Shops usually tell us that a product is on discount when actually it's the real prize of the product. If you read 70% discount or more, check the price online. My mom falls for these scams with cosmetics.
These always irk me, too. The worst offender is Hobby Lobby. Sometimes you'll see them advertise some items for amazing discounts- as high as 80% off sometimes! The reason is that most of their offerings, especially the cheaper decorative items, are essentially Dollar Tree products with a slightly fancier label.
That's why it's important to create a price list for products you buy regularly, save them in a spreadsheet and each time you want to go shopping, you look up the prices first, update your list if there are any price changes. Print your price list and when you get into the stores you ain't gonna be ripped off.
I have seen this when I have been looking for electronics. Fortunately, I like to shop around and check out the regular prices online before heading out to buy something. I recently saw an item I was looking for on sale for 40% off but the base price had been raised prior to the sale. It worked out that the price was really only about 10% off. I think that the good sales are really out there but these places that have things on sale every week are a but sketchy. Look online for the regular price of an item at several stores and make a note of it. If you see the item on sale, compare and you will eventually find an actual sale.
This is very true. It is also why I tend to ignore some of these "discounts" - especially the ones that offer a high percentage off an item. Like yourself I always check online just to find I am not getting a discount after all. It may be annoying but it is a smart marketing move if a business is trying to increase sales at the store.
You're absolutely right. Sometimes you're better off paying the full price since it's the same exact thing as the discounted price for some retailers. That's why you have to comparison shop in order to protect yourself from this deception. Too many people fall for these "scams" because they fail to check the prices at other retailers. If the discount seems too good to be true, then you're probably falling victim to a fake sale or an artificially discounted price. Don't let it happen to you!
Yes, a lot of the time you see massive 'up to 70% off in store' and you walk in just to find items with an made up RRP and the reduced price is usually the same or slightly less the the price the item is originally worth. My parents are a victim of this and I usually find that the items they end up buying are just plain ripoffs, while my parents think that they have grabbed a bargain.
