Comments on: You Get What You Pay For, Sometimes

By: marci

marci — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:49:46 +0000

I research first with consumer reports. Then look for durability, quality, and ability to last forever. Then see if I can find the item at a garage sale or used store. I got a $400 sewing machine for $10 at a garage sale 4 years ago – good deal in my book and it’s stood up to the heavy use it gets.

And never do I buy an item/vehicle in it’s first year of manufacture, as it seems the bugs aren’t worked out yet. I’ll buy it the 2nd year once the research opinions are out on the first year’s model.

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:44:09 +0000

This is true in most cases. My wife and I have gotten burned a few times by purchasing the “cheapest” item. Sometimes cheap is cheap. Looking at many types of product and shooting for the middle is probably the best policy. I do landscaping part time and I will pay more for Good Tools…they will give you good return in the long run.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:37:36 +0000

Your strategy is great but the marketing groups have already determined what you will do, so they ensure that the “middle” range product has the highest retail markup. Sometimes they will differentiate the product with something marginal just to place it in the “middle” range and entice you to pay the higher markup.

By: Diane

Diane — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 04:31:02 +0000

I’m with the ‘do the research group’ and I also tend to buy toward the middle, usually leaning to the upper middle.

Some things you can look at and see a difference in quality – like fabric of a t-shirt. I still won’t buy too expensive for those, because even the expensive ones will get stained. Better to go mid-quality and plan on replacing as needed.

Some things you can see no difference, so it’s hard to tell.

In the past couple of years I tried buying slightly more expensive Christmas lights – the little white ones. I was disappointed to learn from experience that they didn’t last any better than the cheapest ones. Now I buy the cheapest (preferably on sale after the holidays for pennies) and toss them when they go out.

By: Candy

Candy — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:40:01 +0000

I also like you buy in the middle. Valuable lessons you get what you pay for and if it’s too good to be true, it probably is! Thanks for your post!

By: Frugal Bachelor

Frugal Bachelor — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:01:20 +0000

For non-consumable ‘things’ that I keep for period of time, I tend to purchase upper mid range. Cheap is no good. However, I buy very few things (very few).

For services, and also consumables (such as food), I tend to go with the cheapest.

By: Janny

Janny — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:21:19 +0000

The majority of my career was in purchasing and I use the same philosophy in my day to day purchases.
-Quality
-Price
-Service
Even when I was spending millions of dollars of someone elses money I was frugal. There’s pretty much a component of all of these things in most everything we buy.
Like Grant and others have mentioned, I do my homework first. I tend to low ball most purchases (except food) and rationalize it by the warranty coverage (if applicable). I rarely go any farther then my laptop to shop. I have a back problem that makes it difficult for me to drive or shop so I do 99% of my purchasing on-line.
Thankfully, my kids are learning that you get more presents at Christmas if you buy used books & CD’s from Amazon or eBay. The savings usually buys turkeys for the local shelter or even a larger cash donation.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:06:27 +0000

I totally agree – when my husband and I were dating, he was in rather desperate need of some clothing (we were in college and, needless to say, um, totally broke). I bought him a pair of denim jeans from The Gap. The jeans were well made and on sale, and I spent about $50 on them.

When I gave them to him his first reaction? “But I’m not the kind of guy who WEARS Gap jeans!” His mom had always bought him jeans from Kmart, jeans which turned the rest of his laundry blue and then fell apart in 6 months. He was buying a new pair of jeans from Kmart every six months at $30 a pair.

We’ve been married for three years now, and I gave him that pair of Gap jeans five years ago. Does he still have them? Oh yes he does. Because you’re right! You get what you pay for. I estimate that we probably saved $300 just by buying a pair of well-made pants, that were made out of quality materials. Plus, they looked a lot better on him than the ones from Kmart.

By: bee

bee — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:33:00 +0000

I am usually pretty wary of the cheapest product. But I try to rely on reviews and what I read on forums. If the cheapest one has really good reviews/ratings, I go for it.

By: Scott M

Scott M — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:38:24 +0000

Very few things give me greater joy than finding good value. Thus, I use a multi-pronged approach. For example, I recently found myself in need of a new pair of running shoes. So I typed a few queries in an online search engine and found reviews from runners’ magazines about the shoes that other runners preferred. Within minutes I had a list of 7 different shoe models that were mentioned often as superior quality running shoes. I wrote them down and started searched for those shoes on a few online clearance sports stores and e-bay. Within a half an hour, I had purchased a brand new (retail value$115) pair of superior quality running shoes for $42. Hmmm..feels like i’m bragging. To recap: Get the opinions of people who are knowledgeable about what you are purchasing (if you aren’t yourself) and hunt for the best bargain online!