It is that time of the year again when we loosen our purse strings and go on a shopping spree as everything we want and do not want are available at ‘unbelievable’ prices. From electronics to cars to home furnishing, the list is endless, as we find it difficult to resist the urge to buy the products we like, run out of money and ‘conveniently’ admit that we are ‘shopaholics’. However, this may not be entirely true, as there is always a flipside to the coin. Maybe you’re not a shopaholic after all, but have succumbed to the influence of carefully planned marketing and advertising.

Watch out for these tricks if you do not want to overspend this

1. The unreal urgency

Last day? Limited stock? Are you really going to fall for this? It is understandable if one falls for freebies and discounts, but try not to take the bait. If you have missed the recent Ganesh Chathurti sale, don’t be sad, there will be a Navratra offer, after that there will be Dhanteras ‘special’ offer, following which there will be that Diwali ‘bonanza’ and then Christmas and New Year sale offers. That is not it, in January and February you will have an ‘end of season sale’, and guess what, in April, there will be yet another Navratra ‘bonanza’. Who knows, maybe in August next year when India completes 71 years of independence, you may get 71% discount or at least a 50% + 21% discount on your purchase

2. Useless freebies

It is a known fact that there are no free lunches in this world, but most of us have an obsession for a free gift. Many times we fail to check whether the freebie we are being offered is really worth it. Sample this: There’s a sale that says buy 5 T-shirts and get the sixth one free. Here, the vendor will bill the consumer on the most expensive 5 T-shirts at MRP and the lowest price will be given free to you – not that great a monetary deal, after all, isn’t it? It is always better to get a price discount on individual items rather than get one item free with a bulk purchase as you have more choice in the former situation. In case of price discounts, you would buy only what you want to instead of getting saddled with unwanted/less useful items given free in a bulk purchase. The latter situation leads to sub-optimal purchasing. So make sure you distinguish between the benefits and the bait.

3. The fear of loss

The fear of losing out on a lucrative deal is one of the most effective ways to boost sales for a retailer. But does it really benefit you? For instance, on the occasion of Diwali, a car dealer is offering free insurance as a ‘limited period’ offer, but this shouldn’t be the reason you buy your car from him. Even if you defer your purchase post-Diwali or make it before, you hardly stand to lose anything. After this limited period offer, he may give you free accessories worth a similar amount and charge you for insurance. Such offers keep on changing and are more or less comparable. Therefore, it is always recommended to pick the one which is most suitable to you after proper research and checking with other dealers.

4. Big Savings – The doughnut with a large hole

Many times unrealistic discounts and big savings are advertised across pages and pages of newspapers. But when you actually go to buy you find that the price is double or much more than what you saw in the ad.

Sample this: There is a full-page that caught your eye saying ‘save up to Rs 10,000 on your next air conditioner’. Sure, Rs 10,000 is ‘big’ savings, but this information could be incomplete. There’s a good possibility that this discount is available only the ‘select’ products that are insanely overpriced or you may have to exchange your old appliance at a throwaway price to avail this discount.

Similarly, if you search for Delhi to Mumbai flights on Google, you will see plenty of ads saying one-way fares starting at Rs 2,000 onward, but again that’s not the full price. This is just the base fare, there are a myriad of taxes and fees that jack up the final price. So when you make the purchase, you find out that the actual price is more than double after taxes. And remember that tickets bought on sale come with many conditions like it is non-refundable and come with huge cancellation fees.

5. The deceptive discounts

Think shopping during a sale makes you frugal and wise? Thing again. Let’s say there is a sale that says ‘up to 30%* discount’. Again, the figure may look good but it could be deceptive. The asterisk here usually means that the 30% discount will be given to you on a minimum purchase of Rs 6,000 or more. So in your effort to be an economical shopper and avail the maximum ‘benefit’ of the sale, you end up spending much more than what you originally intended to. Such kind of discounts may benefit volume consumers but those originally planning to spend much less are unlikely to get any substantial benefit from this sort of discount induced shopping.

Watch out for these tricks if you do not want to overspend this

1. Prioritise:

Learn to differentiate between your wants and needs; do not overshoot your budget by a mile. If you wish to buy something expensive, postpone the purchase by a month. During this cooling-off period, think over whether you really need that product or if you are finding it difficult to carry out your routine tasks without it. If the item was not really essential you will get over the urge and probably forget about it soon.

2. Resist peer pressure:

A lot of young people spend on otherwise useless purchases because everybody around them is also doing it. Don’t spend just because others are spending.

3. Don’t shop to de-stress:

For some people, shopping is a therapy that helps them unwind after a stressful day. But this therapy has a side effect that can make matters worse. Experts say that people who turn to shopping to de-stress are only digging a deeper hole for themselves.

What you should do

Thinking through your purchases makes you a frugal shopper, especially during sales. However, , this doesn’t mean that you should be stingy and never buy. When there is a sale on, the dealer’s focus is on generating high sales volumes by lowering the price. So, if you’re a volume buyer, sales may help you save some money if you buy wisely and don’t fall for the usual ‘sale’ tricks. Even so, be aware that many vendors hike prices before a sale and then offer artificial discounts.

While some discounts may well be real, go for the purchase if you really need the item and were planning to buy it anyway irrespective of the sale or are sure that you will need the item in the future. Doing your market research beforehand about the price and quality of the product on offer is also important to be able to recognise and avail of a ‘real’ discount. Also, try to get a straight discount on individually priced items instead of ‘buy 2 get 1 free’ type of offers or those that come with freebies. In case of exchange offers, calculate the ‘real’ price you are paying a net of the exchange value. Also, don’t forget to read the fine print of a sale advertisement, there will always be a catch in an offer that looks too good to be true.