In Your View, What Is a "Bargain"?

OldBugger on 05/10/2014 - 19:18
Last edited 31/08/2022 - 18:41 by 1 other user

Whether you are posting or voting on a submission on OzBargain, how do you personally classify if it is a bargain or not?

Bargain: something that is bought or sold for a price which is lower than the actual value.

  • How much lower than the rrp (or competitor's price) does it have to go before you consider it a bargain?

OzBargain is Australia's bargain hunting community, where hot deals, coupon codes, vouchers, special promotions…"

  • Is simply offering free shipping on a non-discounted item considered a bargain to you?

… and freebies are shared everyday.

  • Irrespective of what the item is, do you consider all freebies valid for submission on OzBargain, or do you take into account the actual value of the product first?

Appropriate uses of negative vote: Cheaper price elsewhere

  • Do you neg deals if you find them cheaper elsewhere or do you simply no vote and maybe leave a comment? If the former, how much cheaper?

Everyone has their own idea of what a bargain is to them so it will be interesting to read some responses from old and new OzB members.

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Comments

    • donga100 on 05/10/2014 - 20:28
      +12

      Why is it in your porn book?

      • Tal_Shiar on 06/10/2014 - 12:30
        +3

        You were asked for a definition and you didn't answer the question properly, you just answered like a politician would…

  • botftw on 05/10/2014 - 20:27
    +4

    A bargain to me is something approximately 30-40% off. A bargain is something offered "more cheaply than is usual or expected". I do not consider free shipping a bargain.

    Freebies are awesome. As long as they are actually freebies, ie. they normally cost money.

    I do not neg unless the OP has made a false claim. If it is cheaper, I would just post a comment with it. Why neg someone who is just trying to share something they believe is a deal?

  • Davo1111 on 05/10/2014 - 20:44

    We've had this discussion many times.

    I classify a bargain as something i'd buy myself (or recommend to a friend as a good purchase).

    • OldBugger on 05/10/2014 - 21:40

      Not sure if you meant in general or in a dedicated thread like this. Apologies if the latter, I only found this one which wasn't very specific. If you happen to find any other links, throw them this way as I'd be interested in reading them. Thanks for your answer btw.

  • PVA on 05/10/2014 - 21:38
    +2

    A bargain is something that is super cheap compared to rrp, not just a bit cheaper than a stores normal price.
    Most outlet stores don't have bargains, 10, 20, 30% off is not a bargain as all stores have sales like that nowadays. A bargain has to be more than that, cheaper is not a bargain but is a good deal.
    An example is apple pc's - sometimes you can get 10% off and that is about the max discount anyone offers - still not a bargain though, just a cheaper price.
    A bargain is when if a friend asked how much did you pay for the item they are amazed how cheap it was - fallen off the back of a truck cheap.

    free shipping by itself is not a bargain.

  • mskeggs on 05/10/2014 - 22:30
    +1

    Bargains are relative. Free shipping from think geek or land's end, for example, qualifies as a bargain as the shipping is usually a substantial portion for the price (>25%).
    Some things are bargains at 10% lower. I would definitely want to hear about a utility supplier 10% lower than the rest, and items like Apple products are rarely substantially discounted, so waiting for an arbitrary 30% off would mean they get never listed. In both these cases a 10% discount would typically mean $100s.
    Similarly, even though Coles has Mighty Soft raisin toast at 50% off, I wouldn't think it a good post, as one of the supermarkets has one of the raisin toast brands 50% off every week.

    Luckily, there are some star posters, and a very large number of occasional posters looking after us. Thanks, team!

  • p1 ama on 05/10/2014 - 22:55
    +1

    We can get into a bit of economics here.

    Firstly, we need to differentiate between price and value. An item's value is what it is worth to you, whether that be in money generating potential, happiness, satisfaction…etc. Economists call this concept utility, essentially an item's value is in its ability increase your utility. Of course, value is subjective, something that you find of high value another person might find of low value.

    A perfect example of this is your house being close to a train station. Commuters love this, they can leave their car at home. A elderly couple who don't take the train, however, will hate it because it'll be noisy and disruptive having trains go through all the time.

    It's like this with everything else as well. For example, I'm a photographer, so an expensive lens or camera has high value to me, however, to someone who is not, it won't, because it cannot increase their utility in the same way that it can increase mine, as an example.

    On the other hand, price is determined by the market (supply and demand). It is what the market deems to be fair value for a particular asset. That has nothing to do with how much that might be worth to you.

    So, in my eyes, a bargain is anything which is priced below its value, for me. (Similar concept to investing). Something might be 99.99% off and it might be cheap as chips, but if I don't get any value from buying it, then it'd be a terrible buy. Something else might be expensive as hell, but the value I get from using it might be high, thus, I'm willing to pay a higher amount for it.

    Following on, just because something is "normal priced" does not mean that it is not a bargain. Coles bread and Coles milk are both bargains, even though they are priced like that every day. That is because the utility I get from buying them (i.e. food) is higher than what I pay, so they are good buys.

  • spychiatrist on 05/10/2014 - 23:30

    Bargain, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Otherwise, all posts will have the same number of positive votes. To me, if it's an item I would buy myself and it's less than RRP, then a bargain it is.

  • [Deactivated] on 06/10/2014 - 06:47

    In general, 80% off normal price .

  • Speckled Jim on 06/10/2014 - 13:23

    I consider these bargains:

    750ml beautiful quality and flavour fruit soft drinks from Hartz @ 97c each.
    The Good Apple
    The Good Raspberry
    The Good Blackcurrant doesn't have a page or pics online. But it's probably the best of the lot; a mild carbonated Ribena.

    Leather/synthetic upper skate shoes from Rivers in my size (11) for $6.00
    A pair of jeans in my size from Target on clearance for $7.00
    I'm wearing both of these right now.

    A few years ago, another pair of jeans from Target for $1.80. Black stretch, but I still wear them when listening to Slayer/Pantera/Metallica etc.

  • Reggie74 on 08/10/2014 - 19:53
    +1

    Something I know I will get a decent amount of mileage from at a low cost such as these 2 items I picked up 2 months ago at Target at the end of winter season sales.

    Black suede type material casual jacket - RRP - $49 - Sales price - $14.
    Black woollen casual jacket - RRP - $39 - Sales price - $12.

    For $26 I got two nice looking warm jackets.

    I wore them a few of times before the warmer weather hit but I know I'll get many winters out of them in the future. Anything to avoid the mark up on items.

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