As such, I've tried to devise several ways to put the brakes on my impulse buying. Realizing that every now and then I get overcome by an overwhelming desire to unbox a brand new model horse, I keep at least one new-in-box (NIB) Breyer on hand at all times to satisfy the craving. And I've been doing pretty good -- my current NIB has been hiding in my cupboard since 2007. Of course, from time to time that cupboard has been inaccessible to me due to a build-up of clutter in my office, so it's not been just willpower that has prevented me from popping open the box. The fact that I still lack the shelf place to properly display my NIB model has also prevented me from unboxing her. But when overcome with that new model craving, it helps to know that she's there.
My trials and tribulations with eBay have also helped me curb some of my impulse buys. Every once in a while I like to wander around eBay looking for interesting deals and great bargains. But one thing that prevents me from buying everything I see and want is my decision not to buy from sellers using the eBay Global Shipping feature. I bought one or two models off eBay before I really understood this feature, but now I see how unfair it is, particularly to Canadian shoppers, to have to pay a third party in addition to the seller just to make shipping easier for the sellers. The result is that I, as the buyer, end up paying about twice the amount I would have had to pay if the sellers had simply dealt with shipping themselves.
I do tend to use my computer for window shopping quite frequently, and can usual confine myself to the window portion of the shopping by browsing on sites where I know the prices are generally more than I like to pay. Quite often this can simply be accomplished by checking out Facebook sales pages, as many sellers tend to value their goods higher than I, as a potential buyer, do. Shopping on commercial sites is a little more dangerous as I generally accept their prices and, if I've known of the dealer for quite some time, I know I can trust in their service and packing prowess. This is not to cast aspersions on my fellow collectors -- many are wonderful to deal with, flexible as to prices, and completely trustworthy when it comes to packaging and posting. Probably the best buys in my collection have all come from fellow collectors.
But I also occasionally find a bar to impulse buying when dealing with my fellow collectors -- I prefer to deal via PayPal, which is unacceptable to some, and some refuse to ship outside of the U.S.A., which leaves me out. However, if I do make the leap to contact a fellow collector about an item, I'm not really trying to avoid an impulse buy at that point -- I'm trying to buy.
Retailers all over know the power of the impulse purchase -- that's why you find all those small attractive items stocked next to the register in pretty much every store you ever go into. Online retailers can't take advantage of such marketing tricks, but I have to admit I've been pulled into some impulse buys that some online retailers have programmed to appear as an option (of the "Would you like fries with that?" variety) once you choose a product and put it into your shopping cart.
Impulse buying is something I know I am prone to, and so something I have to watch out for, but just as I am aware that impulse buying is not always good for me, I would also hesitate to say that giving into an impulse has always been a bad thing.
My latest impulse buys should be arriving in the mail shortly. I will tell you more about them when they arrive.
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