Local Knowledge

The first rule of buying any commodity item from a television to a toaster is define your needs first, choose the source later. So many people get this backwards, it's not even funny. They see an item in a shop window and start rationalising why they should buy it right there and then. "Well, it has a great extended warranty option if something goes wrong." "I couldn't do better elsewhere." "Well, I wouldn't want to buy something like this off the internet, imagine the hassle of sending it back if there's a problem."

Oh dear. The shop window display is winning. The surge of adrenalin that comes from opening the wallet is flooding into the hapless punters brain and drowning out the voice of common sense.

Now that's to say that a high street shop can't be the right choice, the shop window could just as easily be a online shop. Cards on the table, I am a firm advocate of supporting local businesses and encouraging your local economy. But only when they deserve your business. And I will touch on this topic again in future posts.

To understand your needs better you need to consider the type of purchase you want to make. If you are buying something like a PC or television and a once-in-a-lifetime 5 year warranty is being offered for the low, low price of whatever you have to stop and think. These things depreciate. A standard PC now is going to be less powerful than a kids game console in 5 years time. A TV is going to be half the price with twice the features in 5 years time. Is it really worth spending that much more for peace of mind? The answer is usually no.

Another factor to be aware of is your perception of the seller. This could be from experience or brand reputation. If you get a good deal from a seller once, you may be tempted to think that other items they sell are also good deals. But quite often sellers use what are call loss leaders. These are items they sell at near cost to give the appearance of being good value, and indeed they are - for that item alone.

Returning faulty goods to online retailers? Yeah, I'll give you that one. I once sent a tv to france for repair and it cost €80 in shipping AND I had no tv for a month. But you know what? I'm not addicted to Eastenders, so I survived somehow. And I had €120 in savings to console myself with.

So if you're wondering where I'm going with this, or if this particular tale has a moral of some kind it's this: be prepared. Before you work yourself up into a wallet-busting frenzy, take a step back and have a look around. A good source of local information I use is the Bargain Alerts forum on boards.ie. You can see current alerts that others have posted, post requests in the sub-forum or chat and discuss experiences with sellers.

So, first post done :) More tomorrow