Shopping 101

If you love to shop you will love Morocco. The shopping opportunities are almost endless.... from souks packed with glittering treasures to wayside stalls selling hand-picked fruit. Sometimes it may seem as if it is the intent of every Moroccan to empty your pockets of money.

Many tourists find the whole process of haggling over a price unnerving and disagreeable... feeling cheated if they find out that someone paid half their price for the same goods. If that is how you feel - then stick to fixed price stores.

Shopping in the Souk requires a whole new set of skills – first in checking out all the different choices available and getting a feel for the current price (and remembering where exactly you saw that fantastic leather handbag), then settling down and agreeing (or not)on the price of what you want to buy. There are two things to remember.

1. You do not need to buy anything if you are not happy with the price the shopkeeper is asking.
2. The shopkeeper does not need to sell you anything if he is not happy with the price you are offering.

Well actually there are a lot of things to remember...remembering to keep a sense of humour and perspective is probably as important as anything.

A Moroccan worker will get paid somewhere between 70 and 100 dirham a day – for the days that he works. There is usually no such thing as holiday or sick pay. Yes, there are some wealthy Moroccans, but the majority of the population live from hand to mouth. The idea of getting on an airplane and going to spend two weeks in a hotel is as much a dream as walking on the moon. While you may not feel it, compared to most Moroccans you are as wealthy as they would dream to be.

So when you are getting het up over the fact that the shopkeeper won’t come down that last 30 dirhams... think about the relative value of that 30 dirham to you and to him.

If you really can’t afford to or don’t intend to buy then be clear about that. If you do this in a polite and friendly way then you will be treated with courtesy and respect. If the shopkeeper does come down to your price then you are committed to buying the object. Having offered a price that he has met you cannot then restart the negotiations.

The shopkeeper will be weighing up a lot of things in deciding what price he can accept – apart of course from what it cost him to buy the goods. Where you are from is important – how wealthy you look, and how much of an idea do you have of the cost of things. This is why they often ask where you are from, and if it is your first trip to Morocco. How good has business been this week – is he struggling to pay the rent? Is there a bus load of tourists arriving in 10 minutes? Does he just desperately need some money to go and buy vegetables tonight? Are you the first customer of the day or the last – sometimes you will get a bargain by being either of these.

Haggling over a price; bantering with the shopkeeper; scooping an incredible bargain for a beautiful object: these are the moments that you will remember the next time you are standing at the checkout in Tescos.