How Purchasing Cheap Items Can Cost You More

Finding an item you really want at a great price can provide a great feeling, especially if it is a quality product. Unfortunately, not everyone likes to take the time to source out quality products at a great price. Many shoppers will just look for the lowest price on an item and just purchase it regardless of quality.

By purchasing an item at a low price they tend to think that they have saved money and made a great purchase. In some cases this holds true, but it many cases the shopper is wasting money on an inferior product that will break soon after it’s opened. They will then go back and purchase another similar item at a low price which will also fail or break soon after being used. In instances like this, it’s best to go with quality items in the first place.

Think about all the fantastic plastic or poor quality items you may have purchased in the past or currently have sitting in the closet or garage getting zero use. There is a time and a place for purchasing cheaper items, just beware of what your purchasing if the price is significantly lower than that of the competition – if it is, you can be sure that something has been substituted to provide that low price.

Quality Has to Go

The creation of quality products takes more than a few dollars of investment by manufacturers. Electronics items, foods, clothing, furniture and nearly anything you can think of purchasing goes through the processes from initial conception, development, design, construction, testing and sales. The retail prices are set to reflect a reasonable profit margin over the cost of getting the product to the market. When you bring prices down consistently, something has to give. There is no way to continuously set prices below the acceptable profit margins without sacrificing something. One of the first things to go is quality. Cheaper materials will be used, cheaper ingredients, less time employed to make a product.

Innovation Disappears

With low cost items there aren’t many bells and whistles attached to the products, they are simply stripped down to the bare minimum and often with inferior goods as mentioned above. These low cost items will rarely advance in their lifecycle, as there generally copycat goods with no plans for innovation or improvement to their line. It’s about trying to piggyback of the quality brands and create a quick buck.

Next time you go shopping take the time to think about what you’re purchasing. Should you get the cheap laundry soap or the slightly more expensive trusted brand? Cheap power strips or quality branded strips? A cheap dish rack which rusts in 2 weeks? No name appliances that break within months with no warranty? Etc…etc…etc… Cheaper poor quality items can definitely end of costing you more in the long run.

This article was written by Richie from Low Income Loans Australia, a financial assistance blog which helps reader’s find loan and credit options through non-profit and government initiatives. They also provide information on how to get out of debt, budget, save and get financially ahead.