Do you impulse buy sometimes or is it always a long thought out process?

[moshquerade]

Last night I placed an order on Amazon and afterwards I thought, 'I don't really need this'. It was just such a great deal. Luckily with Amazon there's a nice window of opportunity to cancel an order and they make it so easy to cancel right online. I cancelled the order and realized that was really a dumb impulse buy.

Anyone else purchase on impulse and then likely regret it?

 

[iamwiz82]

Not much of an impulse buyer. It took me 3 or 4 visits to Costco looking at the selection before I finally settled on a GPS. I prefer to research the snot out of things first.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Not much of an impulse buyer. It took me 3 or 4 visits to Costco looking at the selection before I finally settled on a GPS. I prefer to research the snot out of things first.

I'm exactly the same.

I researched the Sharp 42" AQUOS® LC-42D64U for at least 5 hours before pulling the trigger at $1,000 with free shipping :thumbsup:

 

[bonkers325]

i almost never purchase on impulse. the one time i did, i regretted it cuz the item i bought was a POS and i returned it

i usually do my research, make sure the product i am settling on is a good product, and then purchase it. my last 'impulse buy' was a 46" Sceptre LCD from Costco, which was a crappy tv, so i returned it and bought something else

 

[krunchykrome]

I used to be an impulse buyer. Only lately, maybe starting six months ago, have I gotten incredibly conservative with money and my spending decisions.

 

[leftyman]

Depends on the what the item is, and the use and cost of said item.

 

[Garet Jax]

I routinely impulse buy my lunch (especially when I'm on travel and using an expense account).

 

[JRich]

I come up with reasons NOT to have something

 

[HammerCurl]

Originally posted by: leftyman
Depends on the what the item is, and the use and cost of said item.

True deezy

 

[Cogman]

I never impulse buy anything over $50. and very rarely things over $20. What can I say? Im a computer nerd that doesn't mind research. It took me like 4 months before got all the parts for my current C2D machine.

 

[Tiamat]

Both. I typically research the hell outta my purchases before I actually lay down the cash. Sometimes, if an item is less than a certain amount (depending on my mood), ill just buy it impulsively (typically music cds).

 

[jjones]

Almost never impulse buy.

 

[NuclearNed]

I was an impulse buyer when I was younger (read: teens & early 20's). But now that I'm older, every purchase is a long thought out process to the point of being ridiculous.

 

[pontifex]

depends on what it is. If i want something that is expensive, i do a lot of looking for the best price and stuff or if there are many models of something, i do a lot of research on them before choosing.

sometimes i get paralysis by analysis. this means that i analyze my choices so much that i end up not buying something for a long time.

i rarely impulse buy though, unless its cheap. i almost always know beforehand what I want.

 

[nwfsnake]

cheap = impulse
expensive = analyze the crap out of it

 

[bignateyk]

Everything I buy tends to be an impulse buy. Like the iPod nano I bought yesterday.

 

[Josh]

Impulse bought an iMac when the new ones first came out (4-5 years ago) - still happy with it. Impulse bought an iPod touch when it was announced on the website - hopefully going to be happy with it. And, just yesterday I impulse purchased a blackberry 8830 to replace my verizon xv6700 pocket pc - I'll let you know in a few days if I'm happy with it

 

[miketheidiot]

the only things I impulse buy are beer and whiskey.

 

[Casawi]

Yes a 20K car , if I thought longer about I could of bought something different.

 

[ZzZGuy]

On a single item, $50 is no problem, but the most $50 items i buy the more i think about if i can live without it. For expensive items (over $200) i do a lot of research first. But i still use excuses like "instead of buying a used car, i'm biking everywhere so i can spend the money i saved from that on a expensive gaming rig".

I do not fall for the trap of sales, something could be 102% off and i'll think "do i even want that taking up space in my apartment?".


My spending is also based on "i want to save XXXX amount of money, after i reach this goal i'll be more lose with my spending"

 

[ForumMaster]

never. i research a lot about any item i plan on getting.

 

[Rastus]

I can stand in the toilet paper isle of a supermarket for hours trying to figure out exactly which one to buy. Option anxiety FTL.

 

[TheAdvocate]

$50 is the dividing line for me.

< $50 - sometimes, though I usually talk myself out of it before I get to the register.
> $50 - NEVER.

I think it's a guy thing. We don't shop. We acquire. When we enter a store, we already know exactly what we're there for and we usually go right for it.

 

[fatpat268]

I don't impulse buy simply because I know I don't have the money to keep that habit up.

That said, I was debating on whether or not to buy new shoes online for about a week, and I finally pulled the trigger yesterday (got a good deal too). It's not so much like that for me with computer equipment because I generally know what I need/want, so there isn't usually much research involved.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Josh
Impulse bought an iMac when the new ones first came out (4-5 years ago) - still happy with it. Impulse bought an iPod touch when it was announced on the website - hopefully going to be happy with it. And, just yesterday I impulse purchased a blackberry 8830 to replace my verizon xv6700 pocket pc - I'll let you know in a few days if I'm happy with it

Verizon disabled the GPS on the 8830. :|