So one of my most favorite parts of shopping in Russia and Turkey was the bartering. Walking away from a shop feeling you were able to talk the shop keeper down to a lower price, was the greatest feeling I had.
We went to two great places for bartering in Russia we went to a little souvenir shop it was way cute and full of lots of great presents, from matryoshka dolls, to music boxes, to Faberge Eggs. It was great we went so many times we actually made friends with some of the shop keepers. We all helped each other out with the bartering. We found that some of us were much better at it than others.
The other great place we got to go barter was at the Grand Bazaar in Turkey. It was a shopaholics paradise. There were over 4,000 shops and the place was filled with so many people. The shops even extended out onto the street, and down through the tourist areas. It was a little bit more difficult to barter at the Grand Bazaar because the shop keepers would only focus on you and there didn't really seem to be a winner in the bartering game there.
The other great place we got to go barter was at the Grand Bazaar in Turkey. It was a shopaholics paradise. There were over 4,000 shops and the place was filled with so many people. The shops even extended out onto the street, and down through the tourist areas. It was a little bit more difficult to barter at the Grand Bazaar because the shop keepers would only focus on you and there didn't really seem to be a winner in the bartering game there.
One of the biggest differences that I saw between bartering in Turkey and Russia was the gratification. You could tell that the shop owners in Turkey really didn't like getting a price much lower than what they asked for. however it was more gratifying in Russia because their currency was so weak compared to the USD. It was a $1 to 33 ruble ratio. So it made all of us much more excited when the shop keeper agreed to drop from 1500 rubles to 800. But in Turkey it took much longer to get the shop keeper to drop from 25 to 15 Lyra. While we were there $1 was worth 1.8 Lyra.
The other interesting shopping difference between Russia and Turkey was how willing the shop keepers were to take your money. While we were in Russia if I said that I was "Just looking" the owner/seller just moved on to another more willing customer. But while in Turkey the "Just looking" comment returned with a rebuttal of "I'm just selling". It was crazy because in Russia they were willing to let your money go but in Turkey they really wanted to take your money, in any way shape or form.
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