Refurb basics
Retailers large and small offer items that are classified as refurbished. These straddle the line between new and old, sort of like a “certified used car”. Just like used cars, their quality vary greatly depending on what kind of item you’re buying and who’s selling it. For more background information, read last week’s post about refurbished.

Original specifications doesn’t equal perfect
Almost all refurbished items are certified to the manufacture’s original specifications. While this is just fine most of the time, it doesn’t necessary mean the product is perfect. Some items such as LCD monitors are considered in-spec even if they have a number of defective pixels (guess where they end up when someone returns one of these?), others such as laptop computers may not come with all accessories, like a recovery CD, that normally accompany new items.

Questions to consider

1. Savings – How much can you get a brand new item for? Do a search using Wishabi of course =) Only consider refurbished items if the savings are significant.
2. Return policy – Does the store selling the refurbished item offer a no questions asked return policy, with no restocking fee?
3. Testability – Is this product easily testable (eg either works perfectly or not at all)? Can you test this item before buying it? Be sure to test the battery life of any battery powered item.
4. Black listed items – Is this an item that gradually wears out without obvious signs? Things in this category include batteries, hard drives, and other things that are of a chemical or mechanical nature.
5. Refurbisher – Who recertified this item? Generally, items refurbished by the manufacture are more trustworthy than one refurbished by a third party or the retailer themselves.
6. Warranty – Does the item have sufficient Canadian warranty? Refurbished items often have greatly reduced warranties, how does the cost compare with a new item if the extended warranty is purchased?

If all or most of the answers are favorable, then buying refurbished can be the smart choice, otherwise, it would probably be safer to stick with new. Like the saying “knowing is half the battle”, it will pay both in terms of your wallet and headache to know what you’re dealing with when buying refurbished products.

From LCD TV to home appliance, refurbished items can be a great value for your money. But what exactly does “refurb” means for Canadian consumers? Here are a few tips that will be handy when treading the fine line between new and used.

So what exactly is a refurbished item?
Refurbished had traditionally meant that the item may not be brand new but had been restored to original specifications. In reality however, exactly where a refurbished item lies in the gray area between new and used will vary greatly between manufactures, the store, or even the circumstances of the sale. A refurbished item is most often a customer return or an open box item, but it can also be a demo product, scratch and dents, a defective item that has been repaired, or even a perfectly brand new item that is simply overstocked.

A refurbished item by any other name… is still refurbished
While most refurbished items are perfectly fine, a few bad apples have given some a negative connotation. As a result, various euphemisms are often used to describe this condition. If you see any of the following terms, changes are that the item has been refurbished.

• Refurb
• Factory renewed
• Reconditioned
• Recertified
• Newly Overhauled
• Off-lease
• Open box
• Remanufactured

What does this all mean?
Many refurbished items represent a great value for your money. When buying from a reputable store and manufacture, it allows you to buy an item that is basically as good as new at a cost closer to that of a used item. However, due to the variance in circumstances and quality, caution is sometimes warranted. Stay tuned for more tips on when to buy refurbished, and when to stick to brand spanking new.

But before we open the floodgates holding back the caterwauling waters of disgruntlement, let’s remind ourselves where the two northern neighbours stand with key metrics on the e-commerce and shopping fronts, and reward ourselves with a quick medal count while we’re at it.

Broadband penetration Canada – 1 USA – 0

Canadian broadband penetration rates over around 74.9 percent, while the U.S. comes close with a nearly 74.1 percent connectivity as of August 2009, according to Internet World Stats. But take our own number with a grain of salt, it might be inflated due to our minimum threshold for broadband connectivity being set lower than that of the rest of the world – 64 kbps.

Personal disposable income ratio Canada – 0 USA – 1

As you can see (Source: CIBC Consumer Watch), the ratio of Canadian-to-American disposable income has slowly diminished, leaving us with as close a match to US disposable income since seen in the early 1990s, but as long as that ratio remains below 1.0, we’ll still be lagging behind the States.

Per capita disposable income increase Canada – 1 USA – 0

Great news! From 2005 to 2009, Canadians saw their per capita disposable incomes double for every $1 (USD) spent by Americans. Thus Canadians benefitted from a $2600 (CAD) increase from an American increase of $1300 (USD).

Since 2005, real gross income per capita has risen by more than 11 percent (or $3000 CAD), whilst in the US, the number is close to 5 percent ($1400 USD).

Real average wage Canada – 1 USA – 0

This graph depicts a relative wage calculation (Source: CIBC Consumer Watch). Using the 2004 wage rate as a starting point, the graph measures wage growth with respect to that yardstick.

Medal Count             CANADA – 3 USA – 1

Now wouldn’t it be dandy if this had been our victory score instead?

