Clark's Big Book of Bargains (24 page)

• Clark’s Toy Test 2001: Top Ten Toys •

1. Sock’em Boppers ($9)
   

2. Kid Connection (Wal-Mart) Animal World Playset ($15)
   

3. Kid Connection (Wal-Mart) Electronic Cash Register ($10)
   

4. (Tie) Kid Connection (Wal-Mart) Vehicle Adventure Kit Police and Fire ($15)
   

5. Kid Connection (Wal-Mart) Vehicle Adventure Kit Military ($15)
   

6. Nerf Ultra-Grip Football ($10)
   

7. Matchbox Hero Highway ($39)
   

8. Fisher-Price Great Adventure Pirate Ship ($28)
   

9. Pixter ($30)
   

10. Diva Starz ($21)
    

Jewelry

A lot of people buy jewelry at Christmas, often men buying for their wives or girlfriends. Jewelry is a very subjective purchase, because it’s almost impossible to know the quality or value of a $100 necklace or a $200 bracelet. Most of the jewelry that people buy as holiday gifts costs $50 to $200, and in that price range, the best thing to do is look for a style you like, or one that you think the recipient will like, and try to compare it in price with similar items at other stores. Don’t worry about the “70 percent off” sales. Look at the price of the item, not what they say is the discount, because stores often will mark up to mark down. So 70 percent off a fake price doesn’t mean anything. What matters is that essentially the same earrings are $69 in one store, $49 in another.

It’s important to find a few stores that sell the kind of jewelry you like, and have prices you think are reasonable. For jewelry priced at less than $200, I love Tuesday Morning, a chain of stores that’s open only certain times of the year. All the Tuesday Morning stores stock jewelry, but there’s a much wider range of choices in some than in others. Value City is another option. It’s a national discounter with a fairly limited selection of jewelry at prices that are really pleasing. Of the warehouse clubs, BJ’s has the most jewelry, but Sam’s Club is making a major push. And believe it or not, Wal-Mart is now the largest seller of jewelry in the country.

The warehouse clubs have really changed the equation, because their markups are so small.

If you’re buying a piece of jewelry for $2,000 or more, the kind you would want to have insured, it makes sense to use an independent appraiser to verify the quality and value of the piece. It’s a lot trickier when you’re looking at jewelry that costs $500, $600, or $800. That’s the never-never land for jewelry, because that’s a lot of money but not enough to bring in an appraiser.

The Better Business Bureau has a brochure that includes pages of information and tips on how to buy jewelry. It’s available by mail for a small fee, or you can print a copy from its Web site, www.bbb.org. The brochure is a little hard to find on the site. The direct link to it is www.bbb.org/library/jewelry.asp.

Among the information in the BBB brochure are the color and clarity ratings for diamonds from the Gemological Institute of America. It also includes information about jewelry repairs; precious metals such as gold, platinum, and silver; pearls, and colored gemstones such as emeralds, rubies, and sapphires.

Gift Certificates

If you don’t know what to buy somebody, you might decide to give a gift certificate or a gift card. A lot of money is being spent on these—nearly $40 billion a year—and I don’t like that at all.

When you buy a gift certificate, you’re taking actual U.S. money and turning it into an I.O.U. from a particular store that may not stay in business. Or you might get a gift certificate from a store your friend or family member doesn’t enjoy. Amazingly, many gift certificates now have expiration dates. So if they don’t use the gift certificate in time, it’s worthless. My co-author, Mark Meltzer, won a $50 gift certificate as a prize for being in a bowling tournament at work. The gift certificate was for a mall about thirty minutes from Mark’s house. He doesn’t shop at malls much, and didn’t realize the gift certificate had an expiration date. When he finally thought about using it, he saw that it had expired.

Some stores also charge fees to buy a gift card, or they charge monthly or per-use fees for using them. So you can turn $100 into $91. It’s a complete rip-off.