Do this all the time
Forever complaints in the comments section about this. They're still a pretty good supplier though, just check the discounts against amazon first.
Ebuyer has been rapped for a "misleading" tablet promotion and ordered not to repeat similar claims of cost savings in future. The Advertising Standards Agency gave the online IT bazaar a stern ticking off after receiving a complaint about an email sent to customers touting the Storage Options' Scroll Extreme Tablet PC. The …
Ebuyer do this all the time. I regularly see prices on items fluctuate by 50%+ over the course of the 2-3 days, only to settle at the lower price with a "save 50%" tag line.
What are the rules on setting up an external price tracker these days? Have e-tailers managed to illegalise screen-scraper sites yet?
Isn't it just "offer for sale"? Not actually part with stock when given money?
This is how the furniture warehouses get around discounting the entire stock all the time.
"Real leather" sofa.. £800. In the back room of the shop in the most remote place possible = on sale. Total stock.. One unit. Keep it there for a month, print it in the internally distributed stock lists. Kosher offer.
Real leather sofa £400 reduced FIFTY PERCENT!!!!!!!! For a limited time only, cos they will not be putting in a second order for that particular pile of chipboard and foam.. They never do...
Get em before they fall to bits..
Simples..
I worked for a rather large chain store (that unsurprisingly went bust!) and came to realise that every single one of our seasonal "sales" were no such thing at all, they had never been sold before at their advertised "previous" price (price history could easily be checked on the tills... seasonal sale items had no price history other than their current sale price).
Do the ASA rules not apply to stickers on physical products in-store, or were the company just getting away with it?
Pretty much. Also, you missed SSP (suggested selling price) which is also ostensibly the same thing.
All these numbers are abused (although not by everyone). Bottom line with pricing - it's only worth what YOU are prepared to pay for it. A lot of people tend to confuse the term "RRP" and "worth". They usually bare no correlation to each other.
I used to work in Currys, and every time a sale/bank holiday was coming up there would always arrive huge stock of TV's or plastic awful samsung digital cameras at vastly inflated prices. Low and behold on the day of the sale, the camera price was slashed and people waltzed in to buy.
I appreciate there's no where near enough resources, but in an ideal world, the "fair price" or "value" of the product should be deemed the starting price, with deductions based upon that. The awful plastic cameras would spend a month in the shop at £200-£300, when similar spec and quality cameras were available at the £100-150 bracket.
As for me, i dont feel guilty. I told customers that its basically just been over priced and then dropped to show a big headline of "50% off", and went on to sell them a decent camera, usually of similar or greater value, because they appreciated the honesty.
Was in a shop the other day that was advertising massive savings. In very small print on a display was a notice that said "These items have been on sale at the higher price in at least 3 of our stores for at least 5 days in the past year".
i.e they raise the price in a couple of shops for a few days and are then able to claim a massive discount when the put the prices back to normal.
A few years back, I complained to the ASA about all those daft wristwatch adverts from the well-known internationally acclaimed award-winning Swiss company Kurt von Beethoven Omega Fish Oilz, where Limited Edition Heritage Timepieces were being offered at just £9.95, down from their previous selling price of £849.95p.
I also asked ASA to look into several other famous Geneva-based watchmakers like Gustav Holtz-Alzheimer, Marco Rocco Lambretta-Baguette, Heinz Steinz Vumpzadazy, and Paul Raymond-Unweiled, all of whom were offering 'Classic Watch Collectors' an opportunity to buy 'Immortal Timepieces' at around 95% off the original selling price.
Somewhat uncharitably, I felt all these watchmakers were fictions dreamt up by fast-buck Chinese or Eastern European scammers. But I was wrong.
They were slow-buck.
What they did -- and for all I know, still do -- was find some flea-bag dump of a hotel anywhere in London, pay a few quid to the manager to install a small glass showcase in the tiny reception area, and display the wristwatch at £1,685,426. Only some four to six weeks after that did this same masterpiece appear at £5.95p plus P&P from the Daily Telegraph.
How do I know all that? Because ASA told me. (It may not have specifically characterised the London hotels in the way I've done above, but no matter.)
And ASA went on to say, sorry chum, there's nothing we can do about this. Obviously, it's a legitimate sale offer: the item has been on puiblic display at a previously advertised higher price.
So-ooo . . .
If anyone from El Reg, or eBuyer, or Currys or indeed any other outfit for that matter wishes to contact me, I have a network of 50 appalling 'hotels' in London in which I can install little showcases featuring everything from £15,650 fondle slabs to £1 million smartphones. I am also able, if required, to re-brand anything with a Teknica badge as being an award-winning product from Sungsam-HCT, of which I am the UK's only Official Authorised Reseller..
And no, no need ever to worry about the ASA.