International Trip - Part V - The souks

One of the things that I was most excited for in Dubai was a visit to what are often referred to as the "gold souks." The souks are the open markets and shops in Dubai, and they sell more than gold. There are souks that sell silver, cashmere, silk, crafts, spices, etc. It is an atmosphere where no one pays ticket price for anything and bartering is expected and encouraged. I had left on my trip with a request from my wife to get her a white gold ring, if possible. So that was my number one goal. 

After visiting a few different craft and fabric souks (and coming away with a couple of cashmere scarves), I started my search in earnest for a simple white gold ring. The record low exchange rate with the US dollar and record high prices for gold were two strikes I had against me. Luckily, I had two great accomplices to aid in the adventure - Chris, my roommate for the trip - who also was a veteran of working at a jewelry store - and Kathy, one of our advisors - who was well-versed in international barter markets. 

The first couple of shop didn't have anything that caught my eye, and a bartering exchange at the third shop was unsuccessful. It was getting close to the time we needed to meet back with our group and I was beginning to lose hope. But we went to one last store where I saw a potential ring in the window. After pointing it out to the shop employee from outside, he grabbed it and we went inside. 

The price tag on the ring was asking about 1600 dirhams.* We took a look at the ring and offered 400 dirhams. The salesman scoffed at the offer, explaining the intricacies of the 18-karat white gold with the small diamond in the center. He offered around 1200 dirhams. I hesitated for while, trying to let the salesman know that I was interested in the ring, but wasn't afraid of walking away either. After discussing with my accomplices, I came back with an offer of 600 dirhams. The salesman was undeterred and was only willing to go down to around 1000 dirhams. It looked unlikely that we would be able to come to an agreement, as I was nearing the most I was willing to pay for the ring. I knew I could only afford to pay about 750 dirhams for the ring. With the salesman looking on, I discussed with Kathy whether or not I wanted to counter-offer at 700-750 dirhams. Then the breakthrough happened.

Chris was looking at the ring and all of a sudden exclaimed - "Hey, this doesn't have an '18K' stamp on it! How do we know it is really-18 karat gold?"

The saleman took the ring and looked all over, knowing that it must have an 18K stamp on it somewhere. But Chris was right - there was no stamp to be found. The salesman tried to assure us that the ring was, indeed, 18-karat gold. He even offered to stamp it right then. We explained that having him stamp it there would not prove to us that it was 18-karat gold. He then had another salesman find similar rings to the one I was looking at - rings that did have the 18 K stamp. I explained to him that I was only interested in the original ring, but would not pay as much because of the lack of stamp. 

Chris suggested reducing the offer to 500 dirhams, which I did. The salesman was still trying to dig himself out of this predicament and offered 800 dirhams. After a little discussion I came back with an offer of 600 dirhams, and we told the salesman that was our final offer. It was time to meet with our group and we were ready to leave if he rejected our offer. Defeatedly, he resigned and accepted the final offer.

After leaving the shop, Chris turned to me and explained how I really got a great deal. The ring was almost certainly 18-karat gold, and the diamond in the ring alone was easily worth the money I paid.  We talked like nerds about how our negotiating techniques mirrored what we had learned in our Labor and Employee Relations class. It was so much fun to negotiate to a positive conclusion. It made me feel like we did much better than your average tourist would. I'm glad Chris and Kathy were with me to assist me in accomplishing my goal.

Mission Accomplished!

* I do not remember the exact prices we haggled over. The prices in this post are estimates as close as I can remember.