November 23, 2022

Beware: Black Friday Price Hikes

This post may contain Affiliate Links

With Black Friday just around the corner, followed by Cyber Monday and then lots of sales over Christmas, you’ll want to be sure that you’re getting the best deal.

But when is a deal not a deal?

I take a look at some Black Friday Price Hikes and a couple of VERY misleading discounts.

Usually, when I write about Black Friday, I write about the best deals as well as a few ways to ensure you’re getting a bargain.

This year more than ever, people are being extra careful with their cash amidst the cost of living crisis and I’d hate to see anyone getting duped by deals that look like a deal but aren’t really a deal at all.

I’ll post some examples of what I’ve found below.

First up, we have some lovely table crackers from Hotel Chocolat.

On the right-hand side of the image, Very claim that these crackers were originally £64.99 and that they are now on sale with a whopping £46 off, which sounds like a great deal.

Until you realise they only cost £18 at Hotel Chocolat, without any discount. So where did that absolutely bonkers original price come from at Very?

Next, we have Very vs Asda where surprisingly the Very price is actually the cheaper one.

Asda claims the RRP for this Barbie Dream Plane is £105 and they are offering a discount of £35 making it the final price £70, which sounds pretty good.

Even with the hefty discount, the Asda price is actually £10 more expensive than the RRP at Very (which is £59.99) but there is currently an offer for an extra £20 off making the Barbie Dream Plane just £39.99.

That is a big difference for the exact same product. (Although if you wanted to make it even cheaper you could opt for second-hand on eBay for around £25).

These are just a couple of examples I found while looking for presents and deals this week.

It happens with food too, especially in my local Co-op where a chocolate orange is currently £3.50 compared to ‘half price’ 75p at Morrisons.

How Can Shops Get Away With This?

You might, quite rightly be wondering how shops can get away with this. I think it’s normal to see a slight price discrepancy between stores, but £46 more for some Christmas crackers does seem like a massive rip-off.

The problem is, it’s very easy for shops to hike up the RRP to make it look like the consumer is getting a better discount than they actually are.

Products need to be sold at full price for at least four weeks before they can be discounted.

However, retailers only have to do this at ONE of their stores for it to be valid (thanks to Mrs MummyPenny for helping me out with this info when I posted about it on Facebook).

So essentially retailers can make up any RRP they fancy and then say the price has been discounted a few weeks later.

Personally, I think this is something Trading Standards need to do more to prevent happening.

How To Make Sure You’re Getting The Best Deal

When shopping online or in-store when you see a good deal it can be tempting to grab it straight away.

Websites especially can pressure you into purchasing with pop-ups that say things like ‘180 sold in the last hour’ or ‘500 people have viewed this product in the last 24 hours’. These are often fake, so you can completely ignore them.

Amazon, especially on Black Friday like to create deals that only last an hour or two and then have big countdown timers on the page. Again, don’t let these make you hit the buy button before you’ve done some proper research to check the prices.

1. Use Comparison Sites

There are lots of comparison sites out there that can help check prices across several websites and also look at the price history of an item to see if it’s been artificially hiked.

idealo

Camel Camel Camel (for Amazon prices)

Price Runner

Price Spy

You can also do your own checks. If you put the name of the product into Google usually the top retailers will pop up and there is usually quite a difference in price which can easily be seen.

For toys, I would usually check Argos, Amazon, Very, Asda and B&M to try and get a good gauge of the usual RRP. While this might sound time-consuming, the savings could be quite large.

2. Try Cashback Sites

Always go through a cashback site, especially if making a large purchase. While not all websites will be on there, it’s easy to do a quick check.

3. Look For A Voucher Code

Even if you’ve found a good deal, it’s always worth looking for a voucher code to see if you can save even more. Many discount codes don’t work with sale items and using a voucher code can sometimes invalidate cashback, so it’s worth doing some quicks sums to see which will save you the most money.

4. Try The Basket Hack

The basket hack is great for two things. Getting a discount and making sure you really want something rather than making a purchase because you’re, emotional or tired or stressed.

Put the items you want into your basket and make sure you are signed up to and logged into the website you want to purchase from.

Then abandon the basket, leaving your items without checking out. Often the retailer will send a discount code or free delivery voucher to encourage you to complete the purchase.

This also gives you time to assess whether or not you really want the items.