# Are you an impulse buyer?



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Let's keep this musical. 

Well, are you? Are you an impulse buyer? Or do you consider every purchase long and carefully? Are you a tire-kicker, always test driving but rarely buying? Do music store employees roll their eyes at your appearance as if to say, "There's a tightwad!"?

The older I get the less I impulse buy, to the point now that I virtually never spend more than a few bucks this way. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## lbrown1 (Mar 22, 2007)

VERY impulsive......till the $$ run out.......then I'm only moderately impulsive!


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Not at all...


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

I'm not sure....I visit my local music emporiums regularly to see what's new. Usually I don't buy, but if I find something that takes my fancy I don't hesitate; it goes home with me.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

in my mind, i'm decisive. i research what i need, then look for what i want. when i find it, i buy it at the best price i can obtain.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

I am very impulsive for stuff under about $800.
it is dangerous for me to browse the Emporiums.
I had to stop checking Craigslist on a daily basis.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

WELL

I bid to 55.55 and lost. One day I will have a Philbrick Op Amp! Then we will know how well it works as a pre-amp... The impulse was that I had planned on 33.33 as my max bid but I just didn't want to lose it and simply HAD to go for the try.


OH AND: The Philbrick Research Laboratories were the origin and inventors of the op-amp. The first run was using 12AX7's, and was the first operational amp. The design was purchased by the military but there were power and personality struggles, and by the time the dust settled silicon had begun to replace vacuum. The upshot was that when the first silicon op-amp came into being, ALL the preceding maths, calculations, and functional understandings were a perfect match so no one had to "relearn" anything to use the new silicon op-amps. I find this part of history interesting, and do want a piece of it in my tube collection. I usually wig out at the 50 dollar mark, what can I say, I like to collect but I am cheep too. However, the Philbrick units are not common, nor do they show too often, and the chance has to be made when they do.

Effects and Amp builders alike may find this interesting http://www.philbrickarchive.org/


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## Shiny_Beast (Apr 16, 2009)

What are you selling?


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Not really impulse--When I bought my Artcore I looked for months.

I'm sure some salesmen were like--Him again?
But I bought it at the store that I had spent the most time looking,, and tried out the most guitars.

If I had more money I might be more impulsive.
And then I'd have an Ibanez Futura (Moderne copy), and Legend amplifier, and a few others, but I don't.

The only ones that approach impulse buys are my Mustang & Les Paul.
My Mustang because I went to the store to buy a phase shifter, and instead got the Mustang. However I had been eying the Mustang for a while, but couldn't afford it. Then I got a better job, and the two Mustangs went on sale as the store was moving. Add that to the mix, and not completely impulse, as I'd wanted to buy one, and had it in the back of my mind. I just got one sooner than I otherwise may have.

My Les Paul was also a sale item-but I didn't get it right away.
Mother's Music used to have Dutch auctions and I saw the Les Paul on a Thursday when it was 30% off.
I almost went back on Friday to get it at 40% off, but held off until Saturday to get it at 50% off. (Gear must have been really marked up back then.) So I think the fact that I didn't buy it right away on the Thursday, waited until Saturday and thought about it disqualifies it as impulse.


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## kat_ (Jan 11, 2007)

The guys at work make fun of me for how un-impulsive I am. I keep a pile of stuff that I'm tempted to buy and every few days I go through it and put some stuff back. Anything that's still in the pile at payday usually gets bought. Music books are my big weakness.
On the other hand there's a very good chance I'll pick up a Godin Icon the day they hit stores.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

kat_ said:


> The guys at work make fun of me for how un-impulsive I am. I keep a pile of stuff that I'm tempted to buy and every few days I go through it and put some stuff back. Anything that's still in the pile at payday usually gets bought. Music books are my big weakness.
> On the other hand there's a very good chance I'll pick up a Godin Icon the day they hit stores.



kat I hear ya, I'm know to walk arund a store picking up things, then go around again and put them back. Like you I'm a sucker for musics books and have a huge stack of em (I call it continuing education) Thankfully I'm not or I'd be rushing out to look for a new Taylor GS mini. I have very bad GAS at the moment!!!


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)

@Starbuck: LOL, that sounds like my buddy. He does that all the time - picks up something and then while he's standing in line to pay reconsiders and then puts it back.

As for my own buying habits... I would have to say I'm normally not an impulse buyer. I think over a piece of gear first - usually I've read up about it online, and thought about how and why it would fit into my setup. This is probably why I've resold very few pieces of gear that I've bought over my life. 

Now, not to say that I don't cruise the music stores from time to time. Sometimes, an instrument will just speak to me - like it wants to be in my hands. In those cases, I usually put it back and then spend a week agonizing over whether to buy it. 

I also have trouble passing up a great deal on something even if I don't really need it. One time I impule bought a Squier 51 guitar at L&M for like $99 on clearance. My wife ended up convinving me it was a stupid purchase and I returned it a few days later. In the end, she was right - I really didn't need it or even have a use for it at the time.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

Powdered Toast Man said:


> @Starbuck: LOL, that sounds like my buddy. He does that all the time - picks up something and then while he's standing in line to pay reconsiders and then puts it back.


i do that all the time when i shop at zellers (not music stuff from there, of course)
the lines are sometimes so agonizingly slow, it often forces me to reconsider paying $9 for jumanji


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

cheezyridr said:


> i do that all the time when i shop at zellers (not music stuff from there, of course)
> the lines are sometimes so agonizingly slow, it often forces me to reconsider paying $9 for jumanji


Ha Cheesy you got me there! I bought Jumanji! Sounds great in 5.1 with a big sub.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i love that movie, but i just can't seem to allow myself to pay that much for it. when i t hits the $6 pile though, i'm in.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Anything under $100. is an impulse buy for me...musical or not.


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

By nature I'm an impulse buyer, but over the years I've had to dig myself out of deep credit card holes because of it. now, thanks to a little wisdom and experience, I don't buy on impulse as often.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Powdered Toast Man said:


> @Starbuck: LOL, that sounds like my buddy. He does that all the time - picks up something and then while he's standing in line to pay reconsiders and then puts it back.


I know someone like that--he will agonize over most purchases and walk around the store for a while in many cases.
I've done similar with larger purchases, and when I recently had a gift card--but with the gift card it was like--"Am I buying this because I want it, or am I just using up the giftcard?"


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

LLLLOOOLLLLL. Totally an impulse buyer. More so now that I have a bit more disposible income. I have a "play money" account and keep any money from gear sales or whatever in there. There isn't much but enough to keep me going. When I see something I want, I just have to make sure the cash is there. 

I spent many years pondering discisions like acquiring gear etc...item that were considered frivolous. Spent time over thinking things and deprived myself of things that I could have easily afforded. Well, enough with that. Life is to short. 

Now, I won't get into debt to buy something and I don't buy stuff for status (too many people I know are doing that and paying the hefty interest rates to go along with living in their land of make believe). 

So the short answer is, if I have the cash on hand...Hell ya.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

cheezyridr said:


> i love that movie, but i just can't seem to allow myself to pay that much for it. when i t hits the $6 pile though, i'm in.


LOL!! I have a 5 year old, It allowes me to purchase some frivolous movies I would not otherwise.


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