so much information, so many reviews, so many forums, so little time…

Have any of you recently checked how much time you spend on the web doing research about things you are going to do or spend on? Here is how I am trying to simplify my shopping.

Let me think of the the last few things I did research on:

  • Vacation Trip – Where to go, stay and eat
  • Cellular service and phone
  • PC
  • Digital Camera
  • Web hosting service
  • Baby Stuff
  • Books
  • Car
  • Home
  • …

Of course, after making the choice, the research moves into finding the best place to snag the best deal. However, it seems like I wasted more time than the knowledge I gained to make a better decision or the money I saved. Recently, I have started going back to a more basic set of principles to simplify shopping and save time:

  • Repeat Your History: If you liked a place, brand, store, or a website just go with it the next time for the next thing.
  • Forget The Features: Look for the basic features you need. Quit worrying about future proofing your purchase. Either you do not need the features anyway or you will buy a new one in the future.
  • Buy When You Need: Skip the “mega sale now” and the Black Friday sales. I have not so suprisingly found I still get good deals just by spending a few minutes on research and picking a place rather than waiting for the right moment.
  • Go With Your Gut: All else being equal, just pick what “feels” right

I remember the time when I did do as much research but found more quality information at a higher Signal To Noise ratio. When I bought my Canon Elan IIe 8 years ago, I searched photo.net, rec.photo newsgroups and archives and a few other websites. When I bought a Onkyo component system, I got quality information from rec.audio archives. Now it seems as if google can serve information on anything you are looking for but with a million voices on the net spewing their opinion it is pretty difficult to figure out where the best information source is.

I am not advocating that web is bad. My last car buying experience was a pleasantly painless one. Pick the car you want. Submit request for internet quotes. Keep forwarding the offer emails back and forth to the different dealers internet managers till an equilibrium in price is achieved and just go buy it. It took all of few hours each day in one weekend to finish the whole thing. Of course, picking which car to buy and convincing the mother of my child that it was the right choice took a lot longer :)

Go ahead! Confess how much time you waste on research or tell me how much I am losing by skipping the research. If you have simplified your life then tell me your rules.