Do you approve of these vendor tactics?

[neophyte]

davester wrote:
Retail prices are illusory.

Yes indeed. "50% Off Everything in the Store!" really means "Everything in the Store was Overpriced by 50%!"

I once went used car shopping. Picked a beater and the salesman said $3000 and it's yours. I said I can't afford it. He said special today, right now, $2000. I said now we can start to negotiate. He said no negotiation because he just took off $1000. I said no, you overpriced the car then took it off. He walked away saying come back when you are ready to buy. I whistled him to turn around and look, showing him cash in hand. He started back towards me. I walked back to my car and drove off.

[Zoidberg]

mrbigstuff wrote:
Kohl'ssis absolutely ridiculous about this the few times I've bought any clothes there. However, one can still find a bargain if the prices are researched well enough.

Was just talking to my wife about this, and Kohl's specifically. She's noted that their clothing prices are good but you never should consider them for housewares/small appliances.

e.g., was looking at an appliance; $110 on Amazon, $120 on Walmart, $150 on Kohl's, and that's the sale price, because their regular (MSRP) is $180.

Amazon, though, with that price changing metric they use, is shit. I'll look at something; $140. I go the next day, $160. The next $120. Same item, Amazon sold (not "sold by YYZ, shipped by Amazon"). Vendor stuff is even worse.

I've all but eschewed places like Amazon for certain supplies (back to local Walmart for general office supplies; B&H for toner -- Amazon burned us one too many times with my ordering OEM but receiving remanufactured; etc.). I'm really burned out living in the "what the market will bear" pricing structure in shopping these days.

[M A V I C]

It makes me think less of the vendor and product. They think I'm dumb. They think I can't see through it. They think I'll see the % off and not see what they're doing.

One etailer plays a similar game. They send out a 20% off coupon, for 20% off a single, regular-priced item. Then they drop prices on a ton of items by a few pennies. That disqualifies them from the discount. It's not as bad, but it's still clear what they're doing.

I have access to 500+ brands at a significant (30-50%) discount, but rarely buy. Why? Because most of those brands are too expensive to begin with, and it's not uncommon for me to find it elsewhere for a similar price.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

M A V I C wrote:
One etailer plays a similar game. They send out a 20% off coupon, for 20% off a single, regular-priced item. Then they drop prices on a ton of items by a few pennies. That disqualifies them from the discount. It's not as bad, but it's still clear what they're doing.

That sounds like how Hazard Fraught (Harbor Freight) has sales.

[Buzz]

Like I said, mainly clothing, and take a style of house brand pants that I like, that are only available only, definitely not available in their stores, and AFAIK not available in any mainstream department stores that carry their 'regular' items.

The pants are $75 - $80 most of the time, but range from $60 - $90 over all, depending on what the sale of the day is. It's impossible to know what to expect on a 40% off sale for my fave style w/o clicking thru. OTOH, the mainstream stuff that is also (overpriced) in their stores and elsewhere, is easy to figure out, since those retail prices don't fluctuate.

When they have free shipping for a $79, or less, purchase, it's usually worth a click thru, but then you still get tied up w/ the advanced algebra. Maybe I'm just venting because my real, all time fave, Bills Khakis, had its major failing a couple of years ago and had to reinvent itself, making it harder to get the good deals on Bills, like from yesteryear. I used to get Bills discontinued/prior season colors and/or fabrics for under $50 ea delivered, but I always knew the cost w/o invoking advanced algebra. Not so easy w/ the other big name brand.

I've run into similar issues w/ may fave cotton flannel shirts, and cotton undergarments from a couple of other well known online companies. It's the deceptive practices to garner clicks that irks me; yes, I like the product, and say I have a comfort level of paying $45, or less, per unit, delivered. Why can't I get a 40% off email, and know what it's gonna cost me w/o playing click-thru roulette, and needing a college level calculator to figure it out? Of course when I was in college we only had slide rules, not electronic calculators.
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