Live sellers are people who do live videos on social media such as Facebook and TikTok and sell their products. They do this by showing the products they are selling, talking about details such as sizes and where can it be used, and some models the use of it. People who watch the video buy by doing what I would like to call the art of ssd 1-2-3
SSD 1 2 3. You do not know what this means but it is a popular term in our house. It is a joke that I made and followed by my daughters. The joke is made towards my wife. My wife, in the past few weeks, had been doing SSD 1 2 3 on her phone. She had been constantly viewing an online seller on TikTok selling jeans-type dresses. She bought a lot already from the seller for herself and our daughters. She had made it their staple outfit. To buy from the seller, it is not just a simple add-to-cart and checking out like on other shopping apps like Amazon, Lazada, Shopify or Shoppee. The initial step is SSD 1 2 3.
Screenshot done. 1 2 3.
Online Live Sellers Availability Impact
Everyone must have bought something online, one way or another. This could be through a website, shopping apps, or social media. We go to a specific site like Amazon to search for something we want to buy. Or on a shopping app and look for the best deals. But now, buying is made more available through social media. When we encounter a seller selling online, and if we are interested in the product, we watch the video and buy.
As for my story in the introduction, my wife watches the seller sell live on TikTok. The seller shows the jeans-type dresses, provides details like sizes and texture, and waits for anyone to comment and say “mine”. Once a person says it, the seller would ask the person who wants to buy to take a screenshot while she is holding the dress. The taken picture is then sent to the seller as part of checking out. Payment and delivery details are then discussed.
Now, this makes it easy for anyone. More people watching the video will make the seller’s video available to more people. The more the seller is active, the more people it attracts. And with us on our phones watching videos and reels, no sooner than later we encounter such videos and could get hooked.
Buying just because
With this availability to us, we usually think that what is being sold is something that we need. Scrolling through our social media, seeing someone on live and selling, getting our attention, makes us first think that there might be something here that we like. And at some point, true to the influence, we do think we need it, or at least like it, then buy whatever the seller is offering.
We make up various reasons for us to get it. A new dress to wear for work or for going out. A new equipment or tool that could help us do some of the work we do better. A nice item that is so cute and we think we should have it because it is nice to have.
Personally, this is what I think. The impact of the availability of online selling makes us buy more, even if we do not need more. The mere presence of these online sellers and platforms available to us conditions our brains to purchase because we create the reasons in our heads that we need it.
Not all, of course, at buying just because. Some really need that stuff. Some are really looking for something to wear for an occasion or something they can use because the keyboard they are using is not working anymore (for example)
So it is a question of when the reason to buy became clear. Was it before scrolling through social media? Or was it after? Are we purposefully looking for what we need (or want) or we are just influenced and made out of reason because we saw something that made us want to buy it?
Spending and Saving
There is actually nothing wrong with buying. It actually helps the economy grow. The more transactions and exchanges that happen and the more money that is in circulation, the greater the impact on more people. It creates jobs. It creates money. It creates a world where more people could thrive.
However, when we spend, and only spend, without thinking of saving or investing first, eventually leads us to a feeling of unhappiness, unfulfilling life, and the possibility of depression. You see, after working more than 40 hours a week and seeing your bank account still zero after a few months gives a feeling of poverty. A feeling that whatever work you do, you will never get rich or wealthy. A nagging feeling that will suddenly explode when something happens but you don’t have the money to use. Because, well, you spent all of it buying without any thought of saving or investing for the future.
So, the way I see it, we can buy. Purchase what we want. Whatever it is, no one should judge is for it. But, if we spend everything we have, that I think is too much. If everything that we earn in a paycheck is used to buy whatever we want, then it becomes too much. Caveat though, this is not about people living paycheck to paycheck. This is not about people earning just enough to support their lives. Those are more about needs. The wants is what I am referring to. Spending all of our paychecks on wants and letting our bank account stay at zero will for sure give us a sad feeling eventually.
It is okay to buy whatever. Just pay yourself first
We buy things we want. No one should and can tell us what to buy. If we want something, it is we because we put a value on it and that is our own. No one can tell us that we are wasting money on things. It is our own money that we use. We get to decide what to do with it. No one else.
The issue now arises if we just buy without paying ourselves first. If we just spend without setting aside money for savings or investing some of it, we end up in a situation where we are doomed in the future. When we exhaust every earning that we get without putting some money in the bank or investing some of it, there will come a time when we are not free to do what we want, in an emergency situation like hospitalization that we can not finance, or just as simple as a feeling of sadness because, after years of working, we have nothing to show in our bank accounts.
When we only think of now, YOLO or FOMO, we forget that we still have a future in which we are going to live. In that future, if we do not have our finances fixed and we are not prepared for something to happen, then we will not live a happy and fulfilling life. This is because without such good finances, we are chained to the shackles of our jobs, other people’s whims, and life that will eventually get us.
So, pay yourself first. Save. Invest. Then buy whatever you want. Protect your future. Enjoy the present.