[Poody]

I confess, I like to buy stuff I don't need. My friends do too.. and we really don't want to stop but . . . tack stores are making us SAD

store 1 Cash only (yeah really,who walks around with rolls of cash ?)

store 2[/B] Cash or charge only (no checks)limited returns most within 10 days only

Store 3 pay however you want but no refunds EVER (store credit only) so even if you but it with cash and it doesn't fit you can't get your money back.. and you are stuck trying to find something else to buy.

Store 4 too far to routinely shop and too far to run back a return (which they would gladly take but again..few hours away)

So I did lots of cyber-Monday, atleast I can return after Christmas,if needed and really I think I am done trying to shop locally.

[Moonriverfarm's Elfie]

Um on impulse yesterday I bought 4 patterns for horsey stuff (sleazys, blankets, saddle covers, bridle bags, etc). Bad me... But I figured if I made a few items to sell I could justify it...

[mvp]

You "bulimic-with-stuff" folks aren't really impulse buyers.

If you plan on returning it, you didn't really give the retailer any money he can count on. You did cost him some money in the form of record keeping.

I can't tell if you have "hit a rock bottom" and want to stop impulse buying, or just want a shopping system that enables you. Whatever-- God knows the econowonks don't have any plan for the regeneration of our economy except for people to keep buying crap they don't need. But you actually have to plan to part with your money permanently in order for it to count as buying.

[TheJenners]

Great point mvp.

I admit that I do most of my shopping online. I will buy from my local feed store because it's a co-op, and I'm a member, so what's good for the biz is good for my stocks. But the price markups on some items, like Carhartt, kill me. I can get a Carhartt for Women fleece-lined vest online for $45 +/-, and I bet it's $80 at the store. Oy.

[Poody]

I don't buy with the intent to return.
For example, if I buy tendon boots even when I have a few pairs that are just fine.. if they don't fit properly and the better size isnt available.. I would like to get my money back so I can buy elsewhere. Or a flashy colored pony sheet .. if it's too big and the store doesn't have smaller and the store can't order more like it...should I be stuck with a store credit ?

I don't buy candy at the check out line on impulse.. I do seem to buy those sparkly jumping bats and various dressage whips with interesting handles for no apparent reason other than they are shiny. But my point is that with local stores, impulsively buy anthing that has a size specification fails, because if I am wrong on the size, they likely dont have the one I need and I am stuck with a store credit. The one store with the 10 days limit is kinda rough since Christmas is more than 10 days away..so forget getting any gifts there.

Between my 2 shopping enablers and myself, we spent around $1500 (yes on dumb stuff) so having to take a store credit on a $40 pony sheet is bugging me. Sorry if I sound extremely whiney, I know it's hard to keep up a small business these days.. but I miss customer care

[CHSatwork]

I wouldn't pay full price for a sheet that was on your pony. If I'm buying a new sheet, it better not have been on any other pony. That said it is your responsibility to measure correctly to get the right size. That's not the stores problem. Why should they take a loss on a sheet because you didn't measure? You should be thankful you got store credit.

[runNjump86]

I, too, am an admitted impulse buyer.

So much so, that when someone shared the deal they got at Jeffers, I went and purchased a bridle I didn't *really* need, and like three other things. However, I will need the other items, and that bridle will come in handy when I start schooling every day and want to keep my rather expensive HDR bridle clean and pretty for shows.

I am a HORRIBLE blanket impulse buyer. Just now I had to walk away from a great deal on a heavyweight, mid-neck turnout because I realized my horse will NOT need it, as his neck is fuzzy enough, and this will be his last winter he will need a HW blanket. So instead, I found a lightweight mid-neck turnout for a great deal!! =) But, I hate paying for shipping, so I'm going to wait until it's either on sale MORE, or there is free shipping. And I hate, HATE paying to ship a blanket back, so I will measure his butt twice to be sure!!

Times like now is when I'm glad there are no local tack stores. I'd be broke. Online shopping is what saves my bank account.

[Kate66]

The mentality of buying and always being able to return is very much an American thing. When I first moved here I was absolutely astounded at how people would just buy stuff, THEN try it on and then take it back. Certainly in Scotland when I was growing up, people would have looked at you aghast if you had wanted to return something - they would have wondered why you bought it in the 1st place.

The problem with the return-whenever type policy is that we take it for granted (I know I do too, now). But - I do know people who buy clothes, wear them, leave the tags on, change their minds and take them back. Likewise I once bought a water filter jug from Walmart and couldn't believe that the jug had stains on it and the silver packaging around the filter was open.

