Due to the long delays that occur in trade with Africa, the price of imported goods and exported slaves from the continent has a value that is approximately double the their original price. Larger countries had a system to let smaller countries know who had the most power with the selling price of slaves and goods purchased or traded. Besides cost, gender was the next big thing when it came to trading. Africans preferred women to male slaves because they were accustomed to any challenging task or complex job that was thrown at them. European traders and some plantation owners, on the other hand, preferred male slaves more than female slaves, but not because they were concerned about their health problems or their age, but about stereotypical European gender roles on the European continent. Europeans believed that men dominated women because they were men but, to trade with Africans, Europeans had to adapt with Africans