The adventure of bargaining.

Bargaining is a part of shopping. Its a kind of victory that kicks the heart of a true shopper. And while these are the days of chain stores, fixed price tags and forever 'sale' strategies, hard true bargainers don't come off without trying. Just take an incident for instance. One of my relatives picked out around half a dozen books after half a dozen rounds in the book store spending half an hour there. After carefully picking out the books that he wanted....he asked the cashier fellow to bill it....and asked for a discount. The cashier replied by saying that the rates are fixed. So my relative left the store empty handed and asked some of his 'contacts' in pune to check whether a discount was available in one of pune's leading book store for the same books (he had memorized their titles). Now, going by the price tags of the books....I dont think it was quite worth it to spend that much time and energy.

Time....for the two trips we made to the store....once when he picked out those books for the first time and next when we came back to really buy those books, once he found out that his contacts in pune, too, could'nt get a discount on those same books!!

Energy....the car fuel we wasted in making two trips to the store + fuel in his contact's car for making their trips to the store.

So much for bargain !!!

With most bargainers there is a trend in bargaining.........Shopkeeper quotes the price......Hard bargainer makes a disbelieving face or a disbelieving noise or both......he / she says "Kuch bhi, barabar price bataana" (Tell the correct price). Shopkeeper goes on telling the customer how good the item is and how he wouldnt get the same quality item anywhere else in this world.

On which the customer replies...."Yeda mat bana.....baaju waale dukaan me same cheez kam price mein mil rahi hai.....main tumhare yahaan bahut saal se shopping kar raha hu....to barabar daam bolna...mein tumhara purana customer hu " (Dont fool me, the same item is available in the next store at a lower price....I have been shopping at your place for quite sometime now....so tell me the correct price for old times sake.) Finally after a lot of haggling....the customer and the shopkeeper settle down to a price which is round about a mean value of both parties' respective quotes. The shopkeeper puts up a show....his tone suggesting that 'these days we get fooled by customers'. However in reality he is happy with the deal as his margin is quite what he had expected !. The customer in turn after a happy bargaining 'stint' puts up his own show...where he grumbles about how things are getting expensive these days and that shopkeepers have turned out to be 'highway robbers'. In reality he is happy to have got a great deal or definitely happy by the sense of achievement given by bargaining !!

I remember some years ago...we used to bargain at fashion street in mumbai. When a shopkeeper quoted a price....we used to say to him "Itne mein dena hai to do." If he said no.....we used to walk on ahead...and many a times he would chase you...and say "Le lo saahab....aapke bataye hue daam par hi deta hu, chalo !!" We used to buy the item, then

There is a kind of adventure in bargaining which gives shoppers a high...From 'roj ki sabji' to expensive home appliances....bargaining rules. It adds an extra element to the shoppers delight !!