Do you think some shops make scams with the sales or are the prices really cheaper? I will tell you the story that made me wonder. My wife was buying some boots that were 30% off and they were costing 30€. On top of this they offered the next pair of boots for just 1€ more. When she was up to pay the lady said the boots cost 20€, but she quickly corrected herself saying it was a computer error... Do you think they just increase prices and then say things are in sale and that they are still offering more boots? It's possible right?
That's so possible, or sometimes they declare the item as "on sale" but in reality, the price never went down, it still remains the same. That's why it's important to do a price check before a store holds a sale to verify if the sale is genuine.
I've caught a few stores using those schemes, but mainly supermarkets because that is the only place where I have the prices in my head. If we're talking clothes that most people don't buy often, how can we know? They just put the price they want there and they can say it's on sale. Sure, some might know, but other certainly don't and do get scammed by buying something on "sales" super cheap...
They are not allowed to pretend they have a sale. But what they do is to increase the prices days before the sale and then offer the discount to get back to the original price. There are of course stores that apply this policy. However, even if the idea of a sale sounds appealing, I guess you should only buy a product if you believe it deserves the price they're selling it for. Don't get fooled by this sales technique and be careful how much you spend and on what. Also, be very careful of online stores that display very low prices for items. they might be scams and you should check for reviews first, before ordering anything. I'm warning you since something similar has happened to me and I'd hate to know more people will be fooled.
Thanks for the warning mafdet. It's pretty easy to deceive customers because most of them are not aware of the real price of stuff, if they like it and can afford it they simply go for it!