Goods do not have prices, but shops shops. How much you pay, it depends on how the conversation goes

With each subsequent step on the Moroccan bastard, the smell gradually changes. Some stores smell of skin, a spicy smell of spices spreads around others. Floral aromas spilled out of the street from local perfumery. Sellers sit in front of the goods displayed on the street and wait calmly for more customers, they are in no hurry. Their stores have no names or signs, and there are no prices to look for prices. You never know what the value of products is, because everything depends on what the meeting and conversation will bring.

Haggling

Among the items intended for sale we will find both unique works of art produced by man, as well as deceptively similar plates, cups, jugs, magnets, lamps and other goods with dubious origin. However, both are presented with dignity, and sellers add stories to them that immediately increase their value. Sometimes in the vicinity of stores you can pass workshops where goods are created and like a viewer in the theater to look at the art of making Moroccan craftsmanship.

The key to successful negotiations is not to be fooled, but also not to offend the seller with his proposal. In the “voices of Marrakech” written in the 70s, Elias Canetti advised that the final price should be 1/3 of the initial price of the goods. Today, hardly any seller agrees to such negotiations, but they still enjoy the art of bargaining. Taking a market can last for hours. Already on the basis of the first few sentences, which we will say after entering the store, its owner decides what price to offer us. Because goods in Morocco have a different price for the rich and different for the poor.

Carpet land

Our guide, Mohammed, leads me to the first carpet store in Marrakech. He claims that there will be no such choice anywhere else. The place located near Plac Dżami Al-Fana immediately stands out from the others. It is luxurious. There are several rooms in the store, and each of them is strewn with carpets to the ceiling. There are thousands of them. They differ in sizes, colors and stories.

White, in the geometric black designs of Beni Ouin are woven by women from the Berber tribes in the Mountain Mountains. Thin, linen or woolen kilim with colorful patterns are intended for residents of desert areas. In their designs stories are woven that only a trained eye can decipher. Some symbols are to bring happiness and protect against “evil eye”, others quite the opposite.

The seller immediately suggests that I sit down and tell him about my dream carpet. Asks about color, size and thickness. I want to know if I am more interested in Berber Kilima or Moroccan Picasso. After I exchange my expectations, he calls employees and gives them instructions in Arabic. They bring other works of art from the rooms and spread them before me. – Do you prefer more subdued colors as in this right or expressive as on the left? – they ask and are already running for subsequent proposals. In the meantime, the head of this shrine says that the carpets are created by widows. He ensures that he transfers 70 percent. sales revenues. He adds that women often weave them for themselves, but when the husband dies, they decide to sell. Regardless of how much truth is in this story, it increases the value of products.

Finally, this dream, thin, medium size with geometric white-black-orange patterns appears in front of me. The seller puts a lighter to the material, ensuring that fire resistance indicates its quality. One hundred percent is made of wool. I am asking about the price, although I know that this theater will not be cheap. I hear, very firmly – EUR 1200.

I know that I can’t afford such a purchase and that even if I manage to reduce the price, it will significantly exceed my budget. Thank you for the presentation and I am honestly talking about this seller. However, he does not want to give way. He asks how much I can pay. He gives me a notebook and a pen to write my proposal. We play our roles, although we both know that we will not hit the market anyway. 20 minutes later I leave the store. – apparently he spent a lot on this rug himself. If you gave a price at which he would earn a bit, he would not release you from the store with empty -handed – he shrugs Mohammed’s arms.

Customer tailor -made price

A few days later I repeat attempt to negotiate with another seller. This time in the AS-SUVEJRZEKA in a small shop at Rue Marrakech. Abdul, as soon as he sees that I watch the copies hung on the street, he invites me to the interior of his tiny, but surprisingly capacious shop to present the offer.

– Where are you from? – asks in greeting. When he hears that he gets to be called from Poland. – Good morning – he proudly says, and then adds in English: “I like Polish tourists, they are good people. When Americans come here, I always give higher prices because I know that they can afford. You in Poland you don’t earn so much.” A few more sentences and ten carpets later I find a copy that interests me. I ask how much it costs.

We start from 1200 dirhams, or 120 euros. I shake my head and say it’s too much. I suggest 500 dirhams – 50 euros, although I know it’s too low. Abdul laughs and says that for 500 dirhams he can sell me a different one. It shows his proposal and explains the difference between materials and performance. I admit that Kilim, which I chose, is made more carefully, but I would not give him more than 600 dirhams. In response, I hear that he can sell it for 1000.

I do not give up and continue to negotiate. In the meantime, Abdul asks what the weather is in Poland and which I am in Morocco once. The price decreases with each subsequent word. Finally, we reach the market at 800, or about 80 euros. I am shocked, how skillfully the carpet in a tiny package, which I can easily pack into luggage. Finally, I am asking him a commemorative photo and then I tell him that I will write about his store. “Just don’t write that I sold it so cheaply,” he jokes to say goodbye and asks you to visit it when I am in AS -SUVE.

Stories like this are repeated in ceramics, spices and even magnets stores. Shopping at the Moroccan bastard is an adventure that you need to have time. However, it is worth the West – not only for the items we will find there, but above all memories. The relationships that refer to these small universes with trinkets make us look later at souvenirs of travel and the smile appears on our face.

* Our author traveled at the invitation of the Moroccan National Tourist Office.