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Buying carpets and
kilims in Turkey is
truly
Byzantine.
Beautiful carpets are plentiful,
bargains are few. Many of the carpets are actually
made in China and India,
and their quality can be excellent,
but they are not "real"
Turkish carpets. Does that matter to
you?
Prices range from good to outrageously
high. It's very easy to pay
too much.
All that having been said, it is possible
to buy a beautiful carpet in Turkey,
and to be happy with your purchase.
Here's how:
1. Shop at home first. You're
assuming that buying a carpet will
be cheaper in Turkey than in your own
home country. Maybe so, maybe not.
Before coming to Turkey, go
to a carpet shop near your home, look at some carpets,
ask some prices. This will help you
to spend less of your valuable travel
time learning about carpets, and more
on finding the carpet you want at a
good price.
2. Devote time to your purchase. Do
not commit to buy until you have examined
carpets in at least three shops
in Turkey,
then buy from the shop you like best.
More...
3. Be aware that
anyone who takes you to a carpet shop
will expect to receive a
commission from
the shopkeeper for bringing you there.
A small commission (5% to 15%) may
be appropriate because the person has
helped you to find the shop, but the
commission may not be small (50%, 100%+),
and it comes out of your pocket.
4. A tour that
takes you to a carpet (or any other)
shop (or a shop masquerading as a "Folk
Arts/ Handicrafts/ Cultural Center,"
etc.) receives commissions for taking
you there. Prices will probably be
higher than at shops not visited by
tours. Perhaps much higher. More...
5. You will pay Value-Added
Tax (VAT/KDV)
on your purchase. You may be able to
receive a refund of
the tax when you take your purchase
out of Turkey, but some unscrupulous
sales persons may cheat you
of this. Here's
how they do it.
6. Be prepared to carry your
carpet home with you. The
carpet shop may offer to ship it
for you, and may ship it for you...or
may not...or may ship some
cheaper carpet than the one you bought.
Shipping charges, by the way, can
be very high these days, even on
the slow boat.
I recommend that you have the shop wrap
the carpet for you (they're
good at this), then take it
with you.
Airlines usually allow tourist-class
passengers two
checked pieces of luggage,
one carry-on, and one "personal
item"
(purse, camera bag, diaper bag, briefcase).
If you have only one suitcase to check,
you may be able to check the carpet
as your second item without paying
excess baggage fees (which can be surprisingly
high). For weight
restrictions,
check with your airline. Business-
and first-class passengers have higher
weight allowances.
See what you're in for? Now, does
the price at that carpet shop not far
from your home look unreasonable?
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