When does bargain-hunting enthusiasm become addiction?

This Melinda Fulmer article on MSN caught my eye mainly from the title:

When bargain hunting is an addiction

(After all, this site is Mighty Bargain Hunter.) The article discusses a few people who have a true addiction to bargain hunting, as in a Bargain Hunters Anonymous kind of addiction. Even though it sounds funny, it isn't meant to be funny. This kind of addiction can take its toll on finances, work, and family. Going to department stores to hit the discount racks, going to business closeouts, going to auctions, scouring Craigslist or eBay for wholesale lots, or any other venue for steals and deals is priority one.

What gave me a little bit of pause was the description of one gentleman in Pennsylvania:

Stacey, a Pennsylvania stay-at-home mother who asked that only her first name be used, says her husband's obsession with hitting going-out-of-business sales and clearance racks for bargain automotive accessories, tools, books, batteries and DVDs caused a lot of tension. He even did it when both of them were out of work and their unemployment benefits had run out.”He would say, ‘Come out to the car and see what I bought,'” Stacey recalls. In his trunk there would be 13 boxes of stuff. The idea, Stacey says, was that he could resell these items on eBay or Craigslist for a profit, but that never happened.

What gave me pause was that this could have easily been me.

I told my wife about the article, and asked her whether she thought I had an addiction, because I've been known to be almost uncontrollably drawn to going-out-of-business sales, I've been known to show her all of the great deals I've found, and I've been known to have quite a backlog of things to put up on my eBay store. (It would be easy to say to myself: “Naaah, I'm not that bad.” But for an addict, that's denial.) My wife has been honest with me since the day we met, and she said, “No, you just come by bargain hunting naturally.”

Just about anything under the sun can be destructive if it's taken too far. Compulsive bargain hunting can result in a lot of debt, alienation from one's family and friends, and jeopardizing one's career, among other things. And like any other compulsion, recovery requires help.

I'm probably just enthusiastic about bargain hunting, but I also have an addictive personality that could easily place me on the other side of the line if I let it. Forewarned is forearmed.