There is a
certain phenomenon which baffles me on Cameroonian markets. It is that of goods
which are displayed for sale, yet their prices are not indicated. From that
view point, one can say the prices are (intentionally) being withheld. But
frankly, what purpose does that serve?
When I have
asked why this is so, I`ve been told that the fact that prices are not
indicated on goods is not a problem because they the sellers are prepared to
tell me the price of any item I am interested in buying. But it remains a
problem to me because what that means is that if I were interested in up to ten
items I would ask the question ten times and ten times would I get a reply. Is
that not time and energy wasting?
Another
argument sellers have put up is that if you stick a price on an item, such an
action limits your bargaining power because you can no longer quote a price
higher than the one you displayed. The question I then ask is whether there are
therefore no norms in the business whatsoever? One observer explained to me
that the fact of not affixing prices enables sellers to size up a customer in
order to know where to place him or her financially before going into any bargain.
If that is so, such an approach is unfair because it means some buyers will end
up by being unfairly exploited because of their ‘naive””appearances.
I believe
that sticking prices on goods for sale saves both the buyer and the seller a
lot of valuable time that would have been lost pointlessly.
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