1 year later

1 year ago, I was into Gifts with Purchases (GWPs) especially those offered by the Japanese magazines and bought almost everything. Of course, I was flamed by some local bloggers.

1 year later, the buying had stopped as the total cost of these magazines can 'eat up' a certain amount of my budget. This is a money spending business and the gifts are never ending. It seems like yesterday.

I do purchase some of these magazines but it is not as aggressive as before. The main reason is the cash (that was used for purchasing magazines) has another purpose and it is used to finance my dancing lessons.

Now, the bloggers are facing more aggressive consumers who demand more information as compared to me. There are comments such as do not call the staff to ask them about materials, release dates of the magazines etc in the forums.

There are other comments that there are more people who view these gifts as premiums and sell these at profit to sustain their other needs. Well, this will continue as it is based on the demand and supply of these gifts of purchases. There are some hot names to look for such as Agnes B, Marc Jacob, etc.

For those who are just starting to get into such Gifts with Purchases, it will be thrilling at first. Slowly, you may realise that these are not assets. Rather, there are liabilities as these items will be stored in a dark corner and you may not realise that you have started a sizable collection of things that you dont need.

Yes, this is my personal experience that I would like to share.