The Price is Right

Unlike the conveniences of the one-stop-shop of Wal-Mart and malls, our shopping experiences in Cape Town markets have been more like tug-of-war matches with the sellers. As they believe here, money, especially the dollar, is handed out by The United States government for free; or as they say it “money grows on tree” in America. Knowing that the market vendors are asking exorbitant prices for their goods when we inquire as to their price, we have become more shrewd at bargaining and more bold with our offers. We got to put our newly acquired bargaining skills to use over the weekend when we went to a few markets over the weekend (Oct. 11 & 12, 2008).

On Saturday there was a small market just up the street from where we are staying in Rondebosch. It was at the park where Girl catches a bus to go up to UCT. Since the housekeeper, Rosie, was house-sitting while the landlords were away, we invited her to come along for a morning walk. She accepted our invite and the three of us made our way to the market.

Upon arriving at the market, we quickly realized that this was not the typical downtown Cape Town vendor market we were expecting. Instead, it was more of a flea-market-type atmosphere catering to middle to upper class, white, South Africans (i.e., things were expensive and most of the items were what you would find at a typical American yard sale and/or flea-market). For example, a wire-wrapped beaded key chain that sells for 7R downtown was going for 25R and rocks/minerals that we saw selling for 150R in Hermanus were listed at 285R. The prices were so high that we decided to haggle with the vendors for practice to see how far we could get them to reduce their prices, but we really had no intentions of buying because we could get the items easily elsewhere for much less. Our best result? Girl and I were able to get one vendor down from 180R to 100R for one item. Not too bad.

Another vendor was trying to talk Rosie into buying a large wire-wrapped and beaded boot, but she flat out told them that they must be crazy to think that she would pay that much money for something so simple. The vendor then began speaking to her in Afrikaans, and from what I could surmise after I had talked to Rosie, he was trying to convince her to get Girl and me to buy something from him and he would then give her the item at a much discounted price, perhaps even for free. He told her he was “her friend” and they should help each other out. Luckily for us, Rosie told the vendor that Girl and I were also her friends and that she would not allow us to pay so much money for any of his items. (I’m not sure if Girl and I taking her out for dinner the day before had anything to do with it). After their talk had ended, the three of us scanned the rest of the market and headed back to the house.

Since the Saturday market was a bust for buying anything, Girl and I decided to hit the Cape Town City Center on Sunday and try our luck at the market downtown. Our minibus ride into town was much easier this time around than our first endeavor. We hailed down a white, 12 passenger van and paid the 13 Rand (a little under 2 bucks) fee. The ride was bumpy and every thirty seconds, the driver’s assistant would stick his head out of the moving vehicle and call out “ Cape-Cape Town.” Every additional passenger required us to do a little readjusting to make room in the van for them. They packed us in like sardines. I never knew that one of these vans has enough room to seat 20 asses (in all sizes). The worst part was trying to make it out of the van through a path of “big boned” women (and it was more than just bones). People here are not as considerate as the ones back home. These ladies decided that they did not want to move, even when we asked to be pardoned by. So we just pushed our way through….you would have too.

Get on your bikes and ride!!

Sunday was a slow day in Cape Town: not many shops were open and the vendors’ market was hungry for customers; maybe a little too hungry. We first attempted to get a 3ft x 3ft, cotton wall hang that had a design of people. Here is a quick overview of the tug-a-war price negotiation:

Girl: How much for this?

Seller: This sell in shops for 500R, but for you, only 250R. <500r=53usd; 250r="26USD">

Girl: No way. That’s too much.

Seller: I am human and you are human, we can talk. How much you pay?

Guy: Your price is so high that we can’t even negotiate down to a reasonable price from there.

Seller: Talk to me. How much you pay?

Guy: No Thanks. There are plenty of people selling these. We will shop around.

Seller: How much you got?

Girl walked over to next vendor where she found a much larger (6x6ft) wall hang for the same 250R, but it wasn’t the right design. We walked up the road to a square of vendors, walking past the first vendor. Seeing us walking away, she grabbed her wall hang and ran after us, “how much you pay?” she asked. We refused and continued on our way to the main market.

Most of the trading event was very similar to the above scene. After a few hours, we came away with a wood carving of Africa, a 6x6ft wall hang, a set of six carved wooden coasters with holder, and two turtles carved from malachite. If you were wondering, we got the 6x6ft wall hang for 100R, much less than the asking price of 250R. Our bargaining skills have obviously gotten better. After spending the day tussling over prices, I think I am going to miss the haggling when I get back to The States with its fixed-price system.

The Big 5: elephant, lion, leopard, water buffalo, and rhino

Is it red enough, Thang?

360 view of coaster holder

Left: coaster lid. Right: coaster designs

They are buddies

After the market Girl and I decided to grab a bite to eat. Lunch was served on the top balcony of a café near the corner of the market. Chicken feta pizza with a mocha latte. It was a nice day for people watching from up top so we took our time with the meal. After eating our lunch and people watching it was time to find another minibus to take us back to Rondebosch. On the way home, I purchased a bouquet of tiger lilies and purple irises for Girl. She says that walking into the room is “awesome” with the flower scents lingering in the air.

They smell as good as they look

can't beat that

It was a fun weekend.

A little side note:
We don't have any pictures of the markets because taking pictures while shopping makes the vendors think that you have money and they are less willing to negotiate their prices. For this reason I also didn't wear my watch and Girl didn't wear any jewelry. Plus, it is just safer all-around while you are out wandering around not to look like you would be a profitable target for any muggers. =)