Important Facts About Buying a Funeral Casket Online

| Saturday, February 5, 2011
By Alex Cross


As people become more comfortable with buying goods on the internet, more and more companies have started to shift from selling their products in physical stores to offering them on e-commerce websites. This is especially true of electronics brands, which were quick to realize the potential of offering their products directly to consumers online rather than through traditional sales channels. Some other industries, however, have been slower to pick up on the potential and logistics of offering thier products over the internet.

The caskets industry has been one of the slowest industries to adopt the internet as a viable sales channel. Traditionally, they have always sold their caskets and cremation urns through outlets such as funeral homes. Funeral homes, in turn, have added their own markups to the products. This resulted in an extremely inflated price on funeral caskets and cremation urns to the end consumer. As a consumer, it's unfavorable to pay up to 4 times the true cost of a product, but not all people are aware of this markup.

As people learn about the possibility of buying caskets online, they realize that funeral homes are effectively ripping them off with their high profit margins. Most online retailers offering caskets for sale on their websites are commanding prices similar to those at which they normally sell to funeral homes. So the cost to the end consumer is much lower if the funeral caskets and cremation urns are bought online directly from the manufacturer or wholesaler. Funeral homes have typically tried to discourage the practice of buying a casket online since it takes money out of their profit margins.

The majority of people looking for caskets for sale are grieving due to loss of a loved one. In a state of grief, a person is not always thinking about getting the best deal on a casket. It's often more important to find an attractive casket and one that will hold up to the elements as it rests underground. People are generally cautious about purchasing a cheap casket because they want to be respectful to the deceased and to the surviving family. Funeral homes take advantage of these facts by offering their products at inflated prices, knowing that people will not have the time or energy to shop around and compare prices for by looking at caskets online.

Funerals are rarely planned far in advance, so it's important to be aware of your options when the time comes to find caskets for sale. Many funeral parlors try to tell their customers that they are not able to accept caskets purchased at other places, but there is actually a US law stating that they must accept funeral products that were not purchased from them. So make sure you know your facts when the time comes to deal with such a situation. Being aware of your options will save you significant money and time.




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