It was only a matter of time before I was captured by a carpet salesman. I had read to watch out for them but he caught me off guard. I sort of knew what to expect so thought I would go through the experience as an exercise of Istanbul culture. His “guy” caught me outside one of the mosque, hey where are you from? New Zealand… kia ora and a handshake..he had made the connection. Where are you heading? I’m off to the bazaar… Ah it is closed today but how about you come and have look at my carpet shop. .. I’m not here to buy a carpet…well how about if you come and get a brochure… So I walk with him to his shop. I am taken into the back end of the shop , away from direct viewiong of the street and offered an apple tea.. He leaves me and then the guy in the slick grey suit goes to work… a little lesson in what makes a quality Turkish carpet as opposed to others.. it’s all in the double knotting. A quick demo by his sister on a carpet to show me the technique… and as you are here let’s have a look at a couple of these quality pieces. Nice carpet how much? Ahh sir you have not seen it at its best. Let us go upstairs and put it in a frame with the light behind, then you’ll see it’s true value. So ff we go , past the safe where the most valuable carpets are kept..he grabs one of these. So now I’m completely out of view of anything. The door is closed and he goes to work showing me the carpets. They do look good. Which one do you like best sir?? This one .. Aah you have good taste. That one sir is 12000 euros. It’s lucky I’m not buying one then. After 15 minutes or so I start to head for the door. Sir as you are my first customer and it is Eid and if..if you were to buy this carpet what would you offer… After 10 minutes of trying to negotiate my way out of offering a price I finally cave and say if I was buying a carpet I would not spend more than 1500 euros. I slight step back from the man. A quick recovery. If you had said 2500 we could be making a deal. Sorry if I was to buy a carpet I would not pay more than 1500 euros. As I walk out the door.. if you could add 500 more to this offer I think we could make a sale… offer… I hadn’t offered.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Carpet Salesman
It was only a matter of time before I was captured by a carpet salesman. I had read to watch out for them but he caught me off guard. I sort of knew what to expect so thought I would go through the experience as an exercise of Istanbul culture. His “guy” caught me outside one of the mosque, hey where are you from? New Zealand… kia ora and a handshake..he had made the connection. Where are you heading? I’m off to the bazaar… Ah it is closed today but how about you come and have look at my carpet shop. .. I’m not here to buy a carpet…well how about if you come and get a brochure… So I walk with him to his shop. I am taken into the back end of the shop , away from direct viewiong of the street and offered an apple tea.. He leaves me and then the guy in the slick grey suit goes to work… a little lesson in what makes a quality Turkish carpet as opposed to others.. it’s all in the double knotting. A quick demo by his sister on a carpet to show me the technique… and as you are here let’s have a look at a couple of these quality pieces. Nice carpet how much? Ahh sir you have not seen it at its best. Let us go upstairs and put it in a frame with the light behind, then you’ll see it’s true value. So ff we go , past the safe where the most valuable carpets are kept..he grabs one of these. So now I’m completely out of view of anything. The door is closed and he goes to work showing me the carpets. They do look good. Which one do you like best sir?? This one .. Aah you have good taste. That one sir is 12000 euros. It’s lucky I’m not buying one then. After 15 minutes or so I start to head for the door. Sir as you are my first customer and it is Eid and if..if you were to buy this carpet what would you offer… After 10 minutes of trying to negotiate my way out of offering a price I finally cave and say if I was buying a carpet I would not spend more than 1500 euros. I slight step back from the man. A quick recovery. If you had said 2500 we could be making a deal. Sorry if I was to buy a carpet I would not pay more than 1500 euros. As I walk out the door.. if you could add 500 more to this offer I think we could make a sale… offer… I hadn’t offered.
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