Direct Buy - Anyone Belong to it???

[updacountry]

I keep seeing the commercial on TV for Direct Buy. You are supposed to get from 10 to 50% off. I think they charge you like $5,000 or so to join. With having an old home, real old, we are constantly in need of things. I've never met anyone that uses them and am curious.
DH says they probably give you a great deal on the first thing then after that probably no deals so it is a waste to join.

[bluestarfish18]

I have a love/hate relationship with Direct Buy. Our entire family belongs, and racking up large purchases to split makes this ideal for us. IMO I could only recommend it if you are planning on renovating your home or making some big purchases. They offer almost everything you can imagine, from strollers, cribs, appliances large and small, flatware, jewelry and log homes, yes log homes. Plus, their home decorating/remodeling/furniture products they offer in their commercials. For example, the cheapest I could find our crib was online for $399. We purchased it for $141 through Direct Buy.

The initial investment is steep, but if you do your homework and are truly planning on spending a lot of money to renovate, it is a sound investment which pays for itself if you research outside (Home Depot) prices.

One word of advice, when you first visit their "showroom" (aka, the sales pit), be prepared to be really pressured to purchase that day, or else they'll pull the "you can't enroll for 7 years" pitch.

Ordering is simple, either online or in their sales room, through their ridiculously huge collection of catalogs. Anyone who is not listed on your account can't come into the showroom.

Shipping is directly to the warehouse nearest you (same place as the showroom), where once you pick it up, you are not able to return it. Be triple sure to inspect every single inch of your purchase before signing for it. And be sure you have a truck/van/SUV to take home bigger purchases.

Another mini-gripe, they make you "take an oath" that you won't shop around, tell other stores you belong to Direct Buy, and other stupid trivial stuff. Who doesn't shop around these days, especially if you belong to this board!

But like I said, if you're able to choke down the initital payment, do some serious research and know for a fact you're going to use it regularly, it's worth it.

[jenmcadams]

I looked into it a long time ago and decided it was definitely not worth it to us and bordered on a scam. You can google DirectBuy reviews or something similar and find info, but they use a lot of high pressure tactics and promises to get you to join and most people who posted reviews felt like the deals weren't totally worth it

[updacountry]

I actually sell office furniture and we give at least 35% off list price. I'm assuming these people give you the discount off list also which some people don't know that that is just the suggested price is. You can always get something off.

How much did it cost to join?

Great deal on the crib but I'm assuming you would have to buy a lot of cribs to make it worth it. My DH is really, really, bad at high pressure sales. I have to always get him away to think about it. I have a hard time buying something large without dragging out the bargain shopping. I must get some kind of deal! That is why it has been 8 years and I still don't have a nice dining room set, lol!

[bluestarfish18]

Truthfully, it costs $5000, plus my time and energy dealing with their sales staff.

You're right on the crib though! I see their prices as kind of like Kohls. They right away cut a large percentage off the "retail price" making it seem like an amazing bargain. But they're a business and have to stay afloat too right? I'm sure, like Kohls, they just raise their "bottom line price" a little to compensate. But even so, most items are a bargain. Note, that not everything is discounted.

As for your husband, the sales people will pressure you or your spouse to bring the other one in so you're not able to wiggle your way out with "I have to discuss this with my husband". I would reccommend
1) having a specific project in mind, researching outside rates, then making a mental note for comparison if you go in to the showroom, so you can see the difference
2) Don't be in a hurry when you go in, allow yourself a good 3-4 hours, that way you'll feel less pressure to decide
3) Settle on a dead-set agreement between DH and you about your bottom line price. I would hate for both of you to feel pressure and obligated to join, just to be nice.

I hope I don't sound like I'm advertising for Direct Buy, but I'd give them 3.5 stars out of 5 overall. Sales tactics are 2 out of 5, but products/deals 4.5 out of 5.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[gatorsmom]

Real quick- I gotta feed the kids, but I thought i'd post quickly. We joined Direct Buy in 1999 while engaged and needing furniture for our first town home. It cost us $2000 to join. Since we needed a living room set and kitchen table and chairs it paid for itself nearly immediately. We got those things as well as a bakers rack, bar stools, coffee table and end tables. I actually went to a design place at Bassett Outlet store and chose all my furniture and fabrics through them. The outlet store wrote me up a quote for the price I would have paid if I'd bought through them. I them took that quote with the exact same furniture with those fabrics I chose, ordered from Direct Buy and saved 50% off the Bassett Outlet store quote. We have used them to buy our dining room set, the boys' Step One race car beds and matching dressers, all the nursery furniture (I bought 2 cribs, 2 dressers and a hutch and paid under $1000 for a set ranked highly by the Field's- can't recall the name). I also bought their mattress cribs through Direct Buy and could have bought any of the Peg Perego strollers since they carry that line. we also bought a bunch of Step One outdoor toys and saved over 60%. Nearly ALL of our household big ticket items we buy through them. It costs us $159 every year to keep up our membership and it is so worth it for us.

