How to Bargain in Turkey?
Agree or not, bargaining is a skill that not all people have. Some people have that skill and use every time while others do not even ask for a discount. In countries like Turkey, remember that bargaining should be one of your priorities while buying something regardless of sector. Let’s see how to make the best bargains in Turkey.
Making Best Bargains
In big shopping malls, you do not usually bargain since you pay to the cashier and they are not usually authorised to make discounts. However if you are buying something in relatively small stores, you should always ask for discount.
The amount of discount may change depending on the thing you are buying. For example, if you are buying clothes, you might have up to 50% discount if you make a strong bargain. In places like grand bazaar or other touristic sites, you should definitely ask for discount.
Sometimes it is a good way of bargaining to leave the store after spending some time looking at the things you want to buy and then asking for the price. The seller will think that you are a serious buyer and usually offer you a better price in order not to lose his/her customer.
Another way of bargaining is to look at the price tag in Turkish Lira. In other words, you should know what local people pay. Tourists are usually given different prices. This means that you should have Turkish Lira in hand since you would like to pay in Turkish lira instead of US Dollar or Euro that are two most common currencies in Turkey. Having cash in hand will also help you to bargain more since the sellers would prefer having cash instead of credit card payments. The reason is that if you use credit card, they usually get the money from their banks after 45 days. If they want the money earlier, a certain percentage is deducted from what you paid.
One thing you should keep in mind is that never show fondness for whatever you want to buy. If you do that, the sellers would usually not consider bargaining since they might think that you will already have it whatever the price is.
One of the common problem for visitors is the taxi fares. You usually do not ask for a discount when you get a taxi. However, you should check that the taximeter is on after you get on the taxi. You will pay the amount given by the taximeter. Some visitors are asking directly to taxi drivers about how much they will pay from especially airports to another destination. We do recommend you not to do that. They will not offer you a better price. Just ask driver to start the taximeter.
