The Oriental Carpet Buyer

My friend Ismael, owner of SoHo’s Beyond the Bosphorus carpet store has finally decided that it is about time to get a web site and can now be found at BeyondtheBosphorus.com . His web site needs a little work still, but I guess it’s a start, right?

We have officially formed a partnership, whereby Carpet on […]

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This is a great episode of The Chasers War on Everything (an Australian show) where they go to visit Oriental carpet dealers who ARE NOT having clearance sales and ask them to put signs up saying that they are. The best part is when one of the owners says that he does not wish to […]

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This is a video that I just noticed on YouTube. It is by Turkish Airlines, featuring my good friend, Ismael, who owns Beyond the Bosphorus in SoHo. It was done quite a while ago, but was only recently posted. It is a must-see for its comedic value. So funny.
What is interesting to note is Ismael’s […]

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I found this on travel writer Dave Fox’s site:
After nearly three months of travel, alone, on a ridiculously tight budget, I was sick of being politically correct. I had been ripped off – twice in two hours. And not knowing what else to do, I blamed the Turks. I blamed the entire country because in […]

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Found this amazing deal on craigslist: a carpet sale, 70% off suggested retail… bla bla bla. The best part:
Location: Volcano

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I believe this is a parody…

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I found this great post about how a sales trainer was convinced into buying a carpet while in Istanbul. It is a great example of the lengths that some shops will go to and of the techniques used by salesmen in general:
Owner: “Is there any price, where, if you could own this rug […]

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My son told me a story today. He was visiting Ephesus, the ancient Anatolian city near Selçuk, Turkey. There he met Jeyhan, a.k.a. “Jimmy”, who runs Jimmy’s Place, formerly the Artemis Guest House. Jimmy, who also sells carpets, had a great story to tell my son about how one of his customers was almost […]

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This is an article that we dug up from 1998 by Laura Billings for Salon.com: If there is something missing from the American Shopping Experience — and if you’ve been to the Mall of America, as I have, you know not much has been overlooked — it is the act of bargaining. Not buying a […]

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“I make you good price!”
Anyone who has visited the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul has most likely heard this promise that will only fool the most naive of customers. It is part of the arsenal that many reckless carpet salesmen spew out. The statement assumes that you do not know the original price of the product. […]

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