You don't always get what you pay for

When people overpay for something, they tend to rationalise their purchase. They say something along the lines of "you get what you pay for." I hate it when people say this. More often than not, you don't get what you pay for. Today my girlfriend gave me that line, saying things like how expensive clothes last longer because the fabric was better. I asked her what fabric was in the shirt and she didn't know. She mysteriously knew it was better fabric and that it would last longer.

To hit home the idea that you don't always get what you pay for, I used wristwatches as an example. There is no product category with as much vulgar brand snobbery as horology. You can buy an electronic Casio watch for $200 or you can buy a Patek Phillipe for $200,000, and the Casio is better built, more accurate, has a stopwatch, an alarm, and is waterproof and shockproof whereas the Patek Phillipe is none of these things. The reason why the Patek Phillipe is expensive is because of the brand and the history and the fact that it is handmade. If you really believe you get what you pay for, you would purchase a $200,000 watch rather than a $200 watch or just look at your phone for the time.

My main point is that spending more money for something doesn't mean that it's better for you to buy it because a product may be priced high not for features that you care about but to cater to snobs.