All these deals 50% off etc - Its all just a con
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I was looking at some of the deals on this website
For example the current boots 50% off
I like Diesel for life aftershave and was in Boots last week looking 50ml was £23.95
So called sale on the link to the website £25
Is it all just a con to get you shopping there - methinks so
I have honestly never seen a tru sale or get anything on special offer from these internet so called specials.
Then there is the Ryanair so called £9.99 sales - ok if you l;ive in England but I have never seen any from Glasgo Or Prestwick airport so sod all use for us Scots!
So anyone else checked any of the offers in the money.co.uk newsletter and other websites like magicfreebies only to find its all just a waste of time!
Responses (11)
I quite often find the price of something soars, then goes on a 'special offer' that takes it back to its original price.
I have to agree, it's all one big psychological ploy .... all sales techniques are like that, to whip up mild hysteria until the hard facts set in that the sugar coating just 'aint there! Such a shame 'cos I love sugar coatings, especially on them big girls made with sugar and spice ... and all things nice.... !
Two things to remember :
(1) 'On selected lines only' ....
(2) There has never been such a thing as a free lunch!
Whereas boys are made of disgusting things...weird that, wonder how that rhyme originated?
Tesco's do this alot.
There is a pasta meal they do, normally they sell it for £2.75. It went up to £3.75 for about three weeks and then they placed it on 'special offer' at £3.00, which was still 25p more expensive then the item used to retail at!!
The other con I hate are big signs which say 70% OFF and in smaller letters 'up to'. You'd struggle to find any item that has had 70% off.
Very true Parchester
You do need to keep your wits about you, I've started going to Aldi recently and its saving me quite a bit of money
Well spotted, Parchester! This is one reason why, wherever possible, we have spurned supermarkets (the big grabbing 3 or 4 anyway). We really are being systematically screwed, with blatant profiteering in the name of "SAVING!". That notion is a con in itself, and we still fall for it!!
We are so easily sucked in by the marketing
Tesco are very bad for stuff like that - I stopped shopping there a while back as I realised I was often paying out a lot more.
It is the same in supermarkets, as we have already discussed. We could have another go at it, however!
I went to Morrisons( away from home: baby sitting) only to buy chocolate. Mrs G. likes Maltesers, and 1 small bag arrests her craving! No small bags. New size labelled "A little treat" I think, and £1:29 approx, twice what I usually pay at our local corner shop for normal size. No offers on Cadbury's,full price please!
Crafty move!!
Ah yes, I've noticed that too, the contents don't increase nearly as much as the price either!
Another grouse of mine in supermarkets (watch out for me in Tesco, I'm the one with the scowl muttering under my breath) is the fact that they are allowed to price loose veg by the kilo (or even worse in pounds) but prepacks by the number of items eg 6 apples in a bag or 8 tomatoes in a pack. This makes price comparison impossible without taking one of the prepacks and weighing it to work out the cost per kilo. I always do this and find that the 'offers' are very seldom what they appear. Grrrr.
Oh Sidesalad, I'm so glad I'm not the only one to do that - my kids think I'm loopy when I do!!
Oh yes, that makes me very cross indeed, SS.
A lot of the so-called offers on wines in the supermarkets are cons. The wine has been artificially inflated in price in order that it can be sold at a supposed 50 per cent reduction. The price is correct for the wine being sold but is not a bargain price. We have got so used to it that many people never even look at the other wines in the aisles. Some people only ever buy the offers yet we are being conned!
I'm sure you're right Sidesalad, some 'original' prices are unbelievably high for the quality
I have tried (but failed so far) to find a reference to an article by wine writer Victoria Moore who recently referred to this supermarket habit of 'marking up' then discounting wines and how we have fallen for the trick. Will post if I find it.
Your so right Omen! I've never had a cheap flight yet!! The deals are always stating from all major airports but you'll find we are excluded if not excluded the prices are rocketed!! So is Glasgow not a major airport?...
So not fair!!
I do save a lot of money on trainline and laterooms, but other than these 2 websites I find it's never a cheap as advertised and I've never been able to find a cheap holiday or flight!
Yes I fear it is Omend. We've been looking around for a new sofa and have been amazed at the supposed 'best ever offers' out there.
I think the sofa companies are one of the worse for this type of marketing as the deals 'never' alter, the original price has never been displayed as a 'Sale' price only ever the discounted amount which is as I've said never alters, so how can they say it's 'the sale of the century' or whatever ploy they use?
They are selling us our gullability back to us, and we are buying!
The problem is Lillie, you can't really compare prices as each outlet has its own range of styles. You have to ignore the hype (which is all nonsense I feel) and decide which sofa is good value for money and is what you want.
That's exactly what it is Sidesalad 'hype'.
In fact we're absolutely spoiled for choice at the moment, so many sofa's so many deals.
My observation is though that the prices never alter.
For example DFS has a nice one that caught our eye and when the ad came out we thought we'll go along and have a look fully expecting the price to have been the lowest, after all this was supposed to have been 'the deal to end all deals'.
But not so it was the same as when we priced it a few weeks earlier.
I think they increased the original RRP to make it look more appealing.
Needless to say we left shortly afterwards.
I hate it when supermarkets put a big red sticker on something saying 'only £3' when it gives no indication of the 'usual' price. It's very easy to get sucked into thinking that the packs must be a bargain when, if you look carefully, there is often a cheaper equivalent alongside. Sharp practice!
A marketing ploy is the diplomatic way to describe to describe these hefty disocunts which if they were ever true would surely mean the businesses taking huge losses but they don't becuase the 50% mark up does not take into account that the mark up was probably so much more than 50%.
Your right cs one has to wonder how much profit margin there is and why they still report business isn't doing well
With very few exceptions ALL sales are a marketing excercise these days and they take full advantage of all the little tricks and fine print of the law to make them look as good as possible. However with easy access to the internet, fast search engines, etc I feel the tide is turning in favour of the customer if you put a little time and research into it. I still get caught out sometimes but the more you research the better you get. I also like checking eBay to see prices / value as they have a lot of business sellers there all competing in a fairly open and level market.
Many things can also be bought cheaply via eBay from places like China, just got a new laptop battery from there and i must say its absolutely fantastic 'cos i have just clicked on the icon after charging it for 1/2 hr and my computer says i have only 33 hrs and 20 minutes remaining. Never got more than 2.5 hrs with the OEM part ..... oh dear its just said only 2 minutes left now, my that 33 hrs sure did fly by.
lol that sure is true some chinese stuff can be rubbish - I heard they were even manufacturing eggs - yes real eggs out of some synthetic material - look how they poisoned all those babies with plastic milk.
urghhhhh
But try Hong Kong - stuff from there is in my experience a bit more reliable.
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you are so right jazz that is very annoying
They (supermarkets) have traded on our speed at shopping, and therefore forgetting prices in the rush, only to have more time at the checkout while we wait for them!
That is why I love small shops. I ask the owner for the goods, and am SERVED with them. I do this in restaurants- I pay, I expect service, so why not in a shop? Am I going too far with this comparison? What do forumites think?
You are right Greydo. If you have the time (and in my case, my reading glasses handy) you can do the arithmetic and see which is really the best price. As we have so often said here, the headline offers are seldom the best price and sometimes small packs are a better price than large or multi-packs. You have to watch the fruit and veg areas carefully too. It's easy to assume that the loose veg is cheaper than prepacks, but that is often not the case. Whenever I shop these days I see what I consider to be rather sharp marketing practices.