Nilkhet Syndicate
Nilkhet Syndicate
I’m here to talk about something that happened to me yesterday. Yesterday was the start of the O/A Level examinations. It wasn’t my exam, so I had to wait outside, except there was basically nowhere to sit or spend the time. Since I had a few hours to spare, I went to Nilkhet to buy some books from the Magazine Gallery section from a guy I had bought books from once before.
It was the first stall in that gallery. The guy who runs it is named Yasin.
Anyway, I was looking through the comics section and found a single Marvel issue with Spider-Man and Venom, so I kept it aside while I continued browsing and listening to music. After a while, another guy showed up carrying a box full of books and collectibles to sell, and maybe buy some things too. Yasin got really excited and started talking about how big of a customer this man was — apparently one of his biggest customers.
The guy had some genuinely great stuff, and I was interested. We mostly talked about what he liked reading, whether he had certain books, how he got into the same interests I had, and other nerdy conversations like that.
After emptying the box, they started negotiating prices while I minded my own business. The customer offered Yasin everything for around 8k because most of the items were original imported goods. Yasin only offered 2500tk. He kept trying to lowball the value of the books and downplay what they were worth. Eventually, the customer got frustrated and disappointed. After Yasin rejected the price, the customer suddenly looked at me and asked if I wanted the items instead.
I explained that I didn’t really have much money on me, but I understood the real value of the collection. He asked again if I wanted them, so I thought for a second and asked how much. He gave me a price that I honestly couldn’t refuse, so I bought them immediately, which basically emptied my pockets.
After that, the customer went to another stall further inside — the second stall on the right, called OLD NOVEL online. The same thing happened there. They also rejected his price, and once again he turned to me and asked if I wanted the remaining items. I told him I was interested but didn’t have enough cash left. He told me it was fine and that I could just send the money later through bKash, so I accepted the offer.
After the purchase, the customer left. I stayed there for a while trying to figure out how I was going to carry all the books home. Since I still had plenty of time left, I hung around a bit longer. The second guy voluntarily helped me tie up the books so they’d be easier to carry.
But during that time, Yasin started complaining to everyone around him that I was the reason he “took a loss” in his business. He hinted multiple times that I should leave. When I tried to talk to him, he became rude and directly told me to get out of his stall twice. The whole situation became really toxic and upsetting.
Before leaving, I tried one last time to buy something from him — the same single Marvel issue I had kept aside earlier. But this time he tried to charge me almost four times the original price. At that point, it was obvious that I wasn’t welcome there anymore. So I left with whatever self-respect I still had.
When I got home and unpacked everything, I realized one of the books was missing. I contacted the customer and asked whether he had accidentally given it to the second stall owner, but he denied it and told me to contact them immediately because the book was mine and they had no right to keep it. He even gave me their number.
I called the second guy and explained the situation. His response was, “You gave me the book.” I told him no, I didn’t, and that it wasn’t his book to keep because I had already paid for it. Then he straight-up admitted: “Well, you caused us a loss in business, so I’m keeping the book,” and cut the call.
That honestly made me really upset. I told the customer everything that happened and explained how frustrating and disrespectful the entire situation had become.
So in short: they tried to lowball and scam one of their biggest customers. When their negotiations failed and they refused to see the real value of his collection, he offered the items to me instead — twice — and I accepted. Now they’re blaming me for their failed deal, acting salty about it, overcharging me out of spite, and even keeping one of my books.
That’s all. Thanks for reading.