One of the characteristics of the marketplaces in Mali and Senegal is that the prices of goods are not fixed. With everything that one desires to buy, one must negotiate vocally in order to arrive at a price - something that often takes a long time. Why do these markets not have fixed prices for their goods?
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| Bargaining at a village market |
One reason can be that in West Africa people feel that, when they shop, they should create a relationship with the person with whom they are trading. To some degree, buyers and sellers ought to be somewhat acquainted. And they become acquainted during the discussion necessary in order to come to an agreement on price. This is not the least of the reasons why tourists feel it is enjoyable to visit the markets. When one haggles in the market, one comes into discussion with local people in a completely different manner than when one buys something in a shop. But economics and survival are perhaps the most important reasons for the system of haggling. The advantage of bargaining is that it gives great flexibility in the setting of prices. Those who sell have the possibility of shifting their prices up a long way, and down a long way. What is decisive is how much information the shoppers have about what it is usual to pay for an item locally and the degree of economic pressure the seller is experiencing. Indeed, the greater the chaos and uncertainty that the sellers are able to create over prices in the market, the greater is the chance of earning good money. It is therefore almost impossible to ask a seller in one of the markets what the approximate price is for an item, and this applies even to the most common household products. The answer you get is, "How much do you want to pay?"
Both in Senegal and Mali to be a skilled negotiator of prices is a highly esteemed quality, a quality that can have great significance when one is poor, and every penny saved plays a role. A smart seller naturally gives a first price that is much too high and perhaps provides a story about what he himself had to pay for the item, or about how rare it is. Or else, that this is the first item that he is selling that day and that bad price means that it will be a bad day. For her or his part, the buyer can threaten to break off the transaction if the seller does not go down in price. If the seller is under enough pressure, he or she may have no choice but to accept a price that earns them only a few pennies.
The prices of some of the most sought-after goods in Mali and Senegal, such as damask or printed cotton materials are also affected by the approach of the season of religious festivals. All women in Bamako and Dakar want to have new dresses for Muslim festivals, and the per-metre price of materials goes up. The pressure on all the sellers to contribute something extra to the family economy during such festivals also causes the prices of market goods to increase in general. When the festival season is over, prices sink once again. Everyone knows that the majority of sellers have now spent all their money, and that it is therefore possible to push prices down to the absolutely lowest level.
Source: Steiner, Christopher B. 1994. African Art in Transit. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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