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Paying too much for something works if you have no idea how to actually judge the quality of the item. I know computers and bikes, and will not pay too much for

Paying too much for something works if you have no idea how to actually judge the quality of the item. I know computers and bikes, and will not pay too much for those thing, because I know the quality and I know the cost. I have no idea about cars, or houses, or shoes, so I have not way of judging the quality of these items.

ImprovedSilence 14y ago
Learn. Just because you don't know now, doesn't excuse you from not knowing when you go to make a purchase. There are a number of ways to acquire knowledge out there. Go get it.
- gmac 14y ago
  To a point. But there aren't enough hours in the day to become an expert in buying everything one has to buy, and in many cases predicting the durability of something is really difficult. I guess this is in large part why brands are so valuable, as they give consumers a seemingly easy quality heuristic.
  - jamesrcole 14y ago
    I agree. Time is our most valuable resource and it's a cost/benefit matter as to whether it's worth your while looking in-depth at purchasing options for a particular type of product.
  - ryanklee 14y ago
    > enough hours in the day to become an expert in buying everything one has to buy Provided that it's usually the case that people buy far more than they strictly need to, might not some level of requisite knowledge about a product help determine whether one allows or disallows oneself from a purchasing it? I know, in my own case, that I've become increasingly wary of purchases (given a price point, say, above $50) if I haven't had enough time to understand just what the hell it is I'm buying. This runs from things like bed comforters to headphones to deck chairs to pants to video games. Generally speaking, my level of regret over a purchase is inversely proportional to the level of knowledge I had of that product and its ecosystem at the time.
  - genwin 14y ago
    You can rely on the opinions of experts for many large purchases, like cars. For smaller items it's usually good enough to look for hallmarks of quality; e.g. whether the wood in the furniture is solid.
  - thebigshane 14y ago
    The term you may be looking for is: Rational Ignorance Rational ignorance occurs when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide. Ignorance about an issue is said to be "rational" when the cost of educating oneself about the issue sufficiently to make an informed decision can outweigh any potential benefit one could reasonably expect to gain from that decision, and so it would be irrational to waste time doing so. This has consequences for the quality of decisions made by large numbers of people, such as general elections, where the probability of any one vote changing the outcome is very small. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_ignorance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_ignorance]
- cafard 14y ago
  Is it my duty to know where to buy shoes?
- marekmroz 14y ago
  Just don't go overboard with looking for the absolute best. Your post reminded me of "The Paradox of Choice" [1], a book by Barry Schwartz that I read not long ago. One of the claims that the author makes is that satisficing is the best maximizing strategy. After factoring in stress, wasted time and dissatisfaction that result from looking for "the best" product or price it turns out that paying a bit more for a product that is good enough is cheaper. [1]The Paradox of Choice: http://www.amazon.ca/Paradox-Choice-Why-More-Less/dp/0060005696/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342118392&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.ca/Paradox-Choice-Why-More-Less/dp/0060005...
  - lelele 14y ago
    But how can you decide whether a product is a good trade-off when you don't know what the best is? I think that leaving the decision to trustworthy experts is the most viable solution. EDIT: Actually, your best long term investment could be learning how to spot trustworthy expert advice.
genwin 14y ago
If you'll ever buy a car or house you should know their quality; you can rely on the judgment of others for that. For cars it's usually easy: Japanese or Hyundai. Car magazines rate their quality. For houses, it's generally ones from 1960 to 1980. An inspector can judge the quality of a house.
- sireat 14y ago
  Interestingly enough Hyundai were quite horrible up to the late 1990s. "Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove an eighty thousand dollar BMW" was quite an insult, when Glengarry Glen Ross came out.
  - hkmurakami 14y ago
    And similarly, there was a time when "Made in Japan" was a sure sign of poor quality. (post-war era)
  - genwin 14y ago
    True! I wouldn't have considered a Hyundai until the last few years. Now they're high value.
pbreit 14y ago
I think you're taking "pay too much" too literally. He's just saying don't always try to by the cheapest garbage or chintz out on tipping.

ImprovedSilence 14y ago

Learn. Just because you don't know now, doesn't excuse you from not knowing when you go to make a purchase. There are a number of ways to acquire knowledge out there. Go get it.

gmac 14y ago
To a point. But there aren't enough hours in the day to become an expert in buying everything one has to buy, and in many cases predicting the durability of something is really difficult. I guess this is in large part why brands are so valuable, as they give consumers a seemingly easy quality heuristic.
- jamesrcole 14y ago
  I agree. Time is our most valuable resource and it's a cost/benefit matter as to whether it's worth your while looking in-depth at purchasing options for a particular type of product.
- ryanklee 14y ago
  > enough hours in the day to become an expert in buying everything one has to buy Provided that it's usually the case that people buy far more than they strictly need to, might not some level of requisite knowledge about a product help determine whether one allows or disallows oneself from a purchasing it? I know, in my own case, that I've become increasingly wary of purchases (given a price point, say, above $50) if I haven't had enough time to understand just what the hell it is I'm buying. This runs from things like bed comforters to headphones to deck chairs to pants to video games. Generally speaking, my level of regret over a purchase is inversely proportional to the level of knowledge I had of that product and its ecosystem at the time.
- genwin 14y ago
  You can rely on the opinions of experts for many large purchases, like cars. For smaller items it's usually good enough to look for hallmarks of quality; e.g. whether the wood in the furniture is solid.
- thebigshane 14y ago
  The term you may be looking for is: Rational Ignorance Rational ignorance occurs when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide. Ignorance about an issue is said to be "rational" when the cost of educating oneself about the issue sufficiently to make an informed decision can outweigh any potential benefit one could reasonably expect to gain from that decision, and so it would be irrational to waste time doing so. This has consequences for the quality of decisions made by large numbers of people, such as general elections, where the probability of any one vote changing the outcome is very small. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_ignorance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_ignorance]
cafard 14y ago
Is it my duty to know where to buy shoes?
marekmroz 14y ago
Just don't go overboard with looking for the absolute best. Your post reminded me of "The Paradox of Choice" [1], a book by Barry Schwartz that I read not long ago. One of the claims that the author makes is that satisficing is the best maximizing strategy. After factoring in stress, wasted time and dissatisfaction that result from looking for "the best" product or price it turns out that paying a bit more for a product that is good enough is cheaper. [1]The Paradox of Choice: http://www.amazon.ca/Paradox-Choice-Why-More-Less/dp/0060005696/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342118392&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.ca/Paradox-Choice-Why-More-Less/dp/0060005...
- lelele 14y ago
  But how can you decide whether a product is a good trade-off when you don't know what the best is? I think that leaving the decision to trustworthy experts is the most viable solution. EDIT: Actually, your best long term investment could be learning how to spot trustworthy expert advice.

genwin 14y ago

If you'll ever buy a car or house you should know their quality; you can rely on the judgment of others for that. For cars it's usually easy: Japanese or Hyundai. Car magazines rate their quality. For houses, it's generally ones from 1960 to 1980. An inspector can judge the quality of a house.

sireat 14y ago
Interestingly enough Hyundai were quite horrible up to the late 1990s. "Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove an eighty thousand dollar BMW" was quite an insult, when Glengarry Glen Ross came out.
- hkmurakami 14y ago
  And similarly, there was a time when "Made in Japan" was a sure sign of poor quality. (post-war era)
- genwin 14y ago
  True! I wouldn't have considered a Hyundai until the last few years. Now they're high value.

pbreit 14y ago

I think you're taking "pay too much" too literally. He's just saying don't always try to by the cheapest garbage or chintz out on tipping.