The Hungarians have a saying for how to haggle at Ecseri: “What’s the best discount you can give me on half the price?” Whenever I go to the market, I always bring a Hungarian with me. As soon as the dealers hear that I’m not a local, anything I’m interested in is going to be way more expensive. I call it the expat tax.

This morning, I was walking around Ecseri with my buddy Imre when I spotted a small, white child’s chair that I liked. It would look cute in my classroom. The dealer wanted 5000 forint, about $22.00. I asked Imre to try and negotiate the price down, but the dealer wouldn’t budge. So, we stepped away. As we continued on, I kept thinking about that little chair and decided to go back and buy it. When we returned to the stall, the chair was gone. The dealer had sold it. I was bummed.

About half an hour later, Imre and I were strolling through the other side of Ecseri when lo and behold, I spotted that same kid’s chair! A second dealer had purchased it and set it in front of her booth. I’ll buy it from her, I thought. I walked over and picked up the chair.

“Ask her how much it is,” I said to Imre.

“It’s going to be more expensive,” Imre warned. He asked the woman her price then turned to me. “You’re not going to like it. She wants 50 dollars.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Fifty bucks? Tell her that we just saw it on the other end of the market for less then half that.”

Imre translated. The woman put her hands on her lower back and said something in Hungarian. Imre started laughing.

“What did she say?” I asked.

“She said she had to carry it all the way across the market. The markup is for transport.”

Published on XpatLoop.com with permission of   Phillip Done