There is growing support that money spent on experiential items increases an individual’s happiness. However there is minimal research on the causes and long-term consequences of the tendency to make experiential purchases. Given the importance of experiential buying for improving well-being an understanding of the preference for experiential purchasing is imperative. Thus we developed the Experiential Buying Tendency Scale (EBTS) to measure habitual experiential purchasing. Across eight samples (n¼9634) the EBTS was developed and shown to be reliable valid and predictive of consumer behavior and psychological well-being. An experiential purchasing tendency was related to higher extraversion openness empathic concern and reward seeking. Further non-materialistic values predicted a preference for experiential purchasing which led to increased psychological need satisfaction and ultimately increased subjective well-being. The discussion proposes that experiential purchasing may be a function of one’s sensitivity to rewards emotional responsiveness to events and appreciation of the world’s beauty.