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10 Things You Shouldn't Buy New
A MSN.com article lists the following:
1. Books
2. DVDs and CDs
3. Little kids' toys
4. Jewelry (TC: Uh-Oh)
5. Sports equipment
6. Cars
7. Software and console games
8. Office furniture
9. Timeshares
10. Handtools
I agree except for numbers four and six, but on four I wish I could agree. The common feature of the argument seems to be that we can do without "the gloss of the new" by a mere act of will.
But don't buy helmets, laptops, wet suits, or vacuum cleaners used, they often have hidden damage. They forgot to list underwear.
Addendum: As long as we are on the topic of "ten," here is Guy Kawasaki's "Ten Things They Should Teach You in School," recommended.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 23, 2006 at 06:25 AM in Education | Permalink
Comments
I disagree with about half the items on the list not for reasons of hidden damage, but because the difficulty of finding the used item you want greatly exceeds that of new items, and that difference more than outweights the cost. With CDs, DVDs, video games, and books, it is now as easy to find a used copy as a new one, and we do buy a lot used items. But hand tools? Children's toys? Unless you like to cruise garage sales for entertainment, you're spending a lot of time to save only a little money.
Posted by: Slocum at Aug 23, 2006 8:02:27 AM
Would you buy used shoes?
Posted by: Bill Stepp at Aug 23, 2006 8:05:44 AM
Great album years ago by Ian Drury and the Blocheads "New Boots and Panties". Referred to his habit of clothing himself from thrift stores except for those items.
4? Buy second hand, of course (if you can’t inherit it). Surely the loved one would prefer an antique?
Posted by: Tim Worstall at Aug 23, 2006 8:52:44 AM
What misguided reason do you have for not agreeing with buying used cars?
Posted by: Ted Craig at Aug 23, 2006 8:54:42 AM
Is there any practical difference between buying used CDs and pirating music off the Internet?
Posted by: neil at Aug 23, 2006 9:18:34 AM
I agree that transaction costs, search costs, and shipping costs can outweight whatever cost savings there might be from buying things used. Try to buy three specific used books from Amazon -- if you don't value your time, you MIGHT be able to find one used-book seller who has all three. But if you cannot find such a seller, it's often cheaper and easier to buy new from a single seller.
Posted by: EclectEcon at Aug 23, 2006 9:36:39 AM
My wife wears my grandmother's wedding and engagement rings. We had them appraised for insurance, and I was quite surprised to find out that the value of the jewelry is equal to the value of the raw materials. The value we received was based solely on the weight of the platinum, and the value of the diamond.
On questioning, the appraiser said that was true for all but a very few artistic pieces designed by well known artisans.
Posted by: tex ritter at Aug 23, 2006 10:07:08 AM
What's wrong with buying used jewelry? My understanding is that famous people wear rented jewelry all the time. Why can't mere mortals buy it used? I heard something somewhere about how the diamond cartel has a thing against selling used diamonds, so maybe it just isn't possible to buy used diamonds, because they have rules against markets in used diamonds?
Posted by: Sameer Parekh at Aug 23, 2006 10:08:27 AM
I agree with other posters that used Books and DVDs are not as much of a cost savings as you might imagine.
Picking at random a DVD from my personal Amazon Wish List: The First 2 seasons of Northern Exposure are available together "New" on Amazon for $29.97. It is also available "Used & New" for $28.60, plus shipping and handling.
Not much advantage there in not buying New.
Posted by: Richard Bellamy at Aug 23, 2006 10:20:17 AM
I wouldn't buy used shoes unless maybe I could try them out first. But once, in 2001, someone gave me his Nikes. I still wear them. They're incredible.
Posted by: Jeff Brown at Aug 23, 2006 10:22:01 AM
I would never buy a used powertool, except possibly from someone I truested to treat his right. People do stupid crap, and ruin things all the time.
Most of these items aren't worth the search costs on the dollar.
Posted by: Brock at Aug 23, 2006 10:35:48 AM
Why buys children's toys these days, btw? Don't upper-middle-class parents these days have a hard time getting rid of excess toys? At least that is my experience. All upper-middle-class parents I know don't buy toys, because enough grandparents, other relatives, 'friends', etc. exist to fill their house with way more toys than the kids will know what to do with.
