saltfish

Just a quick question:

Has anyone bought a product they saw on an infomercial? If so, did it totally blow? or was it a good value?

Has anyone worked with a company like SMC, where you buy "below wholesale" and then re-sold products? Did you get rich? Did you get thrown into debt?

Thanks guys! I'm looking forward to hear about your personal stories!

My answer:

I was given one of those pasta-cooking-pots with the built in drain holes. This has got to be one of the worst, over-marketed inventions of all time. It won't hold head b/c it's too thin. and you cant put it anywhere that it is stacked below or above something or it will get easily damanged.



-SF

prosequence

I bought silver polish one time (preen or peek or something like that) it worked great, I used it on my coin collection, it removed tarnish and seemed to help prevent it as well. Overall it was a good buy but now I don't know where to get it.

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Redlemon

I like the miracle thawing trays.

I also got the side-latching can opener, which I liked the operation, but it fell apart. So, I got a legitimate all-metal version of the same thing, and it works great.

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shannon

there's a store in a town about three or four hours from me and they have stuff you see on tv. so while i haven't bought anything i have seen them in person, including your crappy pot. the biggest problem i noticed with the pot was that it didn't even really seem to fit, the one i saw. some of the things they have are legit looking, but most of the stuff that seems like a ridiculously good price is completely too good to be true. one thing i haven't seen since i haven't been there in a while is that damend juicer. do you know what i'm talking about? where the old man comes out and he's super fit and it's all because of this insane juicer. that thing is soo tempting. it's a good thing i don't have a credit card....yet.
a girl in one of my classes tried the wholesale reselling thing but i never heard anything one way or another. so either she hasn't sold the stuff yet, or she just hasn't thought about mentioning it. so she likely didn't make tons, and likely didn't get completely screwed, because then you would think either way that she would have a story to tell me.

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lurkette

OK, confession time.

I have learned my lesson and will never buy anything off tv again.

1. I bought one of those ellipse exercise machines. I used it for a while but eventually it became a hanging place for clothes.

2. The Bacon Wave was actually a pretty good buy, and to be fair I didn't get it, Ratbastid did. We lost it when we moved, and really a paper towel on a plate in the microwave does just as well.

3. Ratbastid mentioned once that he wanted a Sobakawa pillow, so I got one for him. It gave him a headache. I gave it to my cat, who promptly peed all over it.

So, 1 for 3. Not a bad record, but I'm done now. I've been tempted by the flip folder, the travel space bag, and those little mini sewing machines. I just have to think "sobakawa" and I put my credit card back where it belongs, in the freezer.

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yournamehere

Some of them work farly well - others are a waste of money.

We bought that mushroom slicer for like $15
That's a lot of money to spend on something you use twice a month (OK - 4 times - works great on hardboiled eggs, too). But - it really is a great little gadget and timesaver when you use it, so - I guess I would say over the course of a few years, it will end up being money well-spent, if it doesn't break before then.

On the other hand - we bought those stupid double-sided pancake makers, and once the batter all spilled out on the first flip, back they went for a refund.

As seen on TV things are no worse or better than any other merchandise. Just look at the claims with a healthy amount of cynicism, and you'll be O.K. And remember that what they <i>don't</i> tell you about a product is as important as what they do tell you.

For instance - you can't use a "Flat Hose" unless the whole damn thing is unrolled - because it must expand in order for any water to get thru it, and as for those juicer/smoothie machines - Have you priced fruit lately?

And for the highest-priced TV ad - I've heard those $2200 "memory foam" beds retain body heat like a mofo.

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jerseyboy

I'd most like to buy the miracle blade knives, they actually look like they could be the real deal, although I dont see myself cutting any boots or pieces of stone.

SabrinaFair

My mama got some of those miracle blade knives, and absolutely loves them. They really do cut well, I'd buy a set if I had a real kitchen. And, you know, roommates that got along. It'd be dangerous to have them in Suite 205 right about now...

Meanwhile, I myself have not bought anything off TV because I'm a poor college student and have no space for an elliptical trainer, a useless pasta pot, or a feather duster that magnetically removes dust.

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Mephisto2

I love this thread.

It made me laugh and laugh. Especially, and as usual, lurkette.

I have never bought anything off TV, but there once was one thing I regretted not getting. It was some kind of spray you put on your TV screen that reduced glare by a huge amount (or so they said).

Apparently it's used in bookies and pubs etc where they have a lot of TV and ambient light/sunlight.

In my living room we have ceiling to floor windows which is pretty cool for getting lots of natural light. However Australian summers get VERY sunny, so it's quite often hard to see the TV during daylight hours.

I did buy a "slicer" gadget in a kitchen store shop once. Use it semi-regularly, but it's a pain to clean.

The only knives I've ever bought are good expensive professional knives. I like my cooking and my current set were well worth the $1,400 they cost...


Mr Mephisto

oberon

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numist

thats great, should have given it to your dog :P

The palm chopper things are pretty good, but we only have one for our entire family (not like my parents and me family, but like grandparents down). We only use it for get togethers, but it does its job and hasnt broken, which says something.

Besides that, nothin.

cj2112

My parents bought a D.R. trimmer. I couldn't believe it, I knew they were smarter than that, however it arrived earlier than promised, they charged their credit card the proper amount, and the machine is excellent. I was very surprised bit I can highly recommend this product to anyone in the market for a trimmer like this

Dano069

We've bought the bacon wave and the moving men. Both items work flawlessly. I think the store that shannon mentioned is called "As Seen on TV" We have one in the mall by us. Great store to browse in. We also have the pasta pots with the holes in the lid. They work pretty well too.

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jvwgtr

I did buy Oxy-Clean, though I don't think I ordered it through the TV. I think it does NOTHING, I can't imagine that many people buy it twice.

iktoweya

I tried the wholesale thing once. I sold cutco kitchen knives. I thought I would be the smart one and buy the knife sets by myself. I got the items 50% off which was way better than $11.00 per showing of the knives. Regardless I bought about $5000 worth of knives, and I ended up giving a lot of them away. I only made back about $3000 so I was in debt to myself.

Another account of this type of business is Advocare. I signed up with them just recently. It is a very promising actually. Ive made money with them. Only problem now is that school has started and i dont have time to present anymore. So i have a surplus of product as we speak. However this isnt as bad as the cutco in that i will use the rest of this stuff.

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Rodney

Yes and no. The palm-chopper thing somebody else mentioned above -- it's a cheap knock-off of a chopper from the Zyliss company, a Swiss company that makes weird interesting mechanical kitchen tools. We own the original, which only costs $18 or so at retail and is made of good steel and polycarbonate plastic.

We've found that the Walgreen's in our town has a fair amount of "as seen on TV' crap in stock, and stuff that maybe _wasn't_ seen on TV but is just as strange. I browse there occasionally when I need to buy presents for people I have a love/hate relationship with (mainly my sister).

jerseyboy

We have a little kiosk in my mall that seems to be packed to the gills with all the as seen on tv stuff. Amazingly they have so many products that I find it hard to believe that there is time to have commercials for all of them. I think they should just rename it crap that makes large promises and then never lives up to the hype.