With the economy in the dire straits that it has been in the past few years, it can safely be said that everyone is looking for a bargain. Retailers are offering discount coupons just to get people in the stores and online merchants entice shoppers to order with free shipping offers. The deals are out there, and with a little bit of research, they can be found. And with all of the discounts and the deals, the question that seems to pop up time and time again seems to be “Is this too good to be true?” More often than not, the answer is yes.

The story is the same across the board for all types of items, including promotional products, though one major difference remains. When you purchase a TV, for instance at a “too good is true price” one of two things can happen. It can work perfectly fine and you’ll walk away with a great item or it can be a disappointment. What makes promotional products different? Only you will be disappointed in the TV, but everyone who receives a promotional product of poor quality will be disappointed in YOU.

This can easily be solved by taking care in choosing the perfect promotional products. When working on a budget, everyone’s goal is the same: get the most for your money, but quality and quantity are usually not proportionate to each other. It may seem like an amazing deal to be able to get one thousand pens at thirteen cents each, but think about the quality of those items. The ink may dry out quickly, and the springs inside may not stand up to the test of time. Often when you buy something that’s cheap, the price you pay represents the quality of the workmanship. This is something to be extremely wary of when adding your logo to an item.

There are a few ways to avoid disaster when it comes to buying cheap promotional products. Here are just a few helpful hints when shopping for the best deals:

Read Reviews
If customers have had unpleasant experiences with a specific item, most websites will publish them anyway. Look for reviews to see what other purchasers have thought about the item.

Order a Sample
If you’ve successfully planned out your promotional products campaign, you should have ample time to do this. Order a few samples of similar items in different price points to compare quality. Try choosing a close range of price points, that way you will not be comparing apples to oranges. After all, there will be a significant difference between a pen that costs ten cents and a pen that cost ten dollars.

Ask a Consultant
While it may seem that asking a consultant will result in them only trying to up sell you, in most cases well trained promotional consultants have the ability to work around a customer’s budget. They know that if you have a maximum budget of 500 dollars to reach a target audience of 1,000, you can’t be buying expensive items. A good promotional consultant will make sure that you get quality, as well as quantity.

When it comes to purchasing promotional products, the most important thing to remember is that it will be your company’s name on the line. If the items are of poor quality, it will be a reflection on your business. You will have the knowledge to never do business with the company you purchased from, but the bottom line is that it’s your name that ended up on the product. Taking caution while shopping and doing things like reading reviews, ordering samples and asking consultants will help you when things seem “too good to be true.”