Posted by: Sameer Parekh at Aug 23, 2006 10:37:32 AM
In my experience, buying used toys is cheaper but takes more time - most used kids toys are completely trashed (kids being kids) and, like someone mentioned above, you have to cruise a lot of garage sales to find what you're looking for. We've been looking for a "riding toy" for our two-year old for 6 months at garage sales with no luck.
Posted by: bob montgomery at Aug 23, 2006 12:09:43 PM
I would also like to hear the reasoning behind no used cars. Used jewelry is not recommended because to most people the point of jewelry is the price. Jewelry is a way of giving wearable money.
Posted by: sourcreamus at Aug 23, 2006 12:35:04 PM
Add me to the list of people who would like to hear Tyler's arguments against buying used cars. I happen to be shopping for a car right now and dissuading me from buying used would greatly simplify my life.
Posted by: ben recht at Aug 23, 2006 12:41:24 PM
Perhaps Tyler enjoys the conspicuous consumption of a new automobile?
Posted by: Matthew Cromer at Aug 23, 2006 1:17:36 PM
In 2002 I bought a new car rather than used for the reason that new cars had a lot of safety features that older ones didn't. With a young family this was very important to me. I don't know if there have been as many safety advances in the 2000's as there were in 1990's, so maybe that reason doesn't apply any more.
Posted by: Tony Plate at Aug 23, 2006 3:21:58 PM
It doesn't make a lot of sense to buy a one or two year old Accord or Camry (or Harley) since they don't depreciate enough. And I agree with Tony, side air bags are good enough reason to buy new.
Posted by: subrosa at Aug 23, 2006 3:46:05 PM
I agree with earlier commenters that many should never buy anything used unless they prefer used over new.
If you are a competent independent knowledge worker, you can work 24/7/365 on what you're really good at. Any time you spend shopping for used anything probably incurs opportunity cost in excess of the savings. And since used anythng generally has to be replaced/maintained sooner than new anything, there is extra cost there as well.
Get really good at what you do and buy the very best new everything. Leave bargain shopping to those who possess that particular comparative advantage.
Posted by: Tom Kelly at Aug 23, 2006 6:12:12 PM
I don’t agree with buying all of this things used because of the difficulty finding them. Ebay is a good source to buy things like books, CDs and DVDs with low shipping prices, but things like tools, toys and sports equipment cost a lot to ship and finding them at a flee market or yard sale takes time, even more so if you are looking for something particular. Things such as timeshares can sometimes be cheaper if you buy them when they are new or haven’t been completed yet.
Posted by: Aftin at Aug 23, 2006 7:21:32 PM
re the difficulty of finding used kids toys --
Don't you people have consignment stores? They're a godsend. CHEAP stuff, including clothes. They don't take stuff that is too worn out or missing pieces. Until kids are well into elementary school, they don't care that their stuff didn't come from Toys R a Scam.
Posted by: goober at Aug 23, 2006 9:20:59 PM
If you are buying a cheaper, smaller car then it's not a terrible idea to buy new as they have
improved in both price and quality a lot over the last five or so years. I was able to buy a new small
Korean car with a five year warranty for about 10,600 U.S. dollars. This wasn't much more than people
were asking for similar second-hand cars that were a couple of years old. Since I wasn't intersted in
trying to convince sellers that their cars weren't worth what they were asking I decided to buy new.
Posted by: Ronald Brak at Aug 23, 2006 9:40:05 PM
If you are a competent independent knowledge worker, you can work 24/7/365 on what you're really good at.
And you can eat cream-of-wheat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But that doesn't mean you will enjoy it.
Posted by: Matthew Cromer at Aug 23, 2006 10:14:57 PM
Not having bomb bags in them is one good reason to buy a used car. I'm still disappointed that the automobile salvage trade association in Ohio failed to get them outlawed in the state. It is a Federal felony to ship the active component by air, and the explosive they contain is a known carcinogen.
The other good reason is that you lose more money driving a new car off the lot than I would lose driving any car I've ever owned off a cliff.
Posted by: triticale at Aug 24, 2006 1:14:42 AM
Didn't George Akerlof win a Nobel Prize for explaining why it's difficult to buy a decent used car? Yet many people remain convinced that only fools buy new cars.
Posted by: John S. at Aug 24, 2006 7:26:17 AM
