“It’s not what I spent, it’s what I saved.”
Fake discounts on inflated prices seems to be the primary goal of ShopHQ and Invicta. They build things up to give the illusion of getting a bargain, but in reality they usually hit the mark easily they were shooting for. The usual suspects fall for it hook line and sinker. They have it down to a science. Common sense buying on shopping channels is sadly missing. I was part of the feeding frenzy in the early stages of my collecting. Spending any amount on something you were not in the market for amounts to zero savings.
https://money.com/macys-jc-penney-la...iginal-prices/
In a retail environment in which 40% to 50% off deals are routine, even the most casual shoppers understand that
only suckers pay full price. Increasingly, however, it’s become
impossible to tell if even 50% off the original price of an item is truly a good deal, because no one ever pays that original, arguably meaningless price.
Shoppers still use “original” and “list” prices as a point of reference in order to help them figure out an item’s value, and to gauge how good a sale price is. At the same time, most shoppers are well aware that stores regularly use fake, inflated prices to manipulate customers into thinking the inevitable discounts are more impressive. It’s an age-old retail strategy called
“price anchoring,” and lately i
t’s become so blatant that some customers have launched lawsuits, alleging that the schemes amount to deception and fraud.
A study released last fall shows that the average discounts on Black Friday at J.C. Penney and Kohl’s were 68% and 67%, respectively. Given that those are averages, it would seem nearly impossible for a customer to pay full price for anything. By no small coincidence, J.C. Penney and Kohl’s were hit with lawsuits in 2015, alleging that the use of inflated original prices is tantamount to a
“deceptive, misleading and unlawful pricing scheme” that rips off customers.