Laa, ma’aya talateen bas. (No I only have 30 LE ) *
You might hear this in an Egyptian shop. Haggling and bargaining is not a rare sight in the middle east. The example above is exactly what might happen in an Egyptian shop where in this case the people are speaking “Ammiyah Arabic”.
If you’ve been to another country you know that sometimes the shops try to take some extra money and take advantage of you being a tourist. This isn’t really familiar to western people but they do this a lot in the east. Haggling is also something very widespread in the east, and to get the best deal it is a must!
My story starts when we went to “Souq Al-Hussaini” which is a Bazaar near the Al-Hussein Mosque. We went there to buy gifts for our families. Our Egyptian friends also came with us, which is kind of a must to bring a native with you when you’re shopping.
We first went to buy clothes. We had to do a lot of haggling to lower the price from 150 to about 100 LE. After long negotiations we succeeded. This was very weird because in The States the price is set $19.99 is $19.99, it doesn’t change. However in Egypt the price starts from 100 LE and goes down from there. I’ve also indulged in this practice from time to time as I got used to it.
The rest of the time we bargained our way through the stores and bought what we wanted. Souq Al-Hussaini bazaar was also a very crowded place. There were many people out with bracelets and things on their wrists trying to speak English with us and sell their products. Everybody was trying to sell us things. However I remember there was this one guy, and he wasn’t selling stuff. He saw us and told us to smile and be happy, that alone made me smile, and I thanked this nice guy.
As funny and nice some people might be at Hussaini, there are some people that are very desperate to the point which makes them scary.
One of our friends wanted to see if there was a model boat that he could buy. A guy saw them and said he had one. He made them go through alleyways until they arrived at his shop which was in a very weird place where no one would really find it. After looking around in the boxes he gave, what my friend described as: “the closest thing he could find that resembled a boat”. He had given him an ashtray for cigarettes that looked little to nothing like a boat. Not only had he brought them to his shop and made them walk the long distance but now he was convincing him to buy the ashtray for 40 LE. After going home the thing broke in less than half an hour.
I do have some shopping tips for you.
- Don’t feel like you have to buy something, if you feel the guy is trying to force you tell him no or just walk away.
- know what you want beforehand, these sorts of Bazaars aren’t really the best places for browsing.
- If you feel that the price is high don’t hesitate to try and negotiate.
- Know the language or have somebody with you that does
These Bazaars in Egypt are very good places for buying things for cheap if you know how to haggle for them. If you aren’t a native of the country it is always better to have a native with you. These places can be good places or bad places; however you make it. You should always be smart and know what to do in a haggling situation, otherwise you can find yourself holding an ashtray and thinking about life 🙂
* Taken this conversation from http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/haggle.htm Thanks 🙂
Yert's Corner 