I don't know why anyone would buy a horse blanket or sheet without measuring their horse. Like someone said, I wouldn't want to pay new price for a new blanket that had someone else's horses' hair on it.

[CFFarm]

I learned the value of a buck early. I wanted a horse as a kid so I started working at 12yo (yeah, baby sitters and farm stand clerks got 50cents an hour back then!) and I haven't stopped working since. So to this day I still ask myself "how many hours do I have to work to buy that"? I talk myself out of a lot of unnecessary things that way. Besides, the fun is in the hunt, not in the buying. I can "shop" all day and not buy anything.

[sirbeastmom]

My biggest pitfalls are deals. I am such a sucker for a good deal, regardless of whether I need the item or have the money.

Do I need a new shiny thing? Nope. Do I justify buying it because it's 45% off and I might need it someday? Oh yeah.

[Antaeus]

My name is Antaeus and I'm a boot-aholic.
Right now, it's Ariat Fatbabies. I wear them to work on Fridays, and they are so comfortable! I have two pair, but right now there are four pair on eBay that I, um, need.
Well, one pair are Probabies, so I could RIDE in those.

[wendy]

I don't buy with the intent to return.
For example, if I buy tendon boots even when I have a few pairs that are just fine.. if they don't fit properly and the better size isnt available.. I would like to get my money back so I can buy elsewhere. Or a flashy colored pony sheet .. if it's too big and the store doesn't have smaller and the store can't order more like it...should I be stuck with a store credit ?

sounds to me that you DO buy with the intent to return- why don't you just stop buying things that aren't the right size?
Many places won't let you return goods that have been removed from their original package. Very few places will let you return something that has touched a horse's body. Why? because they can't re-sell these items and basically have to throw them out. So you on impulse buy a pair of tendon boots in the wrong size, it doesn't fit, you bring it back, they give you your money back and then you go off and spend the money somewhere else and they have to throw the boots out. Gee, what a good business policy.
As for gifts, well, gift certificates are always in the right size.

[Couture TB]

Can't help you there I bought 4 new Newmarket wool sheets on cyber monday, 4 leather halters on black friday, and do you think I really needed them? Nope. Just were great prices!! So now I have 6 wool Newmarkets that haven't been on a horse yet, though it is winter! But I ended up pretty much getting all 4 of them for the price of 1 INCLUDING shipping! They got here today and are soooo nice. Got to love wool.

Heck I use to impulse buy TBs off the track so I have gotten better by just doing it with tack

[mvp]

I don't buy with the intent to return.
For example, if I buy tendon boots even when I have a few pairs that are just fine.. if they don't fit properly and the better size isnt available.. I would like to get my money back so I can buy elsewhere. Or a flashy colored pony sheet .. if it's too big and the store doesn't have smaller and the store can't order more like it...should I be stuck with a store credit ?

I don't buy candy at the check out line on impulse.. I do seem to buy those sparkly jumping bats and various dressage whips with interesting handles for no apparent reason other than they are shiny. But my point is that with local stores, impulsively buy anthing that has a size specification fails, because if I am wrong on the size, they likely dont have the one I need and I am stuck with a store credit. The one store with the 10 days limit is kinda rough since Christmas is more than 10 days away..so forget getting any gifts there.

Between my 2 shopping enablers and myself, we spent around $1500 (yes on dumb stuff) so having to take a store credit on a $40 pony sheet is bugging me. Sorry if I sound extremely whiney, I know it's hard to keep up a small business these days.. but I miss customer care

Dude, wendy nailed it: I read your scenarios twice and it does sound like you "buy to buy" certainly with the intent to return the thing that was the wrong size.

sounds to me that you DO buy with the intent to return- why don't you just stop buying things that aren't the right size?
Many places won't let you return goods that have been removed from their original package. Very few places will let you return something that has touched a horse's body. Why? because they can't re-sell these items and basically have to throw them out. So you on impulse buy a pair of tendon boots in the wrong size, it doesn't fit, you bring it back, they give you your money back and then you go off and spend the money somewhere else and they have to throw the boots out. Gee, what a good business policy.
As for gifts, well, gift certificates are always in the right size.

Look, if you'd buy something at full price that had been on someone else's horse for an at-home try on, then let the stores you patronize know that. Maybe they will find that there are enough people like you out there to make this a policy. If you won't, I think you need to find a rehab center that specialized in your addiction.

I say this as someone "in recovery"-- no one owns as many green-and-black items of horse clothing as I do without having been a bona fide addict.