With COMEX which is happening from now till Sep 2 or any other IT show, you may know where and what the good buys are and even know which booth has the hottest sales girls, but are you aware of the pitfalls? Goh Ying Min fills you in.

Last year, The PC Show lured 700,000 visitors and generated a jaw-dropping $18 million in sales. While the exhibitors enjoy their huge profits, consumers too should be aware of where they’re putting their money.

1. Model Switch: Many consumers discover that they receive a lower-end model when they had paid for a higher-end one. It may be an honest mix- up of models by the sales staff, but in any case, do check the model number on the product stickers to see if you’ve got what you‘ve paid for.
2. Old Trick: The prices at IT shows seem like a bargain, but first find out whether the model you are buying is a current one – you wouldn’t want to pay for old technology. Ms Lam Sze Wei, manager of PC Connect Pte Ltd, says that when “there is an oversupply of products and stock in the market, many brands and vendors use IT shows to clear old models and stock”.

3. Cash Is King: Many consumers are unaware that there is a transaction charge of 3 percent from the bank to the resellers and for that reason they do not accept credit card payment. Ms Lam said, “There is a drop in margin on the products and thus, we resellers can no longer bear the charges.” So, it’s good to bring along some cash with you to IT shows.

4. Stock Check: Check stock availability before placing your order, because when resellers oversell and there is no ready stock that can be shipped to the customers after the show, stocks take weeks to arrive in Singapore and another few more weeks to reach the customer from vendors.

5. Proof of Purchase: Always ask for the promoter’s name and keep your receipt in case of discrepancies. Resellers will need to know who made the commitment so that they can verify with him or her. You will al so need your receipt as proof of purchase.

IT show lineup

There are 4 IT shows in a year (IT Show, The PC Show, Comex and Sitex).

If you have missed out on the hot deals from the IT Show and The PC Show, there’s still Comex and Sitex where you can snap up some pretty good deals.

Comex

Suntec City Exhibition Centre, Levels 3, 4 and

6, Aug 30 to Sep 2 from 12pm to 9pm

Sitex

Singapore Expo Halls 4, 5 and 6, Nov 29 to Dec 2

from 11am to 9pm

Tech specs for dummies

GHz is the measurement unit of the processor speed. The average processor speed for laptops today is 1.8GHz. The higher the processor speed, the faster the laptop runs.

RAM refers to the memory a laptop has and is usually measured in terms of MB or GB. 1024MB is equivalent to 1GB. For a laptop running on Windows Vista, 1GB of RAM is needed for it to operate smoothly but resellers recommend 2GB of RAM for faster performance.