My Bargaining Chronicles

I have never been good at bargaining, and I have been cheated several times because of this. In fact, I have lied to my mom on many occasions about the actual price of things I bought at the market, just to avoid hearing her signature phrase, “They cheated you.” No matter what I tell her, she still somehow gets to know when I have been overcharged, and it stings every time.

Because of this, most times whenever I want to get things a little bit cheaper, I either give her the list of things I need so she can get them for me from the market or beg her to accompany me to the market when I need to buy something.

My mom is a master negotiator. I don't know how she does it, but she can make a seller who swore they wouldn’t drop their price give in, and she does it with such confidence.

There was this day I wanted to buy a handbag. I had budgeted 20,000 naira for it, and I was pretty sure I had found something nice within that range. However, when I went to the market, the one I wanted to get cost 25,000 naira in all the shops I asked. I tried negotiating; the best I could get was either 22,000 or 23,000 naira, and this was still above my budget.

So I called my mom and asked her when she would be free to please follow me to the market. I explained everything to her and told her my budget for the bag, hoping she could work her magic.

The following day, when we got to one of the shops, I showed her the bag I wanted. The seller, as expected, quoted 25,000 naira. I was expecting my mom to probably begin her bargaining from 15,000 naira and work her way up to my budget. But to my shock, I heard my mom say, “6,000 naira.”I was embarrassed. I wanted the ground to open and swallow me whole. How could she start at 6,000 naira for a bag priced at 25,000? I was so embarrassed that I stepped out of the shop and waited outside.

I was just hearing how my mom and the seller were going back and forth; his voice was growing angrier as the negotiation continued, and I was just having pity on the guy. After some time, I heard the seller say, “Mama, na because of you ooo. No, be like this, we dey sell am.” Then my mom called me in to make the payment. I asked her how much I was supposed to transfer, and when she said 14,000 naira, my jaw nearly hit the floor. Fourteen thousand naira for a bag I had been told was 25,000? I couldn’t believe it!

So I decided to try her bargaining tactic a few days later when I went to the market to buy yam.I priced three tubers, and the seller told me they cost 10,000 naira.I confidently priced them at 3,000 naira, even though I had 7,000 naira in mind as my actual budget.The seller gave me a look that could freeze water and said in Hausa, “Yam is not for everybody. My neighbor sells pepper; go and buy from her.” I was so embarrassed that I quickly left his place.

I didn’t even bother trying to negotiate further. Instead, I called my mom and told her I will transfer money for her to buy yam for me.The following day, my sister brought home five tubers of yam that my mom had bought for 8,000 naira. While the yams weren’t as big as the ones I saw at that man's place, they were still more than his three tubers.

I have already accepted my faith that i and bargaining have nothing in common 😂

Images are mine

THANK YOU FOR READING TO THE END 🤗