Michael says:
My fiancé stopped by the going out of business Circuit City in Parker, CO yesterday. We’ve been considering purchasing a Sony BDP-S350 Blu-Ray player and just the day before had seen it for $299 at a local Best Buy, and Amazon.com has it for $249. Thinking there was a chance to find a good deal, she stopped in and found one in this Circuit City with a 50% off sign. When she asked a salesperson the price they quoted her $309! She asked if that was the sale price and was told yes. The salesperson continued to tell her what a great deal this was. She asked “So, the list price of this device is more than $600?” Yes, the salesperson insisted and that this was an amazing discount. “Stop bullshitting me,” she finally replied and walked out.
Circuit City's own website says the list price of that DVD player is $299 — but that doesn't really matter, because the Circuit City your fiance was visiting isn't being run by Circuit City anymore. The inventory is being liquidated by a company that paid a lump sum for the whole thing — and is trying to maximize its profits by squeezing out every penny. Often, this means raising prices before applying discounts.
Most so-called "liquidation discounts" aren't that great. Before you go, make sure you've done your homework like Michael's fiance did.
(Photo: analogkid281 )
]]>Ironically, however, I went into the GOOB Circuit City nearby and bought a strategy guide for a video game for $0.01. No joke.
]]>And the grocery stores with that basket or table of "discounted close out" items -- the prices never look all that great to me either.
]]>Forget about jacking up the 'list price', how about just bad math? Our one and only CC here that's shutting down had a giant "All Camera Gear 50% Off!" sign above their camera supplies. I figured it'd be a good time to pick up a spare battery for my Nikon D80. Regular price listed for the battery? $79. The 50% off discounted price? $59.
Now I'm bad at math, but even I was just standing there amazed thinking WTF??
]]>1) Totally unenforceable.
2) Totally over-legislative.
How about, instead of making stuff illegal, the smart people comparison shop and the dumb people get poor, just like has always happened in America. The fleecing of the stupid is the basic engine that keeps our economy chugging, through good times and bad.
]]>During the Liquidation sale, once you started getting into the toys and other already reduced stuff the bargains got pretty good and I was picking up things for a buck or 2 each and giving them as gifts. The video game guides on the last 2 days were great as they were running 3 for a dollar and some guides were ringing up like 20 cents each. They took extra discounts on top of their clearance prices too and didn't mark it up to the original price. This was quite a few years ago though and it seems that liquidation sales have changed a bit since then.
However even at 90% off some stuff did not sell...
They also used to have killer sales year round, I remember one memorial day where I really cleaned up because of the coupons they issued and because of how much stuff was reduced.
]]>I think a gift card is just as devoid of thought as cash and is the lazy man's gift. I actually had a long chat w/ my parents when they got me Visa gift cards since there were limitations on where they could be used (no gas stations for example) that would not be an issue if they had given me cash. I of course appreciated the gift regardless, but I always try to educate people around the terms of these things.
]]>@SudhamayiKabong: Invariably implies that there will always be people who fall for this nonsense. In what way does that make me the bad guy?
]]>@AbsoluteIrrelevance: Yeah and they would take coupons from each other too. I always thought they were owned by the same group until recently because almost everything they carry is the same in both stores with almost the same lay out.
]]>Let's start wearing a button that says:
"RETAILERS: WE DON'T WANT TO PLAY ANYMORE."
NYC and other places outlawed this practice, so it stopped.
BUT it is your responsibility to know the price/value of the things that you are buying, if you do, these practices will have no impact on you.
PS Wait until they get to the last 5 days of the sale, then you might get a deal if you can find something you need.
]]>Why even bother when you can go to newegg and get everything cheaper (well most of the time).
]]>everything else: prices sucked. the only other thing I really need is an external hard drive, and I'd just gone to BB and Fry's the week before to price them. CC's prices & selection (to be expected, they WERE closing) sucked.
There were more people there than I've ever seen in that CC before though.
]]>Be careful... since the advent of the Internet, consumers are a lot more aware of retail pricing, and the cost and value of the products they buy.
There are always suckers out there, but more and more people are starting to get wise.
]]>I see this all the time with the word 'sale' anymore .Even alot of Black Friday prices aren't the greatest or cheapest ever run except for a few