Last summer, I went to a neighborhood-wide yard sale event. When the owners are sitting in their lawn chairs in the garage doorway, and you're the only shopper perusing the tables on the driveway, subtlety is just not an option. A few times my actions escaped notice, but twice I was caught red-handed. Yes, I was investigating resale price. The owners of the remote-controlled monster truck said they'd heard of people researching prices on their phones, and they wanted to know what I found. (I found they were asking twice the truck's value.) The owners of the Lionel model train were pretty sure both the train and its box (which did not match) were valuable; I didn't disillusion them, but an observant onlooker might point out I didn't buy this valuable train. The exciting part of yard sale-ing is when you discover a functioning Samsung Alias for $5, which you sell for $40, and your buyer returns it because the battery won't charge, which wasn't true when you tested it, and now the Alias is sitting in a basket on your desk, forevermore. I'm sure you see, now, that if you're not tapping this bank, you're missing quite an opportunity. Or you could find poorly-listed electronics on eBay that sell for half their value, and make a 100% ROI when you flip them. But I still love yard sales. They're charming.
All
that to say, you should always do a price check when you make a decent-sized purchase. It takes seconds, and can be a real money-saver. I don't expect you to research before purchasing a tube of Pringles, and I think you already know to check your options before you buy a camera (you'd better be buying a DSLR... your cell phone suffices for point-and-shoot). I'm talking about the in-between purchases... like a pair of shoes or a hardcover collection of Fitzgerald's works. Here's how the affair might proceed:
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You wouldn't usually buy sandals like that, but there's something about them that's calling your name. (Pardon me, if this example is not appealing to every demographic in my target market.) The typical solution to these dilemmas is to try on the shoes and discover that you hate them. Unfortunately, the attempt has failed. They're fun and they're comfortable; now you're in a pickle. You try not to be an impulse buyer, so you ponder your closet. Is this purchase justifiable? You decide that these sandals will keep you comfortable throughout one highly-anticipated, highly-perambulatory event, coming up in mere months. Yes, they should be purchased. You do not, however, approve of such price tags. That means it's time for phase 2 of Operation Footwear.
After you've used
SnipSnap to check for coupons to the store where you're shopping, open your
Amazon Mobile app, and touch the barcode scanner. If the item is available for sale on Amazon, the price will be a good representation of about the best price you'll find from retailers. For most people this is sufficient research. If the price is the same or is close enough to the brick and mortar price that you're happy, go for it. However, I would continue with an
eBay app investigation. Start with the barcode scanner, but you're not going to find every listing that way, because not every listing will include enough product details to show up in your barcode search. If you proceed to search by brand, style name, or other keywords, you can sleep well tonight, knowing your effort was thorough.
This method of checking that you're shopping smart is the best of both worlds: you don't have the risk of not being able to see the physical item, but you still get the best price possible. Just get into the habit of scanning the barcode through Amazon, and see whether you don't end up saving a few dollars... not a bad hourly wage, considering that the investigation should take about 15 seconds. Checking eBay, also, will probably save you more money, but it also takes a few more minutes, so you need to decide whether its worthwhile, probably depending on the size of the purchase.
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