HOW TO BARGAIN IN THE NIGERIAN MARKET
The Nigerian open goods market place is a dreaded place full of Dangerous people out to swindle you out of all your hard earned money; you have to keep this in mind as your walk around the dreaded stalls, forget this and you might as well have signed your death sentence. So beware!
When going to the market, you must arm yourself with these three things, a budget, a willingness to disregard that budget and not a care in the world for the Seller’s livelihood.With these things in hand you are ready for the vicious traders.
When walking in the market avoid any direct eye contact with the traders, avoid eye contact with the goods, just close your eyes. If you must have eye contact ensure it’s with only the goods and ensure you sight the product from a significantly safe distance . Also make sure the Seller does not catch you.
While walking in the market, avoid temptation and trust me there will be all sorts of temptation. You are not a fine boy or girl, do not lie to yourself. Stay away from any particularly appealing fist bumps and ignore all howfars.
When you do make the decision to enter any particular shop, you must first approach the shop next to it. It will appear to the Seller that you were really uninterested and only entered his store out of solidarity and pity.
When in the store, you must maintain a constant look of disgust, everything disgusts you. A helpful way of doing this is to picture a cockroach strolling about a perfectly good plate of jollof rice. You must remember that nothing in this store is good enough for you not even the things you like are good enough for you (mothers keep your children away, those little brats cannot hide their glee)
After settling for the least disgusting product, it is time to bargain or price the good. There are many ways to do this, all with varying levels of efficiency depending on the buyer’s expertise. My most practised practise is to start by asking for a last price, the is usually the first price. This is the price you shall bargain. Cross check this price with your budget; if it is higher, prepare to bargain a lower price. If it is equal or lower, prepare to bargain a lower price.
When pricing there are two basic ways of doing so; the first is for only people with a great amount of experience in the market (these people are usually traders themselves). What they do is they look at the quality of the goods and match a price for quality, after matching a price they subtract their age (with varying number of zeros depending on what type of good it is) and that is the price they put to the Seller. The second pricing method involves a little maths. What you do is you divide the price by two and subtract an arbitrary VAT and that is the price you put to the Seller.
Now in the tug of war that will follow, you must ensure you are the more reluctant of the two parties to move your ground. When the traders decreases his price by 2000 naira increase yours by 200naira. You must keep a middle point in mind and that middle point must be substantially lower than the middle point you think the traders has in mind. If you settle on a price closer to the trader’s middle point than it is to yours then you have failed your mother.
In the event that the trader seems to have reached his threshold (he will indicate this my frowning profusely, pardon my adverb, and he will claim to have reached his cost price), the best action here is to fake disapproval and nonchalance and threaten to walk away. One of two things will follow, the trader will call you back and slash his price once more in a desperate bid to keep you which should be enough or he will tell you to check other places and beg you to come back if you find his price the lowest. Whichever outcome should be good enough to save you half the money you planned to spend.
Next time you are out shopping, perhaps in tejuosho or something, remember this! You are welcome
