Poll of the Day > Do you get buyers remorse frequently when buying stuff online?

(+) Yeah! (+)

But of course you can't just return it to a physical store when it's online, usually you have to pay for return shipping. What do you usually do when this happens to you? keep it?

The entire last year's summer sale.

I don't think I've touched over 30% of the games I bought.

There is a lot of stuff I never would have bought had it been at retail. Online shopping is terrible because it facilitates impulse buying.
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you usually keep the stuff? doesn't happen to me often though, you have to be careful

I don't buy things unless I want them and so far there have been only a handful of returns for damage, mistakes, didn't fit, or whatever. Some could be returned to a local store.
What kinds of things are people buying that they'd regret?

Sometimes, yes.

I usually just sell it on Craigslist or some other online classified site.

I recently bought a study guide for an actuarial exam that costed one-hundred and fifty of my American dollars. Then I realized that the entire point of this summer vacation was to try and relax and cut back on the studying, because that's precisely what had worn me down the previous semester and why I had only planned on studying on the side. I don't technically need the study guide at the mo', because I have no examinations scheduled; it was only for self-study, and such. It's likely going to be slightly outdated by the time I actually take the test, but it's alright. I mean, it costs thirty-two of my American dollars to send back, and I'm likely going to need it in the future, anyway, so I kept it. It just wasn't worth the return shipping costs. I'm just not in a place where I can study so rigorously, anyway; I'd planned on putting it off until after graduation, and such. I realize that this makes me look pretty lazy and incompetent to employers, but I'm just so mentally exhausted from reliving my anxiety-inducing memories, not having any friends to enjoy life with, and not enjoying life in general, to the point that I don't feel like I can do anything at all. The knowledge that I'm not trying as hard as most other people do haunts me and gives me bad anxiety, and makes me unable to focus. As a result, I always have this constant sense of feeling inferior to other people, that I'm not doing enough. Then I worry if I'm going to be like this after graduation, and that makes me worry even more, because I can't think of another career path I might enter besides the actuarial one. And that just drains even more of my energy to do stuff. Anyway, this is what my buyer's remorse entailed.
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*coughs up blood*
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Nope. I only buy shit that I want or need.


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CwebbMichSac4 posted...

you usually keep the stuff? doesn't happen to me often though, you have to be careful

Well, I still have the Nightmare on Elm Street collection I bought during a 2008 or 2009 Black Friday because it was $20, so yes.

DPsx7 posted...

What kinds of things are people buying that they'd regret?

Movies, games, collectibles, etc.

Bugmeat posted...

Nope. I only buy shit that I want or need.

I'm sure I wanted it at that exact second.
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That doesn't fully answer it though. Why would anyone buy a movie, game, whatever, without wanting it enough to not have remorse? Excluding major sales of course but in that case you're probably not spending excessive amounts of money.

I've bought tons of things I haven't played yet. Hopefully I will. Luckily I'm not into movies. On second thought I may not be the right person for the question. Let's say I'm kinda cheap. Rarely go on vacation and if so it's less than a couple hours away for a night. Might go out to eat a few times a year tops. You know I avoid phones, Steam, heavy drinking, and other bad things. Basically it's not impulse, nearly all purchases are deliberate.

No. Outside of hobbies and stuff I'm very, very frugal with spending money.

I usually just buy things I need and do a little bit of research so I know I'll get good use of them. Last big purchase was buying bulk t-shirts, socks, and boxers lmao

Edit - I do have regrets with a bunch of music gear but 9 times out of 10 I'll end up really liking it years later. Like this one amp I bought, thought it was shit and then 4 years later couldn't get enough of it.

DPsx7 posted...

That doesn't fully answer it though. Why would anyone buy a movie, game, whatever, without wanting it enough to not have remorse? Excluding major sales of course but in that case you're probably not spending excessive amounts of money.

Again, impulse purchases. That's been stated again and again. It takes a few seconds to order anything. By the time you actually receive it, your feelings could have turned to "meh" and then a month later it's a matter of, "Why did I buy that?", because it's just another thing sitting around.

And "excessive" happens when you add a lot of purchases up >_>

DPsx7 posted...

I've bought tons of things I haven't played yet.

That's different. If you still intend on playing it, that's just a backlog in many cases. However, if I buy something on sale and it goes cheaper before I play it, I effectively just wasted money.
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Not anymore, I've gotten better with my online purchasing.
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I recently bought a study manual for an actuarial exam I won't be taking anytime soon. It's going to be slightly outdated, but I wasn't going to pay thirty-two of my American dollars to return a book that was one-hundred and fifty American dollars. I am going to use it eventually. I thought I would use it learn how to study effectively for practice, but then I remembered that I wanted to relax for the summer because I was so burnt out from the past few semesters of doing nothing but that. So I'm putting it off until later. It'll likely become slightly outdated by the time I choose to schedule an exam date, but that's okay; I can probably look up the new material introduced somewhere. Employers will very likely call me lazy and incompetent, but I'm just really fatigued in general these days; I don't even have enough energy to enjoy my summer vacation properly. I also bought Super Mario RPG on the Wii VC, but haven't finished it yet, because I realized much later that I don't like turn-based RPGs. These are my only instances of buyer's remorse, in recent memory. So to answer TC's question, no I do not experience buyer's remorse that frequently.
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