Istanbul Grand Bazaar Bargaining Strategy: How I Saved Money?
Bargaining is one of the oldest traditions and rituals in Istanbul when shopping, which I got to know during my trip to this city. In the first days of my stay, I didn’t know any things about Haggling in Istanbul and every time I went to the Grand Bazaar, I had to buy the goods I liked at a high price.
After three months of staying in this city and gaining experience, I learned how to negotiate with sellers in Grand Bazaar and devised a bargaining strategy. In this article, I am going to share all the experiences I have gained in this field with you so that you can save your money.
How to bargain in Turkish Grand Bazaar to save money?
Table of Contents
Before bargaining, you should know that the sellers in Istanbul Grand Bazaar usually announce the prices of goods to tourists 20% higher than the official price in order to sell their goods more expensively to tourists who do not know how to bargain and make more profit. The good news is that you can get a 20-30% discount by haggling with the sellers.
When I intend to buy something from Istanbul Grand Bazaar, I first visit several different shops to get familiar with the prices because different sellers may announce different prices for the same item.
After getting to know the different prices of the goods I intend to buy, I go to the seller who has offered the most fair price.
I talk to the seller a bit to get to know him better because Turks enjoy talking and drinking tea with tourists.
After talking with the seller, I request the seller to sell me the item I want for 60% of the initial asking price.
Indeed, no seller will be satisfied to sell you a product with 60% of the initial asking price, but this is necessary to start negotiations and bargaining so that the seller realizes that you have bargaining power.
After you have announced your offer to the seller, he will disagree and offer you a discount of around 10%, but you should not immediately accept his offer.
In this situation, I tell the seller that I don’t have that kind of money and I can’t pay that amount to buy such a product, and I apologize to the seller and slowly walk away. It is at this time that most sellers call me from behind and tell me how much money I am willing to pay for the purchase and I tell them that I can pay 30% of the initial asking price.
In these cases, some sellers may accept this deal and give you a 30% discount, but others may not accept this deal.
If the seller does not accept this deal, get a business card from the seller, walk away from the shop for a while, and look for another shop with fair prices. If you can’t find such a shop, go back to the same shop where you bargained with the seller and buy the item you want with the discount the seller gives you.
I have used this strategy many times to get discounts from sellers in the Grand bazaar, and most of the time, I have been able to get good discounts from them. However, you should know that bargaining is not as simple as you think, and you have to Start learning soft skills in your bargaining.
Below, I have mentioned the most important points that you should follow for bargaining.
Tips to keep in mind when bargaining
The key to success in bargaining is to be polite and patient. If you can talk to the salespeople politely and have enough patience, you can get good discounts and make the salesperson enjoy talking to you.
In the early stages of getting to know the seller, you can talk to each other about your family and the number of children you have and drink tea to form a close relationship between you.
During my time living in Istanbul, I also learned several Turkish phrases so that I could become friendly with the sellers by saying those phrases. For example, you can use the word “Merhaba,” which means hello, to start your conversation with the sellers. You can also use the word “teşekkürler” at the end of your speech to thank them.
You should never announce the initial price for bargaining and let the seller inform you of it. Then, you can use the strategy that I introduced above and get a good discount.
In which shops should you bargain and in which shops should you not?
Today, shops in Istanbul are moving towards modernization, and in some of them, haggling is no longer meaningful, and all products have a fixed price. For example, you cannot ask for discounts in chain stores or branches of different brands, but you should know that there are still some shops in Istanbul Grand Bazaar where you can bargain with the sellers to save money and enjoy talking with them.
At the end of the line
One thing you should know is that the shops inside Istanbul Grand Bazaar sell their products about 20-30% more expensively than the shops outside the market, so I advise you to avoid buying from them and use the strategy I taught you above to buy from the shops around the market so that you can buy the product you want at a lower price.
But if you are still determined to buy from the shops inside the grand bazaar, I recommend you to read the following articles for more information:
