Ever wonder why so many As Seen on TV products are priced between $10 and $20? Experience has shown a direct-marketed product advertised via commercial spots of 2 minutes or less won’t sell well if priced higher than $19.99. But that price really doesn’t reflect what you’ll actually pay. When you place your order your credit or debit card may be charged substantially more than the advertised price, sometimes more than the cost of the actual product. The revealing phrase you should listen for is “Just pay extra shipping.”
Offers are often advertised as “Buy One Get One Free” (BOGO). That’s great, but you will get charged separate S&H for the free product. And don’t get confused when you’re asked how many you want. Choose a quantity of 1 to buy one and get one free. If you choose a quantity of 2, you’ll buy two and get two free for twice the price. Many offers also include other “free” bonus items that rack up even more shipping charges.
In addition, you may be presented with upsells: options to purchase an upgraded version of the product, an extra charge for expedited shipping, or offers for additional unrelated products.
Watch the offer’s commercial and visit the official website before you order and add up all the listed charges to get an idea of what the total bill will be. After you do so, you may or may not think it’s such a great deal. If you want to watch commercial spots and find links to As Seen on TV official websites, a good resource is As Seen On TV Video.
Illustration by John Sauer. ©2011 Linkdoggie LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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# 1 Shipping charges can add up to more than the cost of the product itself. jQuery(document).ready(function () { var mood = jQuery(‘#carousel ul’).moodular({ controls: ‘touch button’, scroll: 1, api: true, startOn: 0, auto: false, easing: ‘easeOutBounce’, speed: 400 }); jQuery(‘#mooddiv a.cnext’).bind(‘click’, function () { mood.next(); return false; }); jQuery(‘#mooddiv a.cprev’).bind(‘click’, function () { mood.prev(); [...]
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