When we think of bargaining with any seller about the price of any commodity, we immediately tend to think of our mothers, who are headstrong and stubborn; they seem to bargain starting from a price that seems downright impossible to our inexperienced ears, but they also seem to come out victorious at the end, after a lot of persistent haggling.
We, however, are not blessed with this superpower, and hence find it quite difficult to bargain, even when the vendor asks for an astronomically high price. Even if we choose to bargain at all, we bargain safely and come out with a dry smile when the shopkeeper agrees to our price in an instant. That is a smile of a buyer who has 'successfully' reduced Tk 20 from the asking price of a Tk 500 shirt.
It is no news that most of the hidden gems when it comes to clothing, apparel, or other, goods are found in roadside hawker shops, New Market, and Chandrima Super Market, just to name a few. Hence, bargaining is one of the go-to skills to get the best value for money in such markets, and without that skill, you may lose more money than you think you would if you buy that Tk 6,000 shirt that you have wanted for a very long time. However, the superpower seems to be confined to our parents, and for us, it is in no way an easy feat. However, like most other skills, this also can be mastered, but the acquisition would not be the same as the other skills.
Salman Siddique Prottoy, in his own words, is someone for whom the skill comes quite naturally. He is a frequenter of all the alleyways, and non-branded shops of the capital, as he often likes to give people the illusion that his wardrobe is worth millions.
"I start bargaining at a price that makes the jaws of the shopkeepers drop, but I do give the impression to them that whatever I am asking for is a just price and they are trying to exploit me. The haggling continues, and they eventually agree on a price that is quite within my budget."
However, Salman Siddique added that this is an arduous task, and in general, acclimatising to persistence while bargaining might not be an easy job to accomplish at the beginning. In his own words, "This takes a lot of time; I have once spent an hour bargaining at a stretch for a shirt when the shopkeeper finally gave in and agreed to sell it to me at a price that is well within my estimated budget."
Hence, for the newbies, this might come off as an extreme sport. However, if someone achieves persistence, this will be extremely handy for him to survive in the city in the midst of price hikes.
However, there is another side to the story as well. There are many people who do not find it easy to bargain like Prottoy, and many of them would rather pay the vendor the extra price rather than stand and argue for a long time to reach a conclusive decision.
Prince Mahmud is one of such persons, for whom bargaining is nothing short of a nightmare. He told the writer, "I don't like to stay for long at the marketplaces. They are overcrowded in general, and I feel suffocated staying there for a longer time than usual. Hence, I do not bargain much, even in situations where I can feel I am being downright exploited."
However, Prince is trying to turn that situation around. "As I do not like crowded spaces, nowadays I am trying to finish all my shopping during the time when there is not much crowd in the supermarkets, and this has made me take baby steps in bargaining." "Although I do not think I am making much progress, as I still buy things at a higher price than what they should have been, I think it's a slow process and it will eventually come to me."
Bargaining has become somewhat of an art that was born completely out of necessity, and like any other art, its adroit and delicate application needs a lot of trial and error, and without a lot of patience and persistence, this is not possible. However, the current global economy is forcing us all to become somewhat artists, as we bargain in situations that we would have let go of previously.
The writer is a third-year student at the Department of Economics, University of Dhaka.
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