Learning to Barter in Morocco

One of my ESL students back at home is from Morocco. He is usually very quiet and it can be hard to get him to talk. But the day before Christmas break, he came out of his shell. We read a book about snowflakes and afterwards made paper snowflakes. He got really into the project and wanted to make more at home. I gave each of the kids two sheets of paper to take home, but this particular student was not satisfied with just two. “Can I have four?” he asked. I turned down his offer explaining that each student could only have two. He would not take no for an answer, though, and began to barter. “How about three?” he suggested. Amused by the fact that he was not only talking to me, but also bartering, I gave in and gave him a third sheet of paper.

Bartering is very much a part of the Moroccan culture that can be difficult for US citizens to become comfortable with. I have encountered bartering in many of the countries to which I have traveled, but it is still a difficult skill for me. I had a lot of opportunities to practice my bartering skills on this trip, and I think I am getting better.

Our group spent a full day in Fes, and most of that time was spent wandering the medina. The narrow, crowded alleyways reminded me of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. Not only did we have to be cautious of people, but also the occasional donkey. The experience was amazing, but could also be overwhelming. It could get exhausting when we couldn’t even just casually look at something without the merchant trying to sell it to us. Many of us likely paid more for our purchases than we should have.

By the time we reached Marrakech, we had not only bartered in Fes, but also in small, roadside stands in villages, as well as in certain shops. We were becoming experts! Several of us broke away from the group early to explore the city in the limited time we had left and practiced our haggling skills. We found it is best to act like you don’t really care too much about what you are wanting to buy. It was usually when we started walking away that we would get the prices we wanted. We were often able to get better deals when we offered to buy more than one of the item, so it was helpful to go shopping with another person or two. It’s a lot like buying items in bulk. Some merchants were even willing to trade. A woman at a shoe shop asked me if I could give her my nice Nalgene water bottle (I wasn’t willing to art with it).

One of my favorite bartering stories comes from my final day in Morocco in the Marrakech medina. I was in a shop with Erica, one of my fellow travelers, and she was looking at some hamsas she was interested in buying. The cost was 120 dirham each, but she wanted three of them and wanted to get the cost down. She offered 150 dirham for three. The merchant lowered the cost to 180 for three. Erica countered with 160, which the merchant accepted, and also gave us each a gift of a mini hamsa pendant. In exchange, he asked if we could give him a small gift from the United States. We said, “But we don’t have anything to give you!” He told us it didn’t need to be anything fancy–just a pen or a keychain or something. I found a pen I got from an insurance representative, and Erica gave him her half-empty bottle of hand sanitizer. He was really excited about the gifts! He wrote down his name so we knew where to find him the next time we came to Morocco, and then he showed us what our names would look like in Arabic.

In the US, it is rare that we have interactions such as these when trying to buy something. Our culture is far more impersonal with our self-checkout lines and self-serve mentality. I will admit that I generally gravitate towards self-checkout lanes, but there is something about successfully bartering for what you want that helps build personal relationships and a sense of community. Plus, it makes for a good story when you explain how you got something!