I wanna bitch about idiots claiming "great deals" on deal sites/

[MaxDepth]

Idiots...

At a non-specific deals website:
They: If you spend [insert enumeration here - let's say $2000] then you get a gift card, then 20x Wow points, then apply that to a 20% PerksAtWork credit. Yeah, all that drops the price down to [let's say "$600.]

The others: Wowsers! I gotta jump on that deal.

Me: Uhm, you are still debited $2000 from your credit card / bank account. If you just want [product X], you are still paying list price.

They and the others: Boo! Who are you? Why are you even talking to us? Go away!

I just don't get it. If you want a lot of other stuff and you see that you can buy it with gift cards, points sites, etc. then yeah, you've driven down the total cost but not for [product X]. You look at goods divided by costs. Simple math. Sure, you can say you paid less for [product X] but you are wrong. You paid list and got extras for the exchange.

What is funny about this is that it reminds me of the old joke of the wife telling her husband that she spent la large sum of money on stuff but that she got a great deal because it would have cost a lot more separately. She was saving him money - punchline, ha ha. Same thing on the deals sites but now it's serious shit and no one is allowed to say differently.


Idiots.

 

[louis redfoot]

similar to couponing, people end up buying stuff they likely wouldn't have bought but magically think they're saving money. some real mc escher shit.

admittedly i use coupons sometimes, and i look for sale items at the market. but i don't collect coupons looking for things to buy.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Ending up paying $600. for an item that usually costs $2000.- seems like a deal to me. I get excited if there is $20.- rebate on a $100.- computer part.

You gotta spend money to make money. Get you Sapphire reserve card today.

 

[SearchMaster]

similar to couponing, people end up buying stuff they likely wouldn't have bought but magically think they're saving money. some real mc escher shit.

admittedly i use coupons sometimes, and i look for sale items at the market. but i don't collect coupons looking for things to buy.

Depends on the coupon I guess. I don't coupon but have caught a couple of episodes about the extreme couponers. Some of those people will get $1000 of groceries for $50 or less. If the items are storable and usable, then I guess they're saving money. But I'd want to kill myself if I consumed an hour of the cashier's time to ring up 500 items, having to call the manager over 5 times to override the computer system.

I agree with OP, but I think a lot of these people are big eBay/Craigslist resellers. So they sell the item for $50 less than full price and get a $100 gift card for later use and it's not a big up front loss.

 

[louis redfoot]

Depends on the coupon I guess. I don't coupon but have caught a couple of episodes about the extreme couponers. Some of those people will get $1000 of groceries for $50 or less. If the items are storable and usable, then I guess they're saving money. But I'd want to kill myself if I consumed an hour of the cashier's time to ring up 500 items, having to call the manager over 5 times to override the computer system.

I agree with OP, but I think a lot of these people are big eBay/Craigslist resellers. So they sell the item for $50 less than full price and get a $100 gift card for later use and it's not a big up front loss.

i got my start on ebay selling outlet stuff using coupons gee, that was a long time ago

 

[WT]

Preach on. brother !!!

 

[master_shake_]

similar to couponing, people end up buying stuff they likely wouldn't have bought but magically think they're saving money. some real mc escher shit.

admittedly i use coupons sometimes, and i look for sale items at the market. but i don't collect coupons looking for things to buy.

wth dude?

you don't need 7000 cases of mustard?

what if you have a butt load of hotdogs?

 

[louis redfoot]

wth dude?

you don't need 7000 cases of mustard?

what if you have a butt load of hotdogs?

maybe after i finish the 200 cans of progresso soup in my garage

 

[pete6032]

This thread is going places.

 

[zinfamous]

Ending up paying $600. for an item that usually costs $2000.- seems like a deal to me. I get excited if there is $20.- rebate on a $100.- computer part.

You gotta spend money to make money. Get you Sapphire reserve card today.

The point being, you still have to spend that $2k on junk that you possibly don't need, or would never care about, if not for being able to purchase some $2k item for $600 that you actually want. So, you're still spending that $2k and, well, another $600 to get the thing you wanted in the first place. If it's all normal goods that you would eventually buy and use anyway, then it makes sense. Far too often, though, you end up starting a new hoarding habit.

