Blog Like an Egyptian

Egypt changed a lot of things for me.  I’m more willing to go with the flow (owing to not knowing exactly what was on tap each day) and am open to trying new things (see my previous entry about the seafood dinner).  I don’t know if others have noticed anything (if they have, they haven’t said anything), but I’m definitely feeling different than usual.  I’m liking it, actually.

And there’s no better example of this than my recent car-buying experience.

Since I was dealing with a dealership, I knew what to expect: high-pressure salesmen, pushy dealers and a healthy dose of haggling.

Sound familiar?  Like Khan el-khalili, maybe?

The similarities were too great to ignore.  In Khan el-khalili, paying the vendor’s suggested price is ridiculous.  At a car dealership, paying the sticker price is ridiculous.  In both instances, you deal with a salesmen who’s in it for himself and wanting to get as much out of you as possible.  The longer you’re in each place, the more likely the vendor/salesman wants to make a deal; after all, they don’t want to waste a half-hour or more haggling with you and not come to an agreement.  And during both haggling processes, you have to drive a hard bargain, or else you’re going to get taken advantage of.

So all those valuable lessons I learned about negotiating in Cairo, I applied to car-buying in Vancouver.

I made an offer and was immediately laughed at.  The salesman told me why my offer was silly and that he wouldn’t be able to budge much.

So I gave a little (offering what I was willing to spend, and not a penny more).  After some more back-and-forth, we were $300 apart on the car, and the dealer said he couldn’t go any lower.

Just like most Khan- el-khalili merchants couldn’t go any lower on a scarf or other trinket.  Yeah, right.  I mean, sometimes the merchant CAN’T go any lower.  And you use that information for the next vendor.  But most of the time, “I can’t go any lower” is code for “I don’t want to go any lower.”

So, in the car dealer’s office, I did what I did in Khan el-khalili: I left.  I thanked the man for his time, and he was a bit incredulous I was willing to walk away when we were only $300 apart.  But I gave him my business card and said, “If you can do anything for me, give me a call.  But thanks for your time.”

I knew something.  See, in Khan el-khalili, when a merchant comes down to near your price but not quite there, he’ll wind up meeting your price.  I figured the same basic principle would apply to the dealer.  So when he told me he couldn’t budge from the price, I busted out the Egyptian Hustle Bug and said, “Well, I guess we don’t have a deal.”

I walked out to my (old) car and was totally ready to walk away.  If nothing else, it would be a good experience to apply to the next car I looked at.  The first salesmen I dealt with approached me about what went wrong.  And I told him I wouldn’t spend another $300.  Naturally, he was also a bit shocked I was willing to walk away from the car after test-driving it, getting it checked by my mechanic and coming so close on the price.

But I knew something …

Sure enough, the dealer came out and told me to give him another 15 minutes – he would see what he could do.  At that moment, I knew I would drive that new car home.

After a few minutes, he came back with an offer that was almost there, but not quite.  In terms of money down, I didn’t want to put down what he was proposing.  So I got my hustle on a bit more and pointed out that I would need some small work in the next year – a transmission flush and new timing belt, to be exact.  So he could make those fixes, or I wasn’t going to put that much money down.

So he went back inside to run the new numbers by someone else, and when he came out, he said, “You’re a tough customer, you know that?”

Oh yeah, I know.  That’s not an accident.

Honestly, if I hadn’t gone to Egypt, I would have paid through the nose for that car.  I wouldn’t have blinked when he told me he couldn’t go any lower on the sticker price, since it was already on sale.  Maybe I would have asked for $500 off … at the most.  And when he would have inevitably said he couldn’t do it, I would have taken him at face value.

But after going through Khan el-khalili and bargaining for all kinds of stuff, I was going to get the best deal possible.  I knew it was a risk to offer what I did, and I knew there was a chance I wouldn’t get the car, but I was okay with that.

Just like in Khan el-khalili, you can’t always get what you want at the price you want.  But I was willing to take that risk.  I’m just glad it paid off.

(And yes, I’m now driving around in a 2004 Honda Civic LX.  It gets nearly double the gas mileage of my previous car and hopefully comes with fewer headaches.  It’s spacious, quiet, comfortable and fun to drive.  It doesn’t have as much get-up-and-go as my old car, but I didn’t need that.  It will get me from Point A to Point B just fine.

I haven’t thought of a name for her yet, though.  I’m thinking of something Egyptian, maybe.)

(Also, thinking of the good times I had in Khan el-khalili just makes me miss Egypt that much more.  Those were good times.)

First an apology for my lack of blogging this past week.  I was still fighting a stomach bug for the better part of the week, and once I kicked that, my car’s transmission decided to go bad.  So my mind has been elsewhere these past few days.  Enough with the excuses!  On with the blogging!

So, Khan el-khalili.  It’s a market that dates back to the late 1300s, although I’m not sure merchants made their living on pyramid paperweights and stuffed camels back then.  Today, it encompasses several city blocks, and it’s really a one-stop shop for touristy stuff.

