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Consumer group warns about fake sales
The consumer advocacy group Consumers' Checkbook says many retailers' sale prices are not sales at all.
HOUSTON - Before you shop this holiday season, watch out for fake sales.
The consumer advocacy group Consumers' Checkbook says many retailers' sale prices are not sales at all.
"Most of the discounts out there, even if it says Black Friday, even if it says 60% off or $300 off, they're probably just attempting to mislead you into thinking, You know what? I better not shop around," explained Kevin Brasler of Consumers' Checkbook.
Researchers at Consumers Checkbook studied sale prices at 25 major retailers over 33 weeks in 2022. They found 22 retailers marked items on sale an average of 70% of the time, and nine retailers had sale prices that were always the same.
"They're crossing it out and splashing 'big savings' off the price that they rarely, and in some cases as far as we can tell, never actually charged," said Brasler.
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A constant sale might sound good, but Brasler says it tricks shoppers into buying immediately, rather than shopping around for a lower price.
"What we found is, even when stores said something was 40% off or 60% off, we could turn around and find a way to buy it for a lot less from a competing retailer," he said.
One way to make sure you’re getting a sale price is to use a price tracking app, such as CamelCamelCamel, Honey, Slickdeals, Capital One Shopping, or CheapShark.
Let's say you want to buy a Barbie Dream House. On CamelCamelCamel, it shows you the price history over the last year. It’s come down from $349 to $224. But the price history reveals it was as low as $185 in August. You can sign up for a price drop alert so that you’ll be notified if the price goes down again.
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No time to wait to buy at a lower price? These apps can also show you several retailers' prices, so you choose the one with the lowest price.
Some of these apps will also show you coupon codes, so that you can get a bigger discount.
The FTC says a sale price must be based on a true price that is offered for a substantial period of time.
The Wall Street Journal reports that retailers including JCPenney, Foot Locker, and Eddie Bauer currently face lawsuits over allegations of deceptive pricing.