MarketWatch tells us that 57% of holiday shoppers will be making non-gift purchases for themselves this year with the average personal expenditure being $107.50. Ha!
I must admit that my personal list is getting quite healthy. I guess it's because I'm shopping more -- both online and in stores -- and I'm seeing things that are new/I like. And based on what I'm seeing, I'm surprised the amount is only $107! ;-)
Anyway, MarketWatch says to wait until after the holidays to buy items for yourself since retailers will be looking to unload excess inventory and prices will drop (of course, selection will drop as well.) Taking this one step farther, they list the top seven things that you should wait to buy if you're buying for yourself as follows:
1. Champagne and Fine Wine. Bottles of bubbly and fine wine usually go on sale around the holidays and the prices get slashed even further the weeks that follow.
2. Baking Ingredients
3. Electronics. In January companies roll out all their new models of computers, cameras, cell phones, printers … you name it. While early adapters salivate over the newest and latest tech gadgets, January is a great time for everyone else to buy the most recent models - which will, no doubt, be discounted heavily to make room for the new.
4. Winter Clothes & Accessories
5. Refurbished Goods. Expect stores’ “refurbished” bins - where returned appliances and gadgets get a 10 to 20% discount - to be well-stocked after the holidays, as people return unwanted gifts.
6. Holiday Cards, Wrapping Paper, Ornaments
7. Calendars.
Here's my take on these:
1. I don't drink champagne and fine wine, so I have no issue on this one.
2. Baking ingredients? Really? Aren't these items regularly on sale throughout the year?
3. I've been looking for a computer for some time now and I know what I want. If I find it at what I think is a "good" price, I'm going to buy it. Could I save maybe $50 by waiting until January? Maybe. Then again, maybe retailers will be sold out of the computer I'm looking for and I'll get nothing (or have to settle). I'd rather get what I want at a "good" price.
4. We regularly buy items after the season is over and use them for the next year. Then again, winter in Michigan is eight months long, so we make these purchases in July. (Ok, I'm joking, but winter does last through March for sure and usually into April.)
5. I've never purchased refurbished. Personally I'd rather pay more and get something new. Am I wasting money doing this?
6. See comments on #4 -- same thing.
7. We have a paper calendar in our kitchen and my wife carries a small one in her purse. Everything else is electronic.
How about you? See anything here you can/should wait on? Or maybe something on the list that you will NOT wait to buy?
Buying refurbished electronics is usually OK. It can be called refurbished for any number of reasons (bad hard drive, or memory, broken screen, bad power cord). They are repaired back to factory condition and resold. Many times the 1 year warranty will still be valid since it should have been repaired by a certified technician. My viewpoint on electronics is that the will either fail in the first 90 days or not for 90 years(also read as never). The mechanical portions of a device can fail (buttons, wheels, knobs, etc.), but the electronics are usually either faulty from the beginning, or good for life. You will find out real quick.
Posted by: Jon | November 19, 2010 at 08:26 AM
I agree with Jon on refurbished goods. Especially electronics. Often it just means someone opened the box, and then returned the item.
But electronics can die later - e.g. hard drives. It's the mechanical part that fails, but not just like a loose wheel or knob. But in any case, that won't be the case for refurbished.
Posted by: Mark | November 19, 2010 at 09:24 AM
I too agree on the above with refurbished electronics.
Posted by: J | November 19, 2010 at 09:35 AM
Buying refurbished electronics is a great way to save a huge chunk of $ -- from cameras, to digital televisions, to laptops.
Posted by: Holly | November 19, 2010 at 09:41 AM
gift wrap? baking ingrediants? a paper calendar?
With the exception of electronics, nothing on this list is very expensive or even very critical to buy any time of the year. So the list is really not much of a help saving money!
I'd also never purchase refurbished electronics--those things have short enough lives as it is.
Posted by: MC | November 19, 2010 at 09:56 AM
I refuse to buy refurbished myself, especially electronics. Electronics such as computers are highly technical pieces of equipment that rely on everything funcioning properly especially at the motherboard level.
In many cases if one component has an electrical surge, other things can be damaged while the real cause of the surge goes undetected. Its a lot like having a short in your car wiring and your alternator keeps dying, so you replace your alternator, but the wiring problem is still there. In the meantime you replaced multiple alternators before realizing the true problem and wasting all that money. I'll pay the extra 30% any day for brand new with no issues.
Posted by: jason | November 19, 2010 at 09:56 AM
"I refuse to buy refurbished myself, especially electronics. Electronics such as computers are highly technical pieces of equipment that rely on everything funcioning properly especially at the motherboard level. "
But if something is wrong you will know it immediately. Electronics either work or they don't. I think people confuse mechanical parts of consumer electronics with the actually electronic components of them. A button may fail, or the mechanical portion of a hard drive, but without someoutside influence (power failure, overheating, sudden jarring or pressure), electronics just generally do not fail.
Why not take the chance of buying refurbished. Especially if it has the same factory warranty. If it is a lemon, you will know real fast.
Posted by: jon | November 19, 2010 at 10:11 AM
Harping on refurbished still... Jon, you may be right about the non-mechanical issues, but I still have a problem with the idea in general. Major electronics companies such as Sony would love to get rid of their pre-broken stuff for 3/4 the price of new... They already have a certain amount wrapped up in the device, so why not pawn it off and take as small a hit as possible? It's almost like a slap in the face to the consumer since they are willing to sell you something that has past issues. Warranty does not buy me since the actual process of claiming your warranty is typically a huge pain, not to mention shipping costs. I have to go with the old adage of, "you get what you pay for."
Posted by: jason | November 19, 2010 at 10:29 AM
While I am a software engineer, I have been taking apart and upgrading computers and am the neighborhood & family tech support.
I will buy refurbished. The warranty is usually as good if not better as they would rather sell it discounted than take a hit. If the machine lasts 90 days chances are it will last a long time. You need to do proper maintenance, of course.
If buying refurbished means you can buy a better computer (better chip, bus speed) then you will not need to upgrade sooner.
Posted by: Paula1849 | November 19, 2010 at 10:34 AM
@jason
How would you know if you don't buy refurbished yourself. And an electronics company has no desire to pawn off crap on their customers. It only hurts their name. This is why I say that most people have no idea what refurbished even means. It means fixed to original factory specifications. Most refurbished electronics have had things such as broken screens replaced, lemon hard drives or memory replaced, or other things like video cards, sound cards, or network cards replaced. It could even be because someone bought it, opened it, and the returned it. It's no more likely to fail than if it was purchased brand new.
Posted by: jon | November 19, 2010 at 10:59 AM
After previously buying only new, I bought a refurbished HP laptop about a year ago. By buying refurbished I was able to both save some money and get a better computer. I was a little nervous about the possibility of getting a lemon, but I've had no problems whatsoever with it. Having done it once, I would do it again without hesitation.
Posted by: cmadler | November 19, 2010 at 11:17 AM
Jon,
I wouldnt know about refurbished because I wont take the risk, but I will know if something isnt working correctly. How do you know what is wrong with most refurbished electronics? I have not seen any data that explains what usually breaks. To me its principle as well. When you buy refurbished you have given the manufacturer a pass, the action you take in buying refurbished says "I will buy your item even though it is not new and was not at 100% function when it was new." A company that cares about its reputation and not its bottom line will not sell refurbished goods in my opinion. I dont care if it is fixed and promised to work, I dont want pre-broken goods.
Posted by: jason | November 19, 2010 at 12:51 PM
My wife got a refurbished iphone. It works great, and was much cheaper.
Posted by: Paul | November 19, 2010 at 12:57 PM
I'm like you in the fact that I will not agonize over finding the "best" deal on something - a "good" deal is good enough. Could we have saved $100 on our laptop if we waited until Black Friday? Maybe, but $500 for a 4GB/500gb Toshiba seemed good enough to us and we get to use it in October and November too, lol.
Posted by: Crystal@BFS | November 19, 2010 at 01:22 PM
Apparently now is a great time to buy appliances; there are sales on them for Black Friday. I would never have thought of buying one now, but I guess if your budget can handle holiday shopping and appliance shopping, now is a good time to do it.
Posted by: brooklyn money | November 19, 2010 at 01:46 PM
Refurbished is a great way to save money. I only buy refurbished from the actual company (i.e. refurbished iPod from Apple, refurbished vacuum from Sears). The reason this saves you a bunch of money is that you get the exact same warranty on a refurbished item (at least, that's true at both Apple and Sears). Essentially, the retailer is assuring you it's not a lemon, and you have a perfectly fine way out (via the warranty) if it is.
Generally, I've saved usually around 30% going refurbished direct from the retailer.
That said, I would never buy a refurbished product without a warranty. That's when I think the lemons come out.
Posted by: Valerie | November 19, 2010 at 04:16 PM
I bought my laptop refurbished from dell. Cost me about 700 instead of close to a thousand. Same (1 year) warranty and everything as a new one.
Just do a little bit of research before hand to see what other people have experienced with that company's refurbished products. Not every company has the same definition, but among reputable companies refurbished means the returned item was carefully tested and/or fixed and has the same warranty as a new product would.
Most of the time, refurbed just means the original buyer had buyers regret and returned the item, sometimes completely unopened.
Posted by: Brasilian Engineer | November 23, 2010 at 01:45 PM