It’s not all touristy, but every time you turn around, there is a statue, papyrus scroll, stuffed camel or some other knick-knack.  Take a turn down one alley or another, though, and you’ll stumble upon clothing shops, jewelers or hookah salesmen.

And there are hundreds of small shops, none of which are much bigger than a bedroom.  Many of the shops are empty when you walk in, but that’s only because the merchant is just outside, too busy trying to hustle people in.  “Spend money! Be happy!” It’s a common refrain.

We heard English, Spanish, French and German from various shopkeepers during our trips to the market, too.  These guys are smart with their languages.  If they didn’t know we were American, many shopkeepers would greet us in French and German before asking, in English, “Would you like to come inside?” or “Where are you from?”

Once you’re inside the shop, they want to know what you want.  If it’s something they don’t carry, they dart out of sight for a few moments and come back with what you’re looking for.  There has to be some kind of working agreement among the shops.  And sometimes, the same shopkeeper will follow you from his store to another; once inside that next store, he’ll follow you around and help you negotiate there.

But we’ll get back to that.

Once you’re inside the shop, you can do a bit of browsing, and for the most part, they’ll leave you alone.  If you show any interest in anything, though – whether you pick something up or just point it out – they’ve got you right where they want you.

If it’s something you want, it’s time to start negotiating.  If you pay what the shopkeeper is asking, you’ll pay through the nose.  For example, one of my buddies talked a shopkeeper down on a statue from 650 pounds (about $118 USD) to 61 pounds (about $11 USD).  Why 61?  The shopkeeper told him he was going to frame that extra pound as a reminder of the very, very difficult American buyer.

(If you do your homework and are determined not to overspend, the shopkeepers pretty much hate you by the end of the transaction, because you’re getting the “locals” prices, and NOT the “tourists” price.  This happened to me on a pair of scarves I picked up for my mom and sister.  I felt kind of bad, actually.  The shopkeeper actually looked depressed.)

A sample conversation:

Shopkeeper: “Oh you like this stuffed camel?”

Me: “Yeah, how much?”

Shopkeeper: “American dollars or Egyptian pounds?”

Me: “Where are we?  Egyptian pounds!”

Shopkeeper: “Well, how much do you think it is?”

(Note to anyone going to Egypt: Never NEVER NEVER name the price off the bat, unless you’re going to insult the man by low-balling him.  You can get things so cheap, no matter what your price is, it’s probably more than you would end up paying, anyway.  And, the shopkeeper can raise the price from there in negotiations.)

Me: “That’s why I’m asking you!”

Shopkeeper: “Oh well this is very nice craftsmanship, and see?  (shows me the camel.) Egypt! (It’s embroidered on the side.)”

Me: “Yeah, I see that, but …. how much do you want for it?

(The shopkeepers never name their price right away.  They want to sell you on the quality to try and ease the shock of an outrageous price.)

Shopkeeper: “40 pounds.”

Me: “Ha!  You think I’m paying that?  For this?  Man you’ve got a million of these.  How about 15 pounds?”

(Most guidebooks recommend taking the shopkeeper’s suggested price, cutting it in half and offering that.  But toward the end of the trip, I got greedy.)

Shopkeeper: “No, no, my friend!  No way I can do that.  35 pounds!”

Me: “No, I’m good.  It’s not worth that.  The most I can do is 20 pounds.”  (At this point, I typically stop showing interest and say to whoever’s with me, “Okay, let’s go.”

Shopkeeper: “30 pounds!  25 pounds!  But that’s the lowest I can go.”

(Immediately my brain screams, “Bullshit!”  If he’s gone down 15 pounds already, he’ll go another 5.  I just have to wait for it.)

Me: “Nope, 20 is all I’m willing to pay.”

Shopkeeper: “Okay, 20.”

Repeat the process for any number of goods.  Group members on the trip negotiated for, among other things, hookahs, papyrus scrolls, statues, mummy action figure-type toys, table cloths, scarves, shirts, perfume, cigarettes and jewelry.  Sometimes, the negotiations get more animated, and other group members are brought into the negotiation.

There are times when you and the shopkeeper are so far apart, the negotiations are short-lived.  Other times, like when one of my group buddies bought four scarves and a table cloth set, the negotiations can start and stop for a half-hour.  In this particular instance, we left after about 15 minutes, then she decided she liked what she saw.  So we went back, talked the guy down a little bit, and he ran off to talk to someone else to get permission to knock the price down a few more pounds.

We started the trip in Cairo, so we checked out Khan el-khalili the first day we were there.  Then, on our trips throughout the rest of the country, we stumbled across smaller markets that are attached to the big tourist attractions (you pretty much have to walk through these markets, with the shopkeepers in your face, trying to sell you all kinds of shit, going in and out of every tourist attraction).  And we’d throw out prices on items down there, trying to gauge how much we should end up spending when we get back to Cairo.  So when we got back, we knew what the price range should be and negotiated accordingly.