5 Traps to Avoid When Buying Technology

1 Service & Warranty Plans

You might have heard it before; most (if not all) electronics come with a 1 year warranty, and if anything is going to happen, it will happen in the first year.  Well there’s a lot of truth to that, but I’d include an important caveat: Is this technology something I rely on so much as to cost me money if it doesn’t work? 

A computer might make sense to buy that warranty for, but maybe not the printer, and certainly not the flash stick.

2 Accessories 

Many box stores will offer items at a highly discounted price only to offer you much higher-priced accessories.  I saw this in the phone store I went to recently.  They offered a Bluetooth headset on sale at $150 that I could get on Amazon with free shipping for less than $75. 

3 Price  

This takes us to pricing.  You should definitely shop around for the best price-to-value ratio you can get.  I have seen the same thing sold at different stores (both locally and online) at over 50% differences in price.  Just because your favorite store has it, doesn’t mean it’s a good price. 

4 Feature Creep 

No this isn’t a weird guy hawking add-ons, this is where you get pulled toward a device that has just a few more features for what seems to be a minimum of price increase.  Technology is growing at a pace where you can buy so much more than you’ll ever use.  For example, most people could use an i5 processor but end up getting an i7.  Generally it’s unnecessary to upscale that much, so save a few dollars.

5 Bait and Switch  

Both online and in the store, you will see ads for what seems like amazing price reductions, only to find once you get there, they’ve run out of product.  They are eager to show you something that might be an off-brand for a decent price instead and claim it’s “just as good”.  So you have already wasted your time to go there and you need this thing so you buy it anyway.  Turns out to be the worst thing ever.  Better to just walk right out the door.  Stand firm on what you want and what you’ll pay.


Wade Stewart is the Managing Member of Stewart and Son Computer Services, LLC in University Place, WA and serves as a trusted partner to many local small and medium sized businesses. You can read more from Wade at Stewart and Son by visiting the following blog sites: 
http://stewartandson.wordpress.com/ 
http://smokingwires.blogspot.com/ 
 Content Copyright Wade Stewart (C) 2013