Meaning & use
buyer's remorse
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Meanings
noununcountable
A feeling of regret or doubt soon after you have bought something, usually because it cost a lot or you did not really need it.
Grammar: Uncountable: say 'a bit of buyer's remorse' or 'a case of buyer's remorse', not 'a buyer's remorse' or 'buyer's remorses'.
Patterns
- have buyer's remorse
- a case of buyer's remorse
- buyer's remorse about something
- buyer's remorse after doing something
Two days after signing the contract for the car, he was hit by a wave of buyer's remorse.
She felt a little buyer's remorse when she saw the same jacket on sale a week later.
Many people get buyer's remorse after spending a lot of money online late at night.
noununcountablebusiness
In business, a situation in which a customer regrets a purchase and may cancel it or ask for a refund.
Grammar: Used as a business term, often after 'avoid', 'reduce' or 'prevent': a policy designed to reduce buyer's remorse.
Patterns
- reduce buyer's remorse
- prevent buyer's remorse
- a risk of buyer's remorse
The store offers a thirty-day return policy in order to reduce buyer's remorse.
Sales staff are trained to spot signs of buyer's remorse before the deal is signed.
Common combinations
- a wave of buyer's remorse
- A wave of buyer's remorse washed over her as she left the showroom.
- suffer from buyer's remorse
- He suffers from buyer's remorse every time he buys electronics.
- a case of buyer's remorse
- What you are describing sounds like a classic case of buyer's remorse.
- buyer's remorse sets in
- Buyer's remorse set in the moment the credit card bill arrived.
- get over buyer's remorse
- It took him a month to get over his buyer's remorse about the motorbike.
Synonyms and how they differ
- regret
- The general word for feeling sorry about something you did; buyer's remorse is narrower and only about a purchase.
- second thoughts
- More informal and used for any decision, not only shopping: 'I'm having second thoughts about the house.'
Word family
- buyer noun
- A person who buys something.
- remorse noun
- Deep regret for something you have done; the base word inside this phrase.
- remorseful adjective
- Feeling or showing regret.
Commonly confused: buyer's remorse or seller's remorse? buyer's remorse or return?
buyer's remorse vs seller's remorse
A much rarer phrase for regretting that you sold something, usually at too low a price.
buyer's remorse vs return
A return is the act of giving an item back to the shop; buyer's remorse is only the feeling that makes you want to do that.
Practice
Which sentence uses "buyer's remorse" correctly?
Choose one answer.
"Buyer's remorse" is an uncountable noun for the regret you feel after buying, so option 3 fits. Option 1 confuses the feeling with a refund, option 2 wrongly adds 'a' before the uncountable noun, and option 4 wrongly makes it a plural count noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “buyer's remorse”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.