I will say, though, that it is mainly helpful if you are just starting out with your first house (or townhouse or apartment )and have nothing. If you are just looking to save on a few things here or there it would take much longer for the membership to pay for itself. We keep up our membership because we can also buy carpeting, flooring, kitchen and bath hardware, etc., for our rental houses.

HTH!

ETA: I always do my homework before buying stuff through Direct Buy to see if I can get it immediately cheaper somewhere else. And I usually can't. I hate waiting 4-8 weeks for the things you buy through them, but the cost difference usually makes it worth it. The only things we've found in the past 9 years that we've been members that we can't get cheaper somewhere else are electronics. I know I've seen a lot of people online posting that this is a scam but I can't understand that. We've had nothing but positive experiences with this company in the past 9 years and we've ordered dozens of times. I've never had a problem with them. They make their money off membership fees and a small mark up. But again, it's nearly always been less than buying it in a store or outlet center and believe me, I've done my homework. hth

[SuperDad]

I became a Direct Buy member is 2005. The joining fee at that time was $4,000.00. It provided a two-year membership. After the two years expired, it has cost $149.00 annually to renew. So in terms of membership fees, so far I have paid $4,298.00. However, with all of my purchases through them, I have definitely more than broken even. And I'm not using my savings off of the MSRP to say that I have broken even. I am using my savings off of the lowest price I would have otherwise paid at a store or through an online vendor.

I agree with those who say that they have a love/hate relationship with Direct Buy. I did feel pressured to join, though I'm not the type of person who is pressured into doing anything. I joined because I made an informed decision that it would save me a great deal of money over the long haul. I didn't really appreciate being told I couldn't go home and think about it, so I spent a few hours checking out all of their catalogs to see which brands they carry. I also amortized the total cost of membership over 10 years and over 20 years to see what the average monthly cost for each time period would be. Over 20 years, it ended up being $27.84 per month. Of course, this assumes that the annual fee (after the first two years) does not increase over time. But even if it goes up a little, it won't affect the average monthly cost by very much. Keep in mind that this also assumes a joining fee of $4,000.00. If it has gone up to $5,000.00 (I have no idea what the current fee is now), then that would change things just a little bit.

In any event, aside from the pressure that I felt to join, I have had mostly positive experiences with ordering through Direct Buy. The only experiences that could even be considered negative were when a couple items arrived damaged. However, this could happen anywhere, and the warehouse people at Direct Buy were very helpful in getting me replacement pieces or an appropriate refund (the choice was mine). Keep in mind that you do need to thoroughly look at items before you sign the delivery slip and take possession. Otherwise, if you find damage when you get home, they don’t know if you caused it or if it arrived at the warehouse that way. I agree that it sucks to have to wait several weeks for your order to come in, but I suppose that patience is the price you have to pay in order to save (aside from the membership fees). Other than this, the people there have been very helpful and very nice. And with a new baby on the way, my wife and I are in the showroom almost every weekend.

The bottom line with Direct Buy is that you aren't going to earn back your investment through savings unless you make several large purchases. In the past six weeks, I have spent about $3,500 there in purchases, and I have easily saved at least $1,000.00 when compared to the absolute lowest price I could get for these same items elsewhere. The savings off of MSRP are far greater (though I find this to be irrelevant). I would venture to say that if your annual household income isn’t close to six figures or more, then you won’t be able to afford to spend enough money on merchandise to make a membership worthwhile. Obviously, Direct Buy does not want you to know that. They want everyone to be members, which is obviously the motivation behind their high-pressure sales. However, the reality is that some people are better off making their purchases at Wal-Mart and Target. But if you are looking for middle to high end items, then Direct Buy is the way to go.

People have posed the question of how the company can make money, and they speculate that the company must be charging the same as discount retailers. This is partially true, but not completely. They tack on an 8% fee to the wholesale price (wholesale meaning what stores would pay). So they do make a little bit of money, but an 8% markup is almost always less than what even a discount retailer would charge. The one exception, as mentioned by someone else, is the cost of electronics. Generally, retailers don't mark up the price of electronics all that much. Stores like Best Buy make their money on items like cables, software, movies, and other accessories. I say this because my niece used to work at Best Buy, and she used her employee discount to get me a $35 cable for 3 bucks and a $95 backpack for $34. I ALWAYS compare the price that Direct Buy charges (including 8% fee, shipping charges, and taxes) with the lowest price I can possibly find either online or in a store. Most of the time, Direct Buy is the best deal. This is especially true with furniture (cribs, cradles, chests, bedding, etc.)

Really, my only gripe with Direct Buy is that they don’t yet carry Romina. I emphasize the word “yet,” because I have complained about their lack of certain brands in the past, but they now carry these brands. Given that Romina is a relatively new company, I can understand why they don’t yet carry this brand. Hopefully that will change soon.

And for those who are convinced that Direct Buy is a scam, feel free to read my post on RipOff Report’s website:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/314/RipOff0314258.htm#353507