Do you research items before you buy them?

[HundredK]

I am curious if you all tend to research items well before you buy them?

I think one thing I am learning as I work on being budget conscious is that researching an item tends to work against me. The second I start learning about a product I need to buy, I invariably find other features in the more expensive version that seem suddenly so necessary, and find things about the cheaper version that I dislike. And of course I always find out that the middle-to-low end products are nowhere near the same quality as the higher-end products. And then it's easy to convince myself that it's best to go ahead and get the better one. Easily swayed by good marketing and user reviews, I guess.

How do you guys approach it? Is it best just not to research it and base a decision on cost alone?

Slowly but surely I'm learning the keys to being a bit more frugal, but I have a long way to go. Sigh. Oh well, planning on not buying much of anything for a while moving forward, but curious what a more sane approach might be.

[Jluke]

I research the heck out of just about everything I buy. I track pricing on certain items over a period of time (currently been pricing washer/dryers for a year or so, but even with all of the "sales" the price never really changes - go figure).

So I try to time the bigger purchases; like a 4-hour flash sale at Best Buy that happened last summer for the laptop I had my eye on; and I'm currently using. Or items on Amazon that I see fluctuate in price; I'll buy it when it hits that low price again if it went up.

As far as the 3 tiers, if you can easily afford the top item you should consider it. For instance, iPhone 32GB, 128GB or 256GB. Get the most memory you can or settle for the 128GB (that's what I did).

For appliances, you may just want to pick the one in the middle tier.

It's a fine line on price vs quality, but I always say you get what you pay for. When I buy something, I tend to take care of it and keep it for a very long time (just replaced my iPhone 4S after 4 years of using that one).

And some items can be too feature-rich that you will get caught up in that marketing game. "Ooh, but this one has this feature and I never knew I needed it, but I do" ;-)

Finally, all that research can lead to analysis paralysis, so watch out for that. happens to me all of the time.

[kork13]

I always research larger purchases ($100-$200 or more), and often smaller items as well, just to ensure that I'm getting the best option for the price. I tend to settle in the middle for most of my purchases... There tends to be a point at which getting more expensive doesn't really add any distinct benefit, or those added benefits are meaningless to me. That's typically the price point at which I will buy. From the washer & dryer set we just bought for our new house (~$1k), to the smoke/CO detectors we just installed in the old/now-rental house (~$80), or the replacement car that I'm going to be buying for myself this winter ($25k+).

I also know the unit costs ($/oz) for alot of the groceries I buy often, so that I can stock up when they go on a legitimate sale. .....that is, versus engineered sales, where they "discount" an item based on its full retail price (or a completely imaginary price), which after applying said "discount" is approximately the same price that the seller always sells an item. Furniture, grocery, and appliance sellers are very guilty of this tactic.

[HundredK]

I track pricing on certain items over a period of time .

I like this idea a lot, and think I will start doing this as well. Thanks!

[FLA]

I track the price on Amazon with Camel, camel, camel if it's a large purchase. Half the time I read so many Amazon reviews (even if I'm not buying the item there) that I'm sick to death of the item and don't buy it, lol

if it's in Consumer Reports, I lean towards what they deem a Best Buy. An item in the middle that has some of the features you are likely to use but not every bell and whistle.