 

[dud]

They and the others: Boo! Who are you? Why are you even talking to us? Go away!

I've run into this type of behavior as well at FW and, to a lesser extent SD. No matter how you try to explain the facts ... you are met with skepticism and contempt. People, especially in this day and age know that vendors heavily incentivize/market deals to them on a daily basis. These people are like flies that have fallen into a spider's web. You can tell them they are in trouble but the wave you on ... "No, we'll be alright ... leave us alone!"

Fools and their money ...

 

[Exterous]

Idiots...

At a non-specific deals website:
They: If you spend [insert enumeration here - let's say $2000] then you get a gift card, then 20x Wow points, then apply that to a 20% PerksAtWork credit. Yeah, all that drops the price down to [let's say "$600.]

The others: Wowsers! I gotta jump on that deal.

Me: Uhm, you are still debited $2000 from your credit card / bank account. If you just want [product X], you are still paying list price.

They and the others: Boo! Who are you? Why are you even talking to us? Go away!

I just don't get it. If you want a lot of other stuff and you see that you can buy it with gift cards, points sites, etc. then yeah, you've driven down the total cost but not for [product X]. You look at goods divided by costs. Simple math. Sure, you can say you paid less for [product X] but you are wrong. You paid list and got extras for the exchange.

What is funny about this is that it reminds me of the old joke of the wife telling her husband that she spent la large sum of money on stuff but that she got a great deal because it would have cost a lot more separately. She was saving him money - punchline, ha ha. Same thing on the deals sites but now it's serious shit and no one is allowed to say differently.


Idiots.

Hmmm...this sounds eerily similar to the slickdeals thread about the Samsung KS8000

 

[ElFenix]

the people who start threads are often math challenged. no, i'm not getting a (normally) $200 widget for $100. i'm getting a widget plus $100 worth of other stuff from bob's haberdashery and general store for $200. if i can use the certificate within the expiration terms and if i can find exactly $100 worth of other stuff from bob's haberdashery and general store.


also, the phrase "plus free store pickup" is weird.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Whatever you say

 

[MaxDepth]

Whoa...
But how much are you spending?

I could say, cutting my mortgage from a 30 year fixed note to a 10 year fixed, after paying seven years in got me a ton of cash back. But better yet, the reality is that I'm paying a ton less on interest. My point all along is that I'm spending only on the things I want or need at that time. And now while I'm going through bunches of clothes (my kids are toddlers), I don't pay full price either. There is always a coupon.

Whatever you say

 

[louis redfoot]

Whoa...
But how much are you spending?

I could say, cutting my mortgage from a 30 year fixed note to a 10 year fixed, after paying seven years in got me a ton of cash back. But better yet, the reality is that I'm paying a ton less on interest. My point all along is that I'm spending only on the things I want or need at that time. And now while I'm going through bunches of clothes (my kids are toddlers), I don't pay full price either. There is always a coupon.

likely a reseller or it guy. otherwise i wanna see the goods

 

[AznAnarchy99]

likely a reseller or it guy. otherwise i wanna see the goods

IT lol. Dell constantly has 10-15% CB but having random CB for stuff I always buy adds up too.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Far too often, though, you end up starting a new hoarding habit.

True dat! Witness the number of people on FW with "garages full" of "Free" / "MM" Staples' paper ER + coupon deals.

Craziness. I have enough trouble fighting my hoarding tendencies, without rebates + coupon deals.

(Like, order five Adata 128GB SSDs from Newegg's ebay site, then they have them on their own site, so I order five more. Granted, I've used three of them in builds so far, but still. But an under $50 128GB SSD is a deal these days. SO... HARD... TO... RESIST!)

But I agree with OP. I don't do rebate or "points" deals. Way too often, those are a losing proposition.

I like deals like I recently participated in, where Newegg had some motherboards (budget ones) marked down, and then had an INSTANT 50% coupon / promo code applied to them. Got a few $60 mobos for $27 ea. shipped. I call that a "real" deal.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I don't even bother with the $100-200 new credit card deals, because I don't have anything I "need" to buy to spend the required $1,000-3,000 within x days.

If there's something I already planned to buy on sale, with no rebate needed, then that to me is the real deal.