# Infomercial/Not-Available-in-Stores! products **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infomercial-not-available-in-stores-products/394495 "2007-03-04T02:01:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@iano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iano)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infomercial-not-available-in-stores-products/394495/1 "2007-03-04T02:01:30Z")
Does anyone buy any of these things? Were any actually good? I’ve seen a few which look halfway useful, but I kind of assume that since they’re on TV like that it’s probably junk… ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infomercial-not-available-in-stores-products/394495/2 "2007-03-04T02:30:39Z")
I have the Magic Bullet Blender (or is it Silver Bullet Blender.) I use it to mix protein drinks and for that I am pleased with it. I have not tried any of the other stuff it is suppsed to do. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infomercial-not-available-in-stores-products/394495/3 "2007-03-04T02:41:01Z")
[QUOTE=iano] Does anyone buy any of these things? Were any actually good? I’ve seen a few which look halfway useful, but I kind of assume that since they’re on TV like that it’s probably junk… [/QUOTE] Why? Seems like it’s probably the best avenue for independent inventors to get their products produced and marketed. They don’t have the slick campaigns behind them and a presence on retail shelves because they’re not attached to large corporations. Why should the lack of a glossy, clever ad give you doubts that the Topsy Tail does exactly what it’s says it does? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infomercial-not-available-in-stores-products/394495/4 "2007-03-04T02:46:12Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] Why? Seems like it’s probably the best avenue for independent inventors to get their products produced and marketed. They don’t have the slick campaigns behind them and a presence on retail shelves because they’re not attached to large corporations. Why should the lack of a glossy, clever ad give you doubts that the Topsy Tail does exactly what it’s says it does? [/QUOTE] Because if it was any good, it could get financed by a bank or otherwise invested in, so that it could run a glossy ad in prime time. If it’s being advertised at midnight by a guy in a shiny suit, I am going to have my doubts. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/infomercial-not-available-in-stores-products/394495/5 "2007-03-04T15:48:43Z")
> [@](#): > > I have the Magic Bullet Blender (or is it Silver Bullet Blender.) That’s available in stores; I’ve had one (bought at Macy’s for $29.95) for about a year now. The problem with “not available in store” stuff is the shipping charges. I remember a couple years ago starting to order one of those amazing brooms that has little rubber fingers instead of straw bristles. It was “only” $9.95. And you could get a second one for FREE - all you pay is the additional shipping costs. Half way through the ordering process I found out that the shipping cost was $19.95 per broom. They can’t send you two brooms in one box, the second one ships separately for its own $19.95 shipping cost. So if I had actually gone through with it, that would have been $50 for two flimsy\* rubber-bristle brooms that don’t work nearly as well\*\* as they did in the infomercial. \*Flimsy because the broom handle comes in sections that you have to screw together and even when assembled it still feels like several not-very-well-connected sections of broom handle. \*\*Some months later I saw the broom in BB&B and tried it - imagine trying to squeegee your carpet. Required a lot of elbow grease to get the thing to really pull up lint.