Layaways Add Convenience For Online Shoppers
By Dorothy Tucker | November 29, 2007
We all shop now and then face a hard reality in January -- big credit card bills. But the latest online trend can help you avoid that. CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports on more and more shoppers checking out e-layaways.If you're drooling over a plasma television, longing for a laptop, or wishing for that watch, but you're strapped for cash and can't afford to do credit, do what Jennie Khoen did. She bought her iPod online on eLayaway.com.
Online layaways work like the old-fashioned service stores used to offer. But, in Khoen's case, she went to eLayaway.com, found the iPod she wanted, then set up a payment plan.
"It's automatically drawn from my account," she said. "I have a budget, $51 a month.
In three months, Khoen had paid off the $150 iPod. She paid another 1.9 percent service fee, which amounted to about $3 for a total of 153. Compare that to a credit card with an 18 percent interest and if she paid the minimum it would have taken her 18 months and cost her $21 for a total of $171.
"You pay a little bit each month," Khoen said. "It's paid off when you get it and you don't have it lingering over your head. It's great."
eLayaway.com is just one of a handful of online layaway sites, Lay-Away.com is another. Robert Holland runs the Web site out of his Hyde Park home, but you won't pay a service fee for his service.
"It's a free service to the customers," Holland said. "We earn our money from suppliers that offer electronics."
But at Lay-Away.com, it's mostly electronics, unlike eLayaway.com, where you'll find some of everything. But whichever site you choose, remember, you still have to pay the bill, so experts say budget accordingly.
"If it's a thousand dollars you might want to pay $100 over 10 months, you just want to be sure you can afford those payments," Vikram Sharma, CEO of ShopLocal, said.
While most sites have monthly payment plans, this time of year, they are willing to set up weekly accounts, but act fast so you can get your merchandise before Christmas.
