Why Do I Always Find a Better Deal AFTER I buy it?
By glblguy
Picture by: Manuel W.
You may have noticed a new Amazon.com widget on the bottom of my right-hand sidebar. I added this new widget as I noticed it was offering some outstanding deals on other blogs that had it installed. Well, today, the “deal of the day” is a $19.99 blood pressure meter.
The last few times I’ve been to the doctor, my blood pressure was higher than it should be. Each time, this was attributed to “white coat” syndrome. Recently, I went to have my broken wrist checked and my blood pressure was high again. I decided to test the “white coat” theory by getting my own blood pressure monitor and checking it at various times during the day.
Not following my own advice, I visited our local Walgreens (my favorite pharmacy). Frankly, this was also just a case of me not really thinking out of the box, as it didn’t even click with me that I could buy a blood pressure meter online. Walgreen’s had an assortment of these little devices. From a pure manual one (stethoscope included) to fully automatic with tons of features. The one I really wanted was a wrist blood pressure meter. But it was $59.99 at Walgreens. The normal cuff style one with a manual pump was $39.99, $20.00 cheaper. I went with the normal one.
Of course, as always happens, I found the one I really wanted significantly less expensive today, just one day after buying the one I really didn’t want at Walgreens for $39.99. The icing on the cake? It was right on my own blog in the new deals widget I added!
I considered returning it to Walgreens and buying the one from Amazon, but it just wasn’t worth the trouble nor do I really have time with everything going on this week.
Does this just happen to me? It seems like every time I purchase something, no matter how much I research it, I almost always find a better deal within a few hours or days of buying something.
Does this happen to you? If so, I’d love to hear stories…misery loves company you know :-)
November 21st, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Yep – me too!! Although, I am getting better about checking a few sources before making even a decent sized purchase. The internet is making it easier for us to check up on this kind of stuff… But, of course we still have to do it ;)
November 21st, 2007 at 2:48 pm
You didn’t see that woot.com has the same as the amazon one for 15.99 today, did you?
November 21st, 2007 at 3:05 pm
It could be worse. I’m convinced this has happened to me with my house. Shortly after I moved in, the people opposite me put their house for sale. It’s in slightly better decorative condition than mine, and more importantly it’s on a bigger plot.
I know that they’re looking for more money, but I reckon that they’ll have to sell for about the amount that I paid for mine.
November 21st, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I’ve resolved not to check the price of items I bought. I don’t want to drive myself insane.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:28 pm
@ChristianPF – Good, I am not alone then :-)
@Justin – No. You know, I need to make it a habit to check woot daily.
@plonkee – Same here. We paid too much for ours as well :-(
@Pinyo – Good advice. I should stop looking too…
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:50 am
glblguy — I suffer from a similar syndrome ;-) What happens to me is that a new upgraded version comes out right after I finally buy a product. I held out on asking for an iPod because I really wanted a Nano in a pretty color, not black or white. I finally gave up. Two weeks after getting a white Nano for my birthday, the 2nd generation colored Nanos came out.
November 22nd, 2007 at 2:33 am
The same thing happens to me with gas, I’ll be driving by one gas station that’s cheaper than many I’ve seen, so I’ll get gas, then on the way home i find one for sometimes a good bit cheaper than what i spent.
Fixed that by knowing when I’d have to go get gas, and looking online to find the cheapest gas on my way for that time, it’s saved me some money without me having to drive around and negate the savings from driving more miles.
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:19 am
@Elizabeth – Same thing happens to me. Like you said, I wait and wait then finally make a decision, and then a week later the new version comes out. It’s a never ending battle I think.
@Thryah – You know, I’ve kind of stopped paying attention to gas prices, which is probably a poor financial decision. So I’m certain the same thing happens to me to. How accurate do you find the online gas price websites?
Thanks to both of you for commenting!
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I only tend to use them for the bigger gas stations around here, as they end up being cheaper, so no idea on accuracy for non-chain places and the like, but mapquest.com has been accurate in the past for me.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:15 pm
@Thryah – Thanks, I’ll have to check that out and start researching a bit. Great suggestion.
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:44 am
This is always happening to me too. Especially when I buy a DVD or CD that I have wanted it comes out very soon after in a new “special edition” with a bunch of extras or special content on it for the same price as what I had paid for mine without the extras.
November 23rd, 2007 at 8:34 am
@K – I agree, learned this one the hardway when the LOTR DVDs came out. Thanks!
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:07 am
@LOTR disks: It was advertised far and wide that the special LOTR discs were coming before the original discs were released.
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 am
Justin – Yes I know…missed it the first time around, didn’t make the same mistake the second time around.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:04 am
happens to me all the time. i delay buying stuff because of it. sometimes after i buy it, i don’t check the price for it anymore. i don’t want to know.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Hi natural, I wish I didn’t check so I wouldn’t know. I just can’t seem to help it…ignorance is bliss huh? :-)
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:18 am
It’s definitely a good idea to stop shopping after you purchase. Or, if you do, check to see if the store you bought from has a price match guarantee that works after the sale.
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:03 pm
@Justin – Good point. I actually posted an article today about a service that watches for price drops.