I have a confession to make. I am addicted to those quirky "As Seen on TV" advertisements. I'm sure you've seen them - they're the ads for products that you can't find in stores, the ones that say, "Call in the next ten minutes and receive two for the price of one!" Although there are certainly some questionable products advertised, there are also some real winners that are bargain priced at tremendous discounts. I've bought hundreds of "As Seen on TV" products over the years, and have only been disappointed a handful of times. Sometimes I do call the toll-free number, but in the last few years, I've begun to buy these items at great discounts through online malls. I've bought very cool art supplies for my son, gardening tools, household cleaners, DVDs, and even electronics. I know that many of my friends dismiss these "As Seen on TV" products as being of inferior quality or as scams, but I beg to differ. My philosophy is that there are tens of thousands of people out there who have great ideas and great products, but they haven't been able to gain traction with big manufacturers and distributors. Selling directly to the public doesn't mean that the product is inferior; it just means that they haven't found larger distribution channels. Truly, I've found that some of these products are pure genius. I recently bought a baking set that fulfills its "As Seen on TV" promise: the four pans really do enable you to make dome-shaped cakes with scrumptious fillings. And that baco

n contraption really does let me make crisp bacon in the microwave with very little mess. About a year ago, I bought a tool to clean out my rain gutters, and it worked wonders. The twenty dollars I spent on that tool saved me the hundred dollars I usually spend when I call the gutter cleaning service. Even my son has become enamored with "As Seen on TV" commercials. He saves his allowance so that, when he sees something he loves - like special art pens or a digital drawing system - we can go to our favorite online mall and order it. Needless to say, I don't buy every product I see advertised on television, and in addition to shopping at online malls I also shop at brick and mortar stores. But I continue to believe in those clever products I see on TV, and will keep buying at discounts that would make my friends jealous.

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