Or so they would have you believe.

Major news dailies speculate that the age of the shopping mall might be coming to an end. As they put it, the spatial barrier of shopping malls is vastly outperformed by the near limitless reach of the internet. Web 2.0-inspired phenomena, including social shopping through Facebook, crowdsourced collaborative deal hunting techniques and comparison shopping tools, are apparently now the key features of a new, customer-friendly online shopping experience. Combine these with Canadians’ obsession with cross-border shopping, they said, and you’ll get something that becomes the basis of a whole new online shopping lifestyle.

It didn’t happen, at least not yet in Canada.

A recent study conducted by Stats Canada pegs online retail sales in the Canada at only around 3 percent. Despite having some of the highest broadband penetration rates, a recent Wishabi study reveals that nearly 90 percent of Canadians browse for deals online, and then drive to their physical establishments to buy them – leaving many retailers are still holed up in their brick-and-mortar stores..

And there are many reasons as to why this is case. People complain that they’re not comfortable with a purchase without knowing all the details. They don’t want part with their cash without looking, touching or reading the detailed specifications on the product. They’re also uneasy about the lack of full disclosure over the total cost, so it isn’t uncommon to find what seems to be a great deal and then be slapped with a hefty shipping charge that kills it at the checkout. And don’t even get us started about duties and brokerage for cross-border purchases. Security concerns and the inability to gauge the trustworthiness of a store through your LCD screen compounds the problem even further.

These complaints are probably the best form of constructive criticism that online shopping sites can ever hope to get. True, the criticism might bite a little, but at least it’s honest.

Fortunately, we live in Canada, one of the most innovative communities on this planet where folks are constantly developing new tools to improve our lives. So help us help you, by providing feedback (Twitter, Facebook, blog comments etc…) to let us know how we can build an ever better tool.

Do it now.

Ok, I exaggerate slightly, but judging by this past holiday season’s dismal performance, Valentine’s Day might just be the panacea for our socio-economic woes.

The Christmas shopping season began with a mediocre Black Friday shopping experience as shoppers vacillated between spending during the festive season, and saving their hard-earned cash for a rainy day. No doubt as the new, more streamlined and fledgling economy cautiously emerged from the wreckage generated over the past year, it has become apparent that shoppers are still hesitant to plunge headlong into the wild-spending patterns that characterized previous Christmas shopping periods. Indeed, many stores extended their discounts till even after the new year, in order to capture those consumers who held out for the cheapest deals. But what’s clear was the this time around, Christmas shopping didn’t even come close to the 69.9 million shopping orders placed around the same time in 2008, nor did it reflect that just a year before, $12.8 billion worth of goods and services were ordered and consumed by Canadian households.

But what about Valentine’s Day?

It’s timed conveniently enough that the gloom of the Christmas season doesn’t sour it over too much. And although it’s technically only been half a year since the recession “ended” in 2009, it is really our first occasion to celebrate under the auspices of a recognized holiday this year. It affords us the opportunity to celebrate love and relationships, and also revel in the excitement of the cheery predictions made for the new year and the new decade to come, helping us reverse some of that negativity.

For this Valentine’s Day, many pundits predict a definite upswing in consumer spending. While it may not match Christmas madness in sheer volume, it should at least (just this once) beat it in terms of shopping enthusiasm and optimism. Projections for this year augur that although couples may spend less on one another, overall spending per capita will increase. Extrapolating from American data, Canadians are expected to spend about nearly $103 per capita this Valentine’s season. Data from Stats Canada tells us that businesses collected nearly $1 billion in sales from chocolate-induced madness, sold approximately $312 million – or a whopping 18.6 million litres – of sparkling wines, and more than 13.7 million stems of roses each year. Of course, not all of that was spent in February, but one could easily reason that Valentine’s day could claim a significant portion of these spendings.

We may not share that kind of fiscal insanity this year (maybe next year), but any bit of productive spending will help buoy the consumer-driven economy that we have. Perhaps the cheer and bonhomie of this festive season will tide us over the bad times and remind us of the good ones again. After all, just like in relationships, so in real life – shouldn’t we be making the most of every opportunity that comes our way?

The repeated occurrence of the recession is a testament to the short-lived nature of the human memory. Not only do we forget the precise social conditions that existed in the run-up to recessions past, but we also forget how we had to adapt and drastically alter our lifestyles in order to survive through them.

But that’s exactly the danger of something as widespread and damaging as a recession. Its ability to slowly steal away from the ragged edges of the human memory and then pounce on us when we seem least capable to deal with it is a recurring theme.

