Company Blog

Okay, so you see a cool new “As Seen On TV” product that you think you could use.  You want to buy it, and you’ve even come here to ASOTVI (www.asotv.info) and checked out its review, saw its video and observed how it worked, and are now even more convinced you want one.  So you either pick up the phone or click over to a retailer webiste and…

…ARE GREETED WITH AN “EXPERIENCE” YOU WEREN’T EXPECTING - something decidedly frustrating and unpleasant - commonly referred to in sales parlance as the “Upsell”, which is a pleasant euphamism for the old “bait and switch.”

Can you really get a “vega-weeda-eater” for $19.95 plus shipping and handling - the very thing you wanted to buy?  Why, yes you can, but you’re going to have to be extremely determined to get it.  And that’s because whether you are attempting make your purchase online or via telephone (which is even harder considering you may have to haggle with a very relentless human), the vendor of your product really doesn’t want to sell you just the thing you thought you wanted. He wants you to buy a whole lot more, now that he has your attention.

You see, when you begin to make your purchase , you’ll quickly discover that the item you want is only the “basic” model. There’s a much better one - the “upgraded” one with way more features - for just a little bit more. Wouldn’t you really rather have the better one?

Or there’s the offer of getting two or more of the thing you wanted, if you’ll only pay extra shipping and handling to get the “free” ones.  Free?  A guy does into a doughnut shop and asks, “How much are the doughnuts?” The clerk replies, “Fifty-cents each.” The customer replies, “Sounds good, I’ll take one.” To which the clerk replies, “But you can get two doughnuts for the price of one, if you agree to pay a small service fee.” The customer asks, “How much is the service fee?” The clerk replies, “Fifty cents.” Funny how that works.

And then you’re told that with the standard shipping and handling charge it might take three to six weeks for you to receive your product.  But wait, if you’ll only agree to pay expedited shipping, you can have it in a week!  So the standard $7.00 S&H quickly becomes $13.00 or more.  But guess what?  Do you really think it takes six weeks to ship anything anywhere? 

For that matter, for all those “free” products that you can get with the original thing you wanted to buy, for just paying extra shipping and handling (on each one, sometimes), did it occor to you that they’re all going to arrive in the same box? And more than likely the first $7.00 you paid would more than cover any actual shipping costs?  So what’s all that extra S&H fees for?  The vendor, of course!

The entire goal of the online or telephonic sales process of most “infomercial” or As Seen On TV type products is to get you to buy a lot more than what you intended.  You may have thought you were going to spend $20 - $30, but when you hung up, they charged your credit card $50 - $60.  OMG! How’d that happen?

So how can you protect yourself from this ordeal?

Simple: Keep saying No.  Would you like this other thing? No.  Get it faster?  No.  Want two instead of one? No.  Get the idea?

Now if you want more than one of a product, just realize that there’s no free lunch.  You’re going to pay extra for it.  But if you get more, you should pay more, right?  So what’s the harm?  You want it faster, it costs more.  That’s your decision.  But if you only intend to pay $19.95, and understand that shipping and handling should only be another $7.00, and have no intention of spending more than $26.95 on the whole deal, then you’re going to have to say NO - a lot, and stick to your guns until the deal is over.

That’s how it works.  Just be prepared for it.  And only buy what you want.  If they can sweettalk you or high-pressure you into paying more for other items or expedited services - don’t get mad at them after the fact; that’s what they’re paid to do.  Just realize that’s what you are going to face on the front end, and there will be no hard feelings all around.

Want an even easier solution? Before you call that 1-800 number, call Walgreens or Target and see if they have it on their shelves.  If they do, you can save yourself a lot of money and hassle.