Black Belt Shopper
(featured column)

To Buy or Not to Buy

by Larry Wiener

There it was in the store, the bread machine that would do everything; pizza dough, bagels, you name it.  It had every bell and whistle.  It even had a device that would squirt in the herbs.  It was on sale for 1/2 price, about $60.  I had a coupon for an extra 10% off. Being one who loves gadgets, I was tempted to buy it.  More...

But wait a minute, I told myself.  I have a basic bread machine that I barely use.  Will this new toy be an incentive for me to bake bread or will it just be yet another piece of clutter that goes from the cupboard to the garage?  If I baked too much bread, would I then put on too much weight?
 
I didn't know the answers to any of those questions, but then I wondered if I'd pass up the bargain of a lifetime.  As I walked around and thought about it, I realized that I was not anywhere near ready to make that purchase.  I hadn't researched the item and I hadn't thought about whether I would use it.   And, as I have learned in the past, almost never is a sale so great that it will never be repeated.  I figured that I had time to think and research.
 
So what questions did I ask?  What process did I use to decide if I should buy this item?  I'll let you in on a little of my thinking. Hopefully it will help you with making buying decisions.
 
* Am I actually going to use this item?  What kind of a bargain is this machine if it stays in the cupboard?  I figured that one way to see if I would actually use the new bread machine is to use my basic machine for a few loaves.  This way I can see if I really want to bake more bread and see if there are features I wish I had.
 
* Is this a true sale?  Not all sales are true sales.  Some merchants jack up the retail price when they first get an item and then put it on sale for a long time.  When I did a little research, I found out that dozens of sellers on e-bay had this same model for about the same price as the department store or maybe even a little lower, even if you include shipping.  It probably is a model the manufacturer is phasing out.  This takes some of the urgency out of the purchase.
 
* Is this model as good as the box says it is?  I went to epinions.com to see what current owners had to say about it.  For this model, the reports are quite good, so it looks promising.
 
* What impact does this have on my budget?  I can afford the purchase price-no problem there.  Still, I don't want to waste my discretionary money because, after all, a bread maker isn't the only new toy I want now.  Also, what impact will its use have on my budget?  I can probably buy bread at Trader Joe's or an outlet for less than I would pay for the ingredients for the bread maker.  Is the small amount of extra money for ingredients worth it to me?

 
* Can I get it used?  No doubt there are bread machines still in boxes or only used once or twice in people's garages that they want to get rid of.  Maybe someone has a high-end machine at a good price through the ads.  I told myself I'd check out the Recycler and ebay.
 
* Might I do better if I wait?  One of the trademarks of black belt shopping is timing.  The costs of technology go down as new models come out.  I also know that a major department store chain which carries that model here is closing a number of stores starting this Sunday.  I may do well by waiting a couple of days.  With all those e-bay sellers, I have those few days.
 
So, as of now my decision became a definite maybe.  That weekend I'd bake some bread on my old machine and go to the store closing sale. Then I'll see what I want to do.
 
Some of you may be thinking that if I wait until after the weekend, I'll miss the best sale and pay a few dollars more than I would have had I bought it last weekend.  That may be true, but I was not at peace about buying then.  Not so.  The store didn't mark down the machine that much in its closing sale.
 
After looking at sales, ebay, and the Recycler, I found a very similar machine in the Recycler for $18-about $50 less than the one in that "fabulous" sale.  The seller had the box and manuals.  She said that the bread it made was delicious, but she just didn't have time to use it.  She seemed like an earnest person.  I had baked bread in my old machine and it really didn't turn out as well as bread I had had at other people's houses from better machines than my old one, so maybe this would be an upgrade. 
 
I was willing to risk $18 to find out (usually I'm right in these deals).  I figured the stakes were small enough that even if I were wrong, it would just be one of the one of the few deals that don't go right.  A small cost to pay for all the ones that go right.
 
So, this weekend I will be baking bread. 
 
And there you have it--one more element of black belt shopping--take your time and do your research.  You can learn the whole system in my e-book . The Black Belt Shopper's Guide which is available on this site.

 *  *  *

Copyright © 2006 by Larry Wiener, author of The Black Belt Shopper. All rights reserved.

Want more money-saving tips?  Get a FREE Subscription to our monthly newsletter!