Buyers remorse? An Aftermath of Purchasing Goods.

Buyers remorse is a sense of regret after making a purchase, normally of an expensive item such as a vehicle or house. Not only limited to such assets but that expensive pair of jeans from True Religion can have the same effects or the 55" Samsung flat screen tv.

Why do people develop a 'buyers remorse'?
The buyers remorse stems from a cognitive dissonance post a decision dissonance. After making a choice of purchasing an Audi A3 convertible and later realising that the BMW would've been a far better choice, from this one develops a sense of remorse on the decision taken. Also, finding the same looking pair of jeans at Mr Price or better styled jeans at a lower price from a different store will definitely result in a sense of regret, imagine you could've got three pair of jeans with the amount one pair cost at another store.

The roots of the buyers remorse stem from different cognitive dissonance, for example the excitement of purchasing a car will cloud your thoughts on the fact that you are actually putting yourself in debt for the coming number of months and thus why one develops a regret on the purchase. At most the remorse is caused by the fact that people will question your purchase or claim to know a better or cheaper alternative such as "you should've bought a BMW over an Audi" and this makes you doubt your purchase as well.

When do you know if you have buyers remorse?
The first sign of a buyers remorse would be questioning your own purchasing. One would have episodes of a mental discomfort caused by contrast emotions. Feelings of (listed below) will occur:

• Do I really need this car?
• I wonder if it was necessary to buy this car?
• Maybe I should've bought a cheaper car. 
• A Mercedes over a Audi would have been a better choice. 

How to over come buyers remorse. 

Buy experiences and not objects, Cornell University psychologists Rosenzweig and Gilovich looked at two types of purchases being material purchases, physical objects like computers, cars and tvs versus experimental purchases like concerts, vacations and so forth. 

Material purchases have been found to more likely lead to a buyers remorse due to them being interchangeable. Take time to think things through, ask yourself if you can afford, sustain and really need the object you are about to purchase. Use cash over credit, use a list when shopping, and draft a budget. 

Buying anything from a small object to a big purchase needs careful consideration. One must think it through, look at the pros and cons of the item about to be purchased and compare with other alternatives and search for cheaper alternatives before purchasing. Nothing is more irritating that purchasing a laptop from Incredible Connections only to later same day find out that Game had the same laptop on a sale. 

Luckily in what can be considered a free market, we have choice of returning unused items back to the store purchased within a certain number of days, resale things we don't need like or trade in the car. You might be at a loss, but its better than having a cognitive dissonance over something. 

Thanks for reading, please share and let's promote better ways to be consumers.  

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