Haggling in Moroccan souks and Turkish bazaars: the numbers and words that matter

Bargaining is a conversation with a known shape. Learn the shape, the numbers and a dozen words in the seller's language, and it stops feeling like a contest you are losing.

Foreigndly Guides · 9 October 2026 · 9 min read · who we are

In the souks of Marrakech and Fes and the bazaars of Istanbul, the price on a lamp, a rug or a leather bag is the start of a conversation, and most visitors do not know how that conversation is supposed to go. The result is either paying the opening figure out of embarrassment or treating the whole thing as a fight, and neither is how it works.

This guide covers the order of play, the numbers you need to follow a price in Moroccan Arabic (Darija) and Turkish, the French that also works in most Moroccan shops, the short phrases that move a negotiation, and the many places where bargaining is not done at all.

How a negotiation actually runs

The shape is much the same in both countries.

1. You show interest. Picking something up, asking about it or lingering is enough. In a larger shop you may be offered a seat and a glass of tea. Accepting the tea is hospitality and a way to slow things down; it does not oblige you to buy. It does commit you to a few minutes of conversation, so decline it if you are only browsing.
2. The seller asks what you would pay. Very often the first question is not a price but how much do you want to give? It is a good move for the seller, because your number reveals what you think the thing is worth. You can turn it back politely: ask for their price first.
3. The first price arrives. In the busiest tourist lanes it can be several times what the seller expects to accept; in a quieter quarter or a craftsman's own workshop it may be close to fair. There is no reliable percentage, which is why the homework below matters.
4. You counter, below what you are willing to pay. Then the two numbers move towards each other in smaller and smaller steps. Expect theatre: the seller may talk about the hours of work, the quality of the wool, their children. Smiling is part of it.
5. You agree, or you leave. Walking away politely is a normal part of the process, not an insult. If you are called back with a new figure, it is probably close to the real floor.

One rule matters more than the rest: do not name a price you are not prepared to pay. If you offer 300 and the seller says yes, you have bought it. Bargaining for sport over something you have no intention of buying wastes a working person's time and is the one thing reliably resented.

Do your homework before the first price

The single most useful thing you can do is learn what things cost before you enter the bargaining zone.

• In Morocco, the government-backed Ensemble Artisanal craft centres in Marrakech, Fes and other cities sell at fixed, labelled prices. They are not always the cheapest, but an hour there gives you a ceiling for leather, ceramics, lanterns and textiles.
• In Istanbul, compare the tagged prices in shops on the streets around the Grand Bazaar and in ordinary shopping districts with what the same goods are quoted at inside.
• Decide your maximum before you start, and keep it to yourself. Your counter should leave room to rise towards it.
• Buying several items from one seller is the cleanest lever there is. A price for three is easier to bring down than a price for one.

Numbers you need to follow a price

Sellers in tourist areas will quote in English, but hearing a seller say a number to a colleague, or quoting one back in their language, changes the tone. A calculator held out between you is normal in both countries, too.

Turkish builds larger numbers by simply lining the parts up: 350 is üç yüz elli, three hundred fifty, and 1,200 is bin iki yüz. Darija joins them with u, and: 150 is mya u khamsin, 250 mitin u khamsin.

Two Moroccan complications are explained in the Morocco field kit, which teaches the French most sellers also speak: the awkward French numbers from seventy upwards, and the habit of counting in older units so that a price sounds far higher than it is. If a figure sounds absurd, check the unit before you react.

In Turkey, the opposite trap applies. In shops that deal mostly with visitors, particularly in Istanbul, prices for carpets and jewellery are often quoted in euros or dollars rather than lira. Confirm the currency — lira mı, euro mu? — before you start countering.

The phrases that move a negotiation

Two Turkish words are worth knowing on the listening side. Buyrun (BOO-ee-roon) is what a seller calls from a doorway — come in, how can I help, here you are — and needs no reply beyond a smile. İndirim is a discount, and a seller who says nakit olursa indirim yaparım is offering a better price for cash. In the bazaar trade, the first sale of the morning, siftah, is considered lucky, and some sellers will give a little more ground to make it.

A short exchange, end to end

A leather pouf in a Marrakech souk, in a mix of Darija and French that is entirely normal there:

1. You: Salam. Bshhal hadi? — Hello. How much is this one?
2. Seller: Shhal bghiti tkhalles? — How much do you want to pay?
3. You: Goul nta. (gool NTA) — You tell me.
4. Seller names a figure.
5. You: Ghali bzaf. C'est trop cher pour moi. Then your counter, written on his calculator.
6. A few rounds later, you: Akhir taman?
7. If it is near your limit: Wakha. If not: La, shukran, a smile, and you leave.

The Turkish version in an Istanbul bazaar runs the same way: Bu ne kadar? (this, how much?), then Çok pahalı, a counter, Son fiyat?, and either Tamam or a thank-you and a step towards the door.

Where you do not haggle

Most buying in both countries is fixed-price, and trying to bargain there is confusing at best.

• Food and daily goods. Supermarkets, bakeries, corner shops, pharmacies, cafés and restaurants. At produce markets, prices are usually chalked or written on card per kilo; buying a large amount may earn a round-down, but that is a courtesy, not a negotiation.
• Shops with printed tags. In Turkey, chain stores and most modern shops, and plenty of bazaar shops too, sell at the marked price. In Morocco, the fixed-price craft centres above.
• Metered taxis. In Istanbul and other Turkish cities, official taxis run a meter, the taksimetre; a driver who proposes a flat price instead is usually proposing a worse deal. Morocco's city taxis should run the meter too (the kit explains the two kinds). Agreed fares are normal for Moroccan intercity taxis and for airport and long-distance trips where a fixed fare is posted or usual.
• Transport tickets, museums and official fees. Fixed everywhere.

Guides, commissions and paying

A friendly stranger who walks you to a shop is usually paid a commission on what you buy there, and that commission is built into your price. The Morocco kit covers how the approach starts in the medina; in Istanbul's old town the equivalent is an offer of directions that ends at a relative's carpet shop. You lose nothing by visiting, but bargain as hard as you would anywhere, and do not feel obliged by the walk.

In Moroccan souks, cash in dirhams is the norm; larger shops take cards, sometimes with a surcharge, and smaller stalls rarely do. In Turkey cards are accepted almost everywhere, but cash, nakit, often secures the better price in the bazaar. In either country, have the money roughly counted before the final round; producing a thick wad after pleading poverty undoes your position.

Leaving well

A good exit is as much a part of the custom as a good counter-offer. Thank the seller whether or not you bought, and leave without explanation; an explanation tends to restart the haggle. In Morocco, la, shukran and the right hand pressed briefly to the heart is enough. In Turkey, teşekkürler and the shopkeeper's blessing kolay gelsin, described in the Turkey field kit, end things warmly. If you did buy, you may hear hayırlı olsun from the seller or a neighbour: may it bring you good. Teşekkürler is the reply.

Before you go into a souk or bazaar, have ready: a maximum price for the thing you want, a reference price from a fixed-price shop, small notes, the numbers up to a thousand in the seller's language, and the willingness to walk away smiling. The rest is conversation.