Comments for Wishabi Blog http://www.wishabi.ca/blog Tips on Canadian shopping by the Wishabi.ca team Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:45:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 Comment on The Price Tag on Your Seat by Matthew http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/airline-preferred-seat-price/comment-page-1#comment-304 Matthew Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:45:01 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=265#comment-304 Good insights Ross. Yes, I do agree that all these un-bundling would make the shopping process more complicated. All else equal though, un-bundling may actually lower the cost of travel for some as they would not have to pay for services that they do not want to use. However, it would undoubtedly rise the cost for the same level of service due to increased overhead and reduced the economy of scale. As a bargain hunter myself, I actually welcome this change in a way, but I cringe because it makes the shopping process all that more difficult. It is bad enough when you see a fare advertise as $99 end up as $310 round trip, this latest change will just makes the advertised price of the ticket that you see even more meaningless. Good insights Ross. Yes, I do agree that all these un-bundling would make the shopping process more complicated.

All else equal though, un-bundling may actually lower the cost of travel for some as they would not have to pay for services that they do not want to use. However, it would undoubtedly rise the cost for the same level of service due to increased overhead and reduced the economy of scale.

As a bargain hunter myself, I actually welcome this change in a way, but I cringe because it makes the shopping process all that more difficult. It is bad enough when you see a fare advertise as $99 end up as $310 round trip, this latest change will just makes the advertised price of the ticket that you see even more meaningless.

]]> Comment on The Price Tag on Your Seat by Ross http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/airline-preferred-seat-price/comment-page-1#comment-300 Ross Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:06:11 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=265#comment-300 In some ways it makes sense to charge more for better seats and less for crappy seats; and theoretically the base price of the flight would drop. There's 2 big problems with what the airline industry is doing though: 1) Makes airline seat shopping very complicated; since usually the advertised price is the very lowest no frills seat and different airlines have different addons and different prices for those addons. [Aside: I'm sure there's a good business model to demystify airline pricing and show the final price to do apples-to-apples comparison across airlines]. Moreover, if you're buying through a grey market site like priceline or hotwire, there's more chance to get nailed on after-fees you don't know about. 2) There is an increase in transaction costs to sell everything seperately. I.e. in the old days, when beverages were free, the dispensing of beverages would be quick. Now, the flight attendent must process cash/credit, possibly give change and upsell for tips. Similarly, having to buy a $10 seat upgrade with credit card involves a secondary transaction, possibly double credit card payment (and fees for 2nd payment), possibly printing paper, new computer software to manage it etc; as well as back end accounting paperwork and tax avoidance work. At some point, the cost to make $2-3 extra may not be worth the additional input of labour/resources -- but i'm not sure the airline execs have the right info to cost all of this out. But anyways, airline tickets these days tend to be cheaper than the nominal cost in the 80s, which is pretty amazing for an industry where the primary cost (fuel) has skyrocketed. So all in all, most changes have benefitted the consumer (and if you want service that doesn't suck, you can always buy first class -- which is probably about the cost of an inflation adjusted 80s coach seat) In some ways it makes sense to charge more for better seats and less for crappy seats; and theoretically the base price of the flight would drop. There’s 2 big problems with what the airline industry is doing though:

1) Makes airline seat shopping very complicated; since usually the advertised price is the very lowest no frills seat and different airlines have different addons and different prices for those addons. [Aside: I'm sure there's a good business model to demystify airline pricing and show the final price to do apples-to-apples comparison across airlines]. Moreover, if you’re buying through a grey market site like priceline or hotwire, there’s more chance to get nailed on after-fees you don’t know about.

2) There is an increase in transaction costs to sell everything seperately. I.e. in the old days, when beverages were free, the dispensing of beverages would be quick. Now, the flight attendent must process cash/credit, possibly give change and upsell for tips. Similarly, having to buy a $10 seat upgrade with credit card involves a secondary transaction, possibly double credit card payment (and fees for 2nd payment), possibly printing paper, new computer software to manage it etc; as well as back end accounting paperwork and tax avoidance work. At some point, the cost to make $2-3 extra may not be worth the additional input of labour/resources — but i’m not sure the airline execs have the right info to cost all of this out.

But anyways, airline tickets these days tend to be cheaper than the nominal cost in the 80s, which is pretty amazing for an industry where the primary cost (fuel) has skyrocketed. So all in all, most changes have benefitted the consumer (and if you want service that doesn’t suck, you can always buy first class — which is probably about the cost of an inflation adjusted 80s coach seat)

