Study finds billions spent on social media ‘impulse' buys

The average credit card rate is at a record high of over 20%. And in turn, not surprisingly, credit card balances are sky high too.

But a study done by Bankrate says that’s not stopping people from being swayed into buying impulse items from social media.

A Bankrate survey found that this past year nearly two in five social media users say they’ve made an impulse purchase of a product they saw on social media in the past year, purchases totaling $71 billion.

And of those shoppers, they spent an average of $754 on those purchases.

Overall, it found millennials spent the most, averaging a little over $1,000.

Gen-Zers were next in line, spending an average of about $850 a year from these purchases.

Bankrate’s best advice after collecting its eye-opening findings: see something you like on social media, sleep on it.

“I think that a waiting period is smart because just like people say, paying with cash is more painful than paying with a card. Online you can't use cash of course, but you can interject a little bit of friction into the process by not saving your card info on retailer websites. So, then you have to go find your card and type in the number that might be a deterrent that's useful. Sleeping on it can be useful,” explained Ted Rossman, bankrate.com senior industry analyst.

More than half, 57%, of those shoppers Bankrate spoke to regretted at least one of their impulse social media purchases.

Experts also warn of scams that can be advertised on social media, so really do your due diligence before you click pay.

Last week, NBC CT Responds reported fraudsters were making fake Bed Bath & Beyond sites and luring people from social media with deals too good to be true.