Do you buy products off of infomercials?

[yoda313]

So do you actually buy stuff off of informercials?


I can honestly say no with an exception. I have not bought any off a phone number they give you nor have I ordered it off the official website. I have bought them used at garage sales and once bought a new one in a store on a half-whim but it actually worked like it was supposed to.

So are you an infomercial junky?

[gadgetguy]

I still have my Pocket Fisherman from my childhood. I have purchased other "As seen on TV" items at the dollar store, but not for anywhere near the price that was advertised on TV. I generally don't watch shopping channels or infomercials other than momentarily while channel surfing, but every once in a while something catches my eye and I watch for a whole 5 minutes. But I can't sit through the whole thing. The "this is the best thing ever invented" attitude just drives me nuts.

[fritzi93]

No.

Seriously, how can anybody stand to watch them? I can't. Damned Comcast keeps adding more of those advert channels and pulling halfway decent channels.

[impmon2]

IMO 90% of them are a waste of time and money. How many "As seen on TV" products have you bought that you are still using? I bet most of the product gets used 2 or 3 times, then put away, forgotten until they end up at a garage sale 5 years later for only $0.50

Remember those easy microwave bacon cooker? Anyone still using that? What about those microwaveable egg cooker? They never get quite an "over easy" style eggs and I still prefer to boiling them on stove over trying them in microwave.

[redwudz]

I've bought a couple of items from the TV shopping sites but never from or because of an infomercial. A VHF scanner I bought refurbished is still working years later. The others items didn't last to long.

[44echo]

No.

Seriously, how can anybody stand to watch them? I can't.

You obviously haven't seen this one.

[SCDVD]

In case you are thinking about falling for an infomercial pitch, you may want to take a look at this web site http://www.infomercialscams.com/

[poadi]

No.

Seriously, how can anybody stand to watch them? I can't.

You obviously haven't seen this one.

I liked it... What were they selling?

[Bjs]

Seriously, if you buy something that needs the help of an informercial to sell it, you might as well give the money to a worthy charity, or switch the channel fast.

Most of that stuff just dose not last or ends up collecting dust in some corner.

[zoobie]

the infomercial itself is the biggest seller...not the product or service
one night, I flipped thru the channels and the same lame ebay infomercial was on about every one
I wonder how many got soaked with that one?

[MJA]

the only info I like is the one with Ron Jeremy. selling ExtenZe

“There actually are no harmful side effects. Just a better, more satisfying love life.”

“As many as 60% of women reported they're not being fully satified by the size of their partner.”

[louv68]

I bought the Swivel Sweeper at Walmart 2-3 yrs ago. Works great and my wife really likes it, but the battery does not keep a charge very well any more. Replacing the battery costs about 2/3 the cost of a new one (with shipping costs). Might as well buy a new one.

[oldfart13]

I love watching the commercials dubbed into other languages. They are even more hilarious!

[DereX888]

The only more stupid tv programming than infomercials are the "reality" tv shows.
Both are (most of the time) dumber than commercials.

Geez, infomercials... how anyone can like it? :O
The stupid "questions" about the product, and even more stupid "answers", dreadful "conversations", the usually tricky showing of the product hiding its flaws and shortcoming (obviously), all of it (usually) all laced with more fake laughs than "Friends" ever had, interwined with bits of half-baked "wit"...
IMHO infomercials are best examples of how low modern television can fall. Or maybe they only show how stupid average people are nowadays? I don't know. Many people love "reality" shows too, after all.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I don't mind this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_58_L5zyes

[gll99]

I would never buy that way. I'm concerned that if I order from the phone number given they would hound me for life with mail and telephone solicitation.

That doesn't mean that some of them aren't effective and might still get me in the end. I'm a wary shopper and not stupid when it comes to sales pitches but some things look pretty darned useful. Last night I was in Wallmart and saw strategically placed "as seen on tv" items right at the checkout line. The likelyhood of an impulse purchase is high with stuff like that "Mighty Putty" ....hmmmm??? Who might not need that in an emergency? According to the ad it can fix anything that leaks or breaks and who knows when one of these days, I might have to pull a broken down semi-truck with my 4 cylinder car or use $20 worth of putty to make a new handle for my dollar store coffee mug?

Well I didn't buy anything this time but.... if they had the "rf light switch" that can be "placed near the door or on your nightstand" on that shelf..... well...... I sure could use one of those instead of that old clap on clap off. I hate bumping into things walking to the far end of a room trying to put a lamp on.

