Bartering is as old as time, so why are us Brits so bad at it? Most of us have been on holiday abroad and witnessed some of the world’s most majestic markets – such as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and the Friday market in Cairo – and it’s here that we see bartering working at its finest.
Traders doing a linguistic dance with potential buyers to secure a deal, either using their impressive powers of persuasion or clever use of language to do so. If you were at one of these markets on your holiday, you would be expected to freely and openly ask for a discount to get an item for cheaper – this is bartering.
So why, when back in the UK, are we too British to barter?
Research conducted by the website Gumtree a few years ago found that our very British desire to never discuss money means that as a nation we could be missing out on £6.5bn a year – that’s £500 each!
The research found that nearly half of respondents said they were too embarrassed to barter, 41 per cent thought it would make them sound rude and a staggering 80 per cent haven’t ever tried to. As a person whose entire livelihood is centred around securing the best deal, I was amazed by these findings.
So why are we so afraid to barter? I’m a proud history geek (I wanted to be a history teacher when I was a child and still dream of it to this day), and I believe we can trace this back to the Victorian era when the class system in the UK was magnified.
How to get things cheaper – the British way
Categories: Economic History
The Fourth Estate 
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