]]> Comment on Things You Should Know About Refurbs by Ross http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/things-you-should-know-about-refurbs/comment-page-1#comment-267 Ross Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:09:14 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=234#comment-267 I often buy refurb'd items, but one thing often overlooked with refurbished items is the warranty terms. Often the refurbished item has a very short warranty, such as 30 days, if at all. So you need to carefully balance the expected failure rate and cost in the consideration. For example, "recertified" hard drives typically carry a 90 day warranty. Recertified hard drives are typically warranty return drives that have been fixed by the manufacturer (or their subcontractor). Whereas brand new hard drives had typically a 3 or 5 year warranty. 1) Hard drives have a high failure rate. You should expect a 50% chance of hard drive failure in 3-5 year period. 2) The cost differential between recertified and new (oem) hard drive is minimal. 3) Recertified hard drives probably have a higher chance of failure (since often a physical defect is still present somewhere on the drive, but has been worked around in the firmware (during the recertification process). Similarly, for a large screen LCD TV (say $1500-$2000 cost), I would be hesitant to get a refurb -- because the probability of a defect is high (though warranties on LCD TVs is often only 1 or 2 years). But there are definitely great deals to be had out there -- just remember to balance the competing factors. I often buy refurb’d items, but one thing often overlooked with refurbished items is the warranty terms. Often the refurbished item has a very short warranty, such as 30 days, if at all. So you need to carefully balance the expected failure rate and cost in the consideration. For example, “recertified” hard drives typically carry a 90 day warranty. Recertified hard drives are typically warranty return drives that have been fixed by the manufacturer (or their subcontractor). Whereas brand new hard drives had typically a 3 or 5 year warranty. 1) Hard drives have a high failure rate. You should expect a 50% chance of hard drive failure in 3-5 year period. 2) The cost differential between recertified and new (oem) hard drive is minimal. 3) Recertified hard drives probably have a higher chance of failure (since often a physical defect is still present somewhere on the drive, but has been worked around in the firmware (during the recertification process). Similarly, for a large screen LCD TV (say $1500-$2000 cost), I would be hesitant to get a refurb — because the probability of a defect is high (though warranties on LCD TVs is often only 1 or 2 years). But there are definitely great deals to be had out there — just remember to balance the competing factors.

]]> Comment on Things You Should Know About Refurbs by Matthew http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/things-you-should-know-about-refurbs/comment-page-1#comment-264 Matthew Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:18:17 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=234#comment-264 Thanks Hoser, glad your TV is working well. I personally buy refurbs quite often especially if there's a good deal to be had (such as this Asus laptop I am tying on) . There's quite a bit of confusion out there regarding refurbished items as so many different terms are used along with varying standards. My personal rule is that the item should be refurbished by the manufacture (not a third party), and that the store offers a reasonable return policy, or at least allow me to throughly test the item first. Thanks Hoser, glad your TV is working well. I personally buy refurbs quite often especially if there’s a good deal to be had (such as this Asus laptop I am tying on) . There’s quite a bit of confusion out there regarding refurbished items as so many different terms are used along with varying standards. My personal rule is that the item should be refurbished by the manufacture (not a third party), and that the store offers a reasonable return policy, or at least allow me to throughly test the item first.

]]> Comment on Things You Should Know About Refurbs by Hoser McToque http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/things-you-should-know-about-refurbs/comment-page-1#comment-263 Hoser McToque Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:00:42 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=234#comment-263 Great post. I recently bought a Samsung LCD HDTV on Wishabi that was refurbished which saved me over $400 and it has been working perfectly fine for the past 3 months. I have had no bad experiences with any refurbished products so far so lets hope it stays that way! I like to play on the safe side with manufacturer refurbished products and buy only respected name brands and look for ones with a manufacture warranty of one year if possible. Great post. I recently bought a Samsung LCD HDTV on Wishabi that was refurbished which saved me over $400 and it has been working perfectly fine for the past 3 months. I have had no bad experiences with any refurbished products so far so lets hope it stays that way! I like to play on the safe side with manufacturer refurbished products and buy only respected name brands and look for ones with a manufacture warranty of one year if possible.

]]> Comment on Things You Should Know About Refurbs by currie http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/things-you-should-know-about-refurbs/comment-page-1#comment-255 currie Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:45:39 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=234#comment-255 great info ~ looking foraward to more of these great tips! THANKS x 10000!!!!!! great info ~ looking foraward to more of these great tips!

THANKS x 10000!!!!!!

]]> Comment on Take heart Canucks! by AmexGrl http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/take-heart-canucks/comment-page-1#comment-224 AmexGrl Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:58:47 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=199#comment-224 Go TEAM USA! Go TEAM USA!

]]> Comment on 3 No-No’s for this Valentine’s Day by discount amazon http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/3-no-no-for-this-valentines-day/comment-page-1#comment-176 discount amazon Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:59:28 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=106#comment-176 very useful post. I would love to follow you on twitter. very useful post. I would love to follow you on twitter.

]]> Comment on The Economics of Valentine’s Day by usha athai http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/the-economics-of-valentines-day/comment-page-1#comment-165 usha athai Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:29:00 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=179#comment-165 Hi Prashanth, I see a budding journalist in you!!! Great article. Now I must go out and buy candy that I really do not need!! And I should persuade Chandra Uncle to buy flowers and perfume for me!! Thanks for the extra -push!! Take Care, Usha Athai Hi Prashanth,
I see a budding journalist in you!!!
Great article. Now I must go out and buy candy that I really do not need!! And I should persuade Chandra Uncle to buy flowers and perfume for me!! Thanks for the extra -push!!
Take Care,
Usha Athai

]]> Comment on The Economics of Valentine’s Day by Prashanth Gopalan http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/the-economics-of-valentines-day/comment-page-1#comment-164 Prashanth Gopalan Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:48:25 +0000 http://www.wishabi.ca/blog/?p=179#comment-164 thanks for commenting =) thanks for commenting =)

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