Maybe it’s a psychological thing – but us Americans (I can’t speak for our Canadian friends, but I imagine they are similar) have a love/hate relationships with the things we buy. Specifically, we love new things and we hate used things – especially in certain categories. It’s not a universal attitude, but this being ostensibly a personal finance site, it’s an attitude we can try to examine.

But… why is that? It’s not like buying used is foreign to us. I’d guess that most of us have purchased used cars and/or used houses – but used consumer goods is an area where few tread.