Caveat Emptor
(Prosperity - Brian S. Glaser) Ask the average person if they would ever consider buying a new car online and the likely response is, "What're you, crazy? I totally need to kick the tires."
But the same car-buyer would never enter the showroom without having done some online research. Checking out the merchandise from the comforts of home is now de riguer in nearly every consumer category. And since purchasing just about anything, especially big-ticket showroom items like cars or appliances , is a minor war waged between buyer and seller, he who arrives to the battlefield best armed wins the day.
There are specific strategies for online research and shopping (and in many categories, actual buying too), but here are a few general guidelines that you can use to arm yourself for any purchase:
Get the excitement out of the way
The biggest pitfall of any purchase is that impulsive rush to buy. Whether you're driven by the shiny new model at the Toyota dealership or the smugly amusing "Mac vs. PC" ads run by Apple, the feeling that you must have this thing, right now, can part you from your money in a heartbeat. The distance offered by your Web browser is the best armor: shop from site to site, read reviews, and click ads or anything else that helps you engage with the product.
Essentially, you're accomplishing two things: getting your research done, and letting the initial excitement come earlier in the process (but with your credit card in the other room). You’ve got more time to consider all of the rational reasons for not making the buy--whether the new computer will work with your printer or whether the smaller, less expensive speakers are the right size for your studio apartment.
Compare, compare, and compare again
In the pre-Internet days, comparing prices meant working the phones or fighting for parking spots in multiple malls. It could be hard to keep track of what you'd seen, what you'd been told, what the slight differences were model-to-model. You might get worn out and make the purchase at the last place you shopped.
Now, direct side-by-side comparison requires no parking spot. The most important tool is a tabbed browser. The latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari all allow you to open up multiple tabs in a single window (To open a new tab, try File New Tab or some browsers, like firefox, may allow you to open a new tab with a keystroke command, such as CTRL+T.). Take advantage of this by opening a new browser window and giving each online store and research site its own tab-- you can easily flip through all the information, and keep track of what you've seen & where you've seen it. As you narrow your search, narrow down your tabs.
You can also use comparison shopping engines like Shopping.com, MySimon.com and Yahoo! Shopping, which all let you search or browse for a specific product, then see price offers from multiple stores. You can sort by price, brand, shipping cost, or other factors. Use these services with a wary eye, however: the sites oftencharge stores for "premium placement," meaning that certain retailers will show up at the top even if they do not have the best price or service. And some sites don’t include major online discounters that don’t subscribe to their service.
Not every good deal is really good or even a deal
Retailers don't want an overly educated customer if they can help it, so they make it difficult in little ways. Within a particular category--such as home-theater systems or mattress/box-spring sets--each price point may have items by the same manufacturer with slightly different model numbers or option packages. If a $200 DVD player on Site A is $175 on Site B, look for an extra letter at the end of the model number (like "PX-390e") or a small extra word (like PX-390 combo or deluxe) in the product name. These are tip-offs that you are not doing an apples-to-apples comparison.
Some sites also lower their prices up front, only to make it up later. Look to see what the shipping costs are at each site, and watch out for "handling" or "convenience" fees. Buying a printer at your local computer store might cost $25 more than online, but you might save on shipping and hidden extras.
Don't just look for price
Finding a low price is fantastic, but knowing what you're buying is even more key. It can be hard to distinguish good information from bad online, so keep a few things in mind as you do your research:
- Use trusted sites: Each product category usually has its own top-tier sites for product reviews and information. For example, the technology reviews on Cnet are far more trustworthy than what you might find on a random blog, and the information on Consumer Reports is top-notch (though you have to pay to read it).
- Don't skip the user reviews: Relying entirely on user opinions is never a good idea, but they are helpful in their own way. The people posting user reviews on sites like Amazon are more like you than a professional reviewer (i.e., they buy one computer every five years, instead of testing several a month) and their experiences can be eye-opening. Plus, users are more likely to present the review without insider-y industry jargon.
- Look for patterns: Skim through user reviews and see if there are specific complaints that pop up in more than half of the reviews, or if there is a general tone to the posts. Did half a dozen reviewers all have the same problem uploading images from a particular digital camera? Do difficulties with a company's customer-service department keep cropping up? Are the user reviews way different from the professional reviews?
Use the cross-sell and up-sell to your advantage
When you visit a department store, the different levels of the same product line are usually side by side. This is to entice you to get the souped-up version of the flat-screen TV (look how much sharper that picture is when it's on a bigger screen!), but it also lets you soberly assess the differences if you go up a level, down a level or over to a competing brand.
Many websites offer the same opportunity, but in the guise of the cross-sell or up-sell. Amazon's "Customers who bought this item also bought..." feature usually includes the same products that would be next to each other in a store. Open each one into a separate browser tab or use the site's product-comparison tools to look at the options--this will give you benefits of seeing similar products without having a pushy salesperson talking in your ear. You also might find out about some essential cable or case that you'd need to go back and buy, which you'll want to add into your budget computations.
Buy used
Car shoppers know that your new vehicle loses 20% of its value the second you drive it off the lot; buying the previous model year with reasonable mileage can be the best deal going. Today's broad online marketplace expands that concept to nearly anything: furniture, software, books, CDs, grills, iPod accessories, etc. While there are plenty of things where second-hand is no bargain (e.g., mattresses, underwear), in many instances a quick trip to eBay or Amazon's Marketplace will reveal a month-old version of something at half the price you've found for it new.
So, caveat emptor -- Certainly, you need to beware of any used product's actual condition (check to see if it is still under warranty and if the warranty is transferrable). Many of the used-goods sites also include small, independent sellers who are posting brand-new, full-warranty versions of your product for less than you'll find elsewhere. (Again, be sure to check and double-check their shipping, handling and return polices.)