And that's during the day imagine how I feel at night?

[offline]

I bought some BluBlocker sunglasses once. I wore them more out of cognitive dissonance than practicality. I've never bought an item from another TV brain suck since.

I do have a natural immunity towards infomercials about kitchen and gym equipment, but the occasional gadget whispers sweet nothings in my ear. I......must........resist

[lordsmurf]

Once from tv, yes.
Items initially sold on tv, yes, several times -- but not on phone, but from store.

Cannot recommend TEMPURPEDIC BEDS enough. Go to a mattress store, lay on one.
You'll never want a spring bed ever again.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

Not directly but I have bought "as seen on tv" products at stores and such.

I love my EuroSealer!

[JohnnyMalaria]

I bought a Genuine Hand-Hammered Wok in 1991. That's it.

I'm saving my pennies so I can buy some Liberian currency crap. Or perhaps I'll just start selling my own Billy Mays Detection And Prevention Machine. Only $19.95. But wait! Call in the next 10 minutes and you can get two. One for each of Billy's decibel shattering orifices. That's a million dollar value for $19.95 - just pay shipping and processing ($99).

[dadrab]

No.

Seriously, how can anybody stand to watch them? I can't.

You obviously haven't seen this one.

I liked it... What were they selling?

Clevage.

Never bought anything. Probably never will as I can't stand to watch them long enough to find out what they're peddling.

Oh yeah...and the magic putty...it's not anything but Epoxy putty. Been around for years and I keep some in my shop. It does work, but don't plan on ever taking it off anything you put it on. The stuff cures hard as stone. Perhaps one might remove it using the "Magic Chisel" from another Billy Mays commercial.

Who the Hell is that guy, anyway?

[TheFamilyMan]

Of informercials I care less (same goes for most of broadcast television).
Reminds me of a poem:

Negative Clank

He'd sell a rat's asshole to a blindman for a wedding ring.

[Seeker47]

Once from tv, yes.
Items initially sold on tv, yes, several times -- but not on phone, but from store.

Cannot recommend TEMPURPEDIC BEDS enough. Go to a mattress store, lay on one.
You'll never want a spring bed ever again.

As someone with a long history of back trouble, I can only half-agree with you. The Tempurpedic
pillow is the last word in pillows, for back or neck trouble, though excessively priced at close to a
C-note. (The cheaper knockoffs are not worth bothering with, though.) But I'm sorry to say that
I found the Tempurpedic mattress (also mega-pricey) to be a lot like sinking into a giant
marshmallow. Not good at all, and actually made things much worse for me.

You are correct that a number of the items that appear to be infomercial exclusives can also be
found at certain stores. The advantage there is that you see for yourself whether it might possibly
work -- or is just more cheap junk -- before you buy, you'd have much less hassle returning
it, and you won't get yourself flagged as a great mail-order "pigeon" or inadvertently find yourself
enrolled in some subscription scheme.

[Seeker47]

Oh yeah...and the magic putty...it's not anything but Epoxy putty. Been around for years and I keep some in my shop. It does work, but don't plan on ever taking it off anything you put it on. The stuff cures hard as stone. Perhaps one might remove it using the "Magic Chisel" from another Billy Mays commercial.

Who the Hell is that guy, anyway?

Yeah, I was wondering about that too. He is ubiquitous these days, must really be raking it in.
When I first started noticing him, my first reaction was that that ex-military guy who writes the
SEAL team potboilers (Marcenko ?) must have had some plastic surgery to soften the rough edges,
and a possibly more lucrative career change, but . . . Nah.

[Semaphoric]

I bought a Bissell Steam-n-Clean (from a brick and mortar store) after watching an infomercial for it. While the commercial greatly overstated its usefulness, I do use it several times a year.

I did some research on Billy Mays a couple of years ago. Seems he's not actually known for anything except being a pitchman.

Although I did find a lot of references to him on "Bear" websites.

[Epicurus8a]

I have purchased a few things from the shopping channels, but never anything from an infomercial. My wife did buy a George Foreman Grill from a store after seeing it in an infomercial, though

[SCDVD]

I did some research on Billy Mays a couple of years ago. Seems he's not actually known for anything except being a pitchman.

Maybe he changed his name after he got out of the penitentiary. What a sleaze!

[Sidney23]

I have being sold not big on it