Take some salt along as well as the Tuareg sabres or knifes. You'll be pretty hard pressed toget away from vendors selling all the same "unique" necklaces, earrings, knives and other handicrafts, so make sure to drive them down to a good price. A fair rule is to offer about a third of the price they originally quote, then haggle so you pay half their first price. Theyare used to this and so always start at too high a price. However, the things they sell are generally of good quality and great for souvenirs.
There is a shop called 'objets artes boutique' or something similar that sells the souvenirs to the sellers you see around town. If you head north from the hotel colom the road forks, take the left fork and about 100-200m down the road,on the left hand side, is this shop. Prices are 6-10 times cheaper here, you cannot barter but you may get a small 5-10% discount for buying several items.
Another good idea is to get a postcard and post it, it will have the Timbuktu postal stamp on it. The Post office is down the main street south of the roundabout. The staff in there will give you the right stamps, you can sometimes buy postcards from there or from the many street vendors. Just don't expect to receive the postcard too soon; it can take over a month to get through to many Western countries!
