At the time of writing this, I’m 38 years old. I joined Facebook in 2007 when it started, and started buying online shortly after. Never before has buying been so easy - Superbalist and online clothing retailers, Takealot, Amazon, and many more lesser-known online stores.
Buying online can be an adventure, but no adventure is complete without the required preparation. Do you know what the approximate retail and trade values are? Is there room to negotiate? Have you calculated the cost of finance and add-ons such as warranties?
All of these options need to be considered before buying big.
Social media can help us in more ways than target marketing. It has made it easier to track and verify online sellers and their legitimacy.
Social media and targeted marketing have made it impossible to not know who supplies what we need. The challenge, however, is to withhold from accepting these offers, and take matters into your own hands.
Let’s say you are looking for a car. You’ll find ads for most major retailers on Facebook and Instagram - easy, yes, but have you done the research needed to avoid buyers remorse? Have you considered the used market?
Here are some tips for dealing with these sellers:
◦ Too good to he true? Probably is
◦ Seller on social media less than 2 years? Stay away
◦ No track record of sales? Be cautious
◦ Not a member of any buying-selling groups - tread carefully
When looking at these tips it becomes clear - buying with your gut is as important as buying with your head.
Technology buys are very similar. Do you know related pricing? What was it used for? Too good to be true?
Here are a few tips about buying technology online
◦ Know the worth of the device
◦ Local buys are lekker
◦ Meet in a public place, preferably with a friend
◦ Test the device!
◦ Cash is ok if in a public place
◦ Sellers will insist on efts reflecting
◦ NO PAYPAL
◦ No cardless pins or smses
◦ Try to make/get payments from the same bank
Buying used can be a pleasure if doing so correctly.
Be sure to check in on the blog for another post. We’ll talk about the merits of Name Brand purchases…
See you then
Recent Comments