I am a very cynical shopper. I generally know the regular price of things I buy. I don’t buy into miracle claims, dodgy websites (I always look for their company name, phone number, and at their web address) or limited edition packaging unless it is something I would normally love. I also vote with my wallet. If a company screws me over once, I will never ever shop there again.
A recent quick search for Parker Sonnet pens online found this price range – from $140 to $40 for the same thing. I generally do this for anything I am thinking of buying, and make sure I include shipping costs.
Some of my pet consumer hates are:
- packaging that is much bigger than the product (beauty products are often guilty of this, with giant boxes or tubs that look like they contain much more product than they do)
- shrinkflation – keeping the price the same but decreasing the contents
- disclaimers – where you have 70% sale with up to in tiny letters, or 50% off EVERYTHING and then except in tiny letters at the bottom
- products produced just for the sales
- charity organisations that price donated items higher than brand new
- companies that make it almost impossible to return an item. For me, Amazon has always been very good about returns and refunds. They do not make you jump through hoops if a transaction goes wrong.
I also hate misleading advertising:
- fluffy verbiage implying a product is more effective or organic than it is
- ads where the product looks nothing like the real thing (McDonald’s I am looking at you)
- makeup and skincare ads that are more filters, photoshop, and fake extensions than anything else
- digital clothing models that are not described as such
- advertorials where it is not clear that an article is an advertisement
- glowing reviews from users and publications that received items for free and don’t want to antagonise the brand by being honest
- dropshippers that masquerade as genuine retailers
- hugely inflated shipping costs
Looks like I am not the only person that notices these things:
