A Letter to My Dying Mother: Surviving in the West ---Extracts from this Book
Chapter 24: “Come up small”
Bargaining could well be described as a kind of art in our society. How muchcommand one has in the art might well determine whether that individual for,example, is made to pay a price of forty units of currency for an item the sellerhad purchased for thirty just minutes before.
As I write my mind goes back to the time I was growing up at Mpintimpi. Ihave in mind a picture of the hawkers who travelled several kilometres from thenorthern part of the country to sell their wares in the south. They carried on theirheads, their shoulders and also in their pockets, items such as pieces of java, wristwatches,jewellery, perfume, etc. They arrived mostly during the cocoa-harvestingseason. How crafty they were, those traders from the north! They had the tendency,initially, to call prices that turned out to be ‘kilometres’ away from theactual sum they were prepared to accept for a particular product. “500 Cedis!” the seller would demand for an item one knew sold for around150 Cedis.
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On seeing you, an impoverished farmer’s wife, about to turn her back on theseller and begin to head home, the seller would call you back.“Please, don’t go away, gracious lady! That was just the beginning!” he wouldsay quickly with an air of persuasion.“What alternative do I have but to leave for my poor home? Even should youdemand half of what you have just called I wont be in the position to offer it!”“You don’t mean it, Madam!” the seller would reply. “Surely you must be ableto afford 350 Cedis!”“No, I cannot, sir!” you would reply, the distance between potential buyer andseller still increasing.
After you had walked several metres away, at a point when you thought that was the end of the matter, you would decide to turn, to ascertain whether he hadmoved on to another potential buyer. No, that wouldn’t be likely—he would bepursuing you instead!“That is not how to do business, Madam! You have not even told me howmuch you are prepared to offer!”“100—yes, 100 Cedis is all that I can afford!”“My last price is 250!”“100.”“250.”“Well, that’s it, then,” you would sigh. “I need to continue my journey home. Maybe some other trader will arrive tomorrow. He may be prepared to accept myoffer.”At that moment the seller might remain silent awhile, probably pondering hisnext move.
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At last he would resume:“Take it for 150! After all, you are the first person to approach me so far thisday. You may well bring me some good luck. That however is the lowest I cango.” “I cannot afford 150!”“Please, be merciful to me, for I also deserve mercy. I will gain barely 10 Cedisfrom the transaction. That is not enough to cover the expenses I have incurred sofar this day. I have a family that needs to be fed, you know!”“No, I cannot afford 150.” “What then can you afford?”“I have already made my position clear—100!” “No; 100 is not good. Please come forward—at least a small amount.” “My final offer is 125.”“Well, for the sake of your children, take it!”At home most goods are bought and sold through the system of bargaining. Itis mainly in the urban areas where one may come across departmental stores sellinggoods at fixed prices.
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Even in such places a considerable proportion of commerce is carried out either in the open markets or in the stalls of the numerous petty traders based onthe system of bargaining.Be it foodstuffs, be it clothes, be it stationery that one goes there to purchase,one has to exercise one’s skills at bargaining to the maximum in order to stretchone’s means to the utmost.The foreigner to the society with little or no experience in such matters couldend up purchasing goods at inflated prices on a visit to such markets.You would hardly get the opportunity to exercise your bargaining skills on avisit here. Almost every item on sale here, ranging from foodstuff, cooking utensils, clothes, electronic equipment, right down to furniture, bears a price tag onthem. These usually cannot be bargained for.
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Only on very few occasions would you possibly have the opportunity to make use of your skills at beating down prices. These would be during a visit to the socalledflea markets organised at specified points at weekends. Items offered forsale there are usually second-hand goods originating in some cases from the personalstocks of their sellers.
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