This recession witnessed the U.S. government printing vast amounts of money in order save its flailing economy. As any economist will tell you, what this does is weaken the U.S. dollar against other currencies, meaning that those countries bordering the States with an eager pool of dedicated cross-border shoppers (ahem Canada), should all be rejoicing. Heavily.

For the past couple of months, the loonie has slowly been catching up with the greenback, meaning that smart shoppers should soon realize that they have a golden opportunity at their fingertips.

How?

Well, in order to combat the steady inflation, many U.S. brands and outlet malls have aggressively (almost cut-throatedly) slashed prices on thousands of products – meaning savings abound for any adventurous shopper who sleuths for them. But if you’re feeling particularly deterred by the thought of having to wait hours at the border in order to immerse yourself in the frenzy of those Meccas of shopdom, don’t be. Use online comparison shopping and cross-border shopping sites instead.

There are scores of these sites lying around on the internet. Use them! They’re still operating for a reason. Use their comparison tools in order to find those best deals from the comfort of your own home…while others sweat, fume and burn all that gas getting across the border and lugging all those goodies back.

The best thing about these sites is that they usually get direct information from the stores posting these massive sales, so you can bank on these deals being more or less accurate. Like they say, the early bird catches the worm, and since nothing can be earlier than an eager internet shopper swooping in on those sweet deals hours before those tired and dusty road shoppers arrive from across the border, it pays to be hooked up to an ISP with a laptop.

Kapische? (Yes, I spelt it like that on purpose.)

My last post titled “making the most out of your gift cards” discussed ways to take advantage of them, namely by exchanging them into things you can actually use. Today, we’ll complete the puzzle by looking at how to best sell your cards for cold, hard cash.

Friends and family
Don’t think just because you don’t like the store, that none of your buddies will. Selling your gift card to friends and family can kill two birds with one stone. It allows you to liquidate your card without the hassle of soliciting strangers or paying service fees, it also saves your friends a trip to the store.

Gift card swapping site
If no one you know wants to relieve you of your card, you can seek the service of specialized gift card trading sites (Thanks to Currie for the tip) to trade it in for another card or sell it outright. There are many sites like those but my favorite one is cardswap.ca. These sites provide a convenient place for people to buy, sell and trade gift cards, but you’ll have to pay a transaction fee of 6-10%. Note that it is standard practice to be paid only after you’ve sent the card in, so be sure to only deal with trustworthy sites.

Online classified portals
Sites such as eBay, Craigslist and Kijiji offer an extensive market place to sell your gift card. It will take a little more work to create you listings there but their reach is massive and fees are generally reasonable or free. Note that if you are selling a card that can be redeemed in the USA, you might want to list it as a “But It Now” listing on eBay.com instead of eBay.ca. Doing so will let your potential buyers take advantage of an 8% cashback from Microsoft Bing, netting you a higher price in the end. In fact, I’ve seen gift cards selling for higher than their face value due to this. I know, it’s nuts!

At the store

This is my favorite… going in person to offer the card to someone there who is about to pay using their real money. Some people will look at you with suspicion, but many will welcome your offer provided you are giving them a discount and not look totally shady. If you are doing this, you may have to go checkout with the buyer so they know your card is for real. You should also be careful when the managers are around as some tend to not like this behavior. I’ve done something like this with old textbooks at the University of Waterloo’s book store with great success, but that’s another story.

Tell your friends about Wishabi.ca and get a free $10 gift cards for your favorite stores. Click here to find out more about our free gift cards

(Source: Mashable.com)

I guess it just goes to say that no matter how successful your past products, giving your product a name that almost completely echoes the name of a successful product from the past a) shows a lack of originality and creativity (shocking, because Apple has built itself up to THE authority in innovation) and b) is plain laughable.

Why the latter? Because the moment the iPad was announced, EVERYONE jumped the bandwagon and started lampooning it, everyone from women’s groups to MadTV.

Too bad. The iPad does look promising, but it’s functionality too limited – so it’s probably just as well that we wait for the next version to come out.

Disclaimer

The writers of this blog post promise to entertain, inform and enlighten, but in no way bear responsibility for any bad outcomes that might stem from the sentiments underlying this post. All comments, well-wishes and/or incisive concerns can be dropped off at the end of this blog post, tweeted @Wishabi, or forever immortalized on the wall of our Facebook fan page.

As above, so below. Or the saying goes.  (I don’t even know why I included that phrase). Let’s just say that there are some things you just have to know if you’re planning on going ring shopping for your “other”.

I know that in my last blog post, I cautioned against proposing to your other on Valentine’s Day. It’s a bad idea – agreed? But I never said you couldn’t propose on any of the days roughly in the neighbourhood of that Day.  (What happens is that the surrounding days siphon off some of the festive “mood” from V-Day, just not too much to become cheesy like the left-overs from a stuffed-crust pizza). So I feel justified in circling (no pun intended) around ring shopping.

And as for this information, most of my colleagues are married, so as far as I’m concerned, their word is the gold standard.  Forward ho!

1 – Ring size depends on the weather

Yep, you read it right. Like cabbage patch dolls, music by Britney Spears and shoddy romance novels involving adolescent girls and one-hundred-year-old vampires, your other’s ring size should also be a seasonal trend.

Unfortunately for you, you have to know that, because if you don’t bother, you might end up picking a ring size that’s not suited to that time of the year.

In hot weather, the skin on your fingers stretch out and your finger diameter increases, and so you’re going to want to find a more loose-fitting ring than you’d normally get. Sticking to the old ring size will probably make it uncomfortable to wear.

In colder weather, you usually see the opposite. Your skin tightens, contracts and generally becomes more compact, decreasing in width, as should the diameter of your ring of choice.

And instead of ballparking a size, take some time to actually find out what his or her ring size really is. (I’ll be posting about that later).

2 – Diamonds aren’t forever

Remember, diamonds are not forever. There’s no overbearing reason for you to go and buy your other a diamond ring. Yes, I know it’s “mandated” by popular culture, but, unless you have a specific way of finding out whether your diamonds are 100% conflict free, you probably don’t want to invest a third of your yearly salary into one of them and indirectly support any illegal diamond mining ventures in Africa for that matter.

Not sure what to do for Valentine’s Day? Here are a few cheesy but romantic gift ideas for the helpless (but not hopeless!) romantic. Remember, it’s the thought that counts, so don’t just buy the object and forget the details.

These are just some of my ideas, and trust me, I’m a cheeseball. If you have any suggestions, feel free to write them down in the comments section below!

Note: These are meant to be gender neutral, so if you have any ideas on how to tweak the ideas to apply more to your gender, feel free to do so!

We all remember back in the days when a sweet but cheesy gift to your crush was a mix-tape of his or her favourite songs, or ones that described your true feelings for that significant other. Now to fast forward into the 21st century, purchase an iPod, or any audio device that has a screen and allows you to input lyrics, images, and playlists. Create a playlist (remember to give it a sentimental name!) and to give it an even more personal touch, write a little blurb in the lyrics portion of each song or input a personal image into the album cover. Remember to modify these within your playlist on the device, not in your music library.

My experience: Yeah, I went all out on this one… I recorded a message to start off, like an audio card, and ended the playlist off with a song I wrote and recorded. It was for his birthday, so for each song in the playlist, I inserted images with me holding up a few letters, the whole list spelled out “Happy Birthday _____!!! ”. The girl in my also decided to tie a bow around my nano… which to my dismay he took off while carrying it around because he didn’t want to look girly (It’s only natural ladies, don’t feel sad if they don’t appreciate bows and butterflies!). I don’t quite remember what his feedback to my sentiments…hm.

Couples’ Accessories

Couples’ accessories can come in just about any form these days, the most popular being rings, necklaces, watches, keychains, and cell phone chains. Personally, I think the best option is a necklace. It’s not too cheap, comes in a variety of cool designs, and doesn’t have any emotional apprehension strung around it. You can also personalize the items by having them engraved (even Walmart! Just make sure you don’t tell anyone).

My experience: Yup, got the whole couple rings with each other’s names engraved on the inside with a “<3″, no joke (See what I mean by referring myself to the cheesy romantic?). Make sure you’re both ready for something like this, because couple accessories can seem binding. Unfortunately because of the engravings, we had to trade the rings when we broke up. So now I have a large ring sitting somewhere in my drawer with my name on it…

Fragrances

My Experience: Somehow my ex and I were drawn to the same fragrances, and non-coincidentally had matching ones. I guess it was kinda cute in a weird way. My personal favorites for both men and women series are: Guess (Women Men), CK Euphoria (Women Men), CK One (Women Men).

Scrap-booking made easy

Digital picture frames are popular these days and come in a variety of styles and sizes. All you need is a USB and a database of pictures, and you’re ready to put together tear-jerking set of memories on an LCD screen. Make it even more sentimental and scrapbook-like by photo-editing your selection.

Tickets

Breakfast in Bed

As they say, the way to the man’s heart is through his stomach. But that’s not just a male-only application; women love the sentiment too. There’s no better way to start off the day than with a delicious meal made with nothing but pure love (and some healthy cooking ingredients). Pay attention to their favorite foods, and if you haven’t had much experience cooking, make sure you practice before delivering your grand finale. Many cookbooks have great ideas on how to spice up a regular breakfast. Oh yeah, and don’t forget to buy a breakfast tray as well.