buyer's remorse

English

Alternative forms

• buyers' remorse

Noun

buyer's remorse (uncountable)

1. A feeling of anxiety or regret after making, or after promising to make, a purchase, especially a purchase encouraged by a high-pressure sales pitch.

   Coordinate term: seller's remorse

   • 1953 May 11, “Correct for Figure Faults to Avoid Buyer's Remorse”, in St. Petersburg Times‎^[1], retrieved 21 October 2008, page 26:

     All too often, however, a gal comes home and buyer's remorse sets in. […] A dress looks dreamy when you try it on in the shop. But once you're standing in front of the mirror at home, something dreadful's happened.

   • 2002 June 3, Wilson Rothman, “The Smart Ones”, in Time‎^[2], archived from the original on 8 June 2008:

     In your new service contract, read the fine print of the buyer's remorse clause. Some carriers, such as VoiceStream, give you only 72 hours to decide whether to keep their service.

2. (transferred sense) A feeling of regret after any kind of decision, for example voting for a certain party or consenting to sex with someone.

   Synonym: postdecisional regret

Translations

anxiety after purchase

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: ostokatumus
• French: remords de l’acheteur m
• German: Kaufreue f
• Polish: wyrzuty sumienia po zakupie m pl
• Russian: раска́яние покупа́теля n (raskájanije pokupátelja)

See also

• cooling-off period
• impulse buy

Further reading

• “buyer s remorse”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.