Egypt - More Than You Bargain For

After living in Lagos for 3.5 months and having to bargain on a biweekly basis for everything from tomatoes to key chains, I thought I had it down. The seller starts high, the buyer goes way low, and then somehow you manage to agree on a price that is suitable for both parties. In Lagos, bargaining (or pricing) seems to be a way of life. A price is never set so pricing is the natural progression of the buying process after you've chosen what to buy and before you bring it home.

But the minute we set foot in Egypt, all bets were off. Bargaining was like walking into crossfire. You could not walk 20 feet without a street vendor shouting at you, a cabbie soliciting your business, or an eager seller following you down the street. Wherein Lagos you simply pass a vendor by, in Egypt there is no such thing as "no." Persistence seems to be the way to subsistence, and with good reason. If one vendor doesn't attract your business, there are 10 others waiting for it just down the road.

In Lagos, if a vendor doesn't like your price you may volley once or twice, state you highest price ("1,000 Naira, finish!"), then agree to disagree and simply walk away. In Egypt, the bargaining could go on and on. This quickly became clear with one particular Egyptian vendor selling a Louis Vuitton wallet (a very obvious knockoff I might add). He started a $50 American dollars, and I knew full well I wasn't going to pay more than $10. We got down to $20, and I began questioning my own decision to buy. After all, I didn't really need the wallet, and the poor quality stitching (un)sealed the deal. As I began to walk away, the price quickly fell to $15, then $10, the $7...and I was out of earshot. I guess in Egypt you really can get more than you bargain for.