How to Bargain when trying to buy stuff in Turkey

[yoolykeme]

Just got back from my  cruise, and Ephesus was a stop.  I thought that it would suck, but it's pretty awesome how everything is so orderly and preserved.

 

After all your sightseeing, it's inevitable that someone will try to sell you something.  You'll be locked in a room with carpets, fashion models, leather jackets, bags, whatever.......

 

I like buying stuff, and so do many of you, so let's try to have a conversation about what stuff should cost, bc trust me, most of you will find yourself in a situation, with either a really sweet or really aggressive salesperson, and you might actually want to buy something.

 

 

Carpets:

 

No one thinks they are going on a cruise to buy a rug, but after being fed lunch, seeing the nice ladies harvest the silkworms, and knit the carpet, you might want one too.

 

They always start high, like crazy high.  They tell you that it takes xxx months to make, that the women make $400/month, so a 3 month carpet is like $2,000 after everything.  They will roll out so many and ask you to lay on them.  the pretty girls will give you wine and coffee and they will ask you yes yes questions.

 

I find that they will take maybe 25% of their original price, and that whatever calculation they use to value things is irrelevant.  Mind you, there will be a lot of back and forth, that they will appeal to your emotions, greed, whatever, and they are really good at it.

 

Regardless, being sold a carpet in a locked room is something that you should all experience at least once.  Like my tour guide said.  All the ruins are external. Being sold something is part of Turkish culture, and you should experience that too lol.

 

 

 

Apparel:

 

IMO, this is where they get you.  Mind you, they have really nice stuff, and the quality is awesome, so you will find super fakes, but remember - they are still fake.

 

I did the math:

 

As nice as lamb leather is, it's super common out there, since they breed and eat lambs all the time.  Labor is super cheap too, so no matter how nice that

 purse of jacket is, it should never cost high-hundreds of dollars.

 

A square foot of lamb leather costs like $1.  Prep, dye, and labor can't be that much.  Yea, it looks like a real Gucci jacket, with the quality to match, but even thought the real thing costs $4K, the fake version shouldn't be any more than 300, and even less if you have time to haggle.

 

Super fake bags in Asia cost like $75, so maybe pay a little premium more just for Turkish leather and craftmanship.

 

 

 

That's my quick take from my experience.  Looking to hear more from others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisemom42]

 

Sorry, you lost me at this:

 

16 minutes ago, yoolykeme said:

I thought that it would suck

 

 

Why in the world would you think this?  Even a tiny bit of research in advance would reveal that this is a popular port stop with a lot to offer....

[Markanddonna]

Kusadasi has so much to offer. We make sure our private tours (van) understand we don't want to be taken to a factory. BTW, if you study China's  Belt and Road initiative, you will learn that when you buy a "Made in Italy" handbag, it is often made by Chinese workers who have essentially bought a town in Italy. They use imported from China materials, but can claim it is "made it Italy."  I have no idea how to know any bag is from these Chinese/Italian factories, so just continue to buy handbags that make no claims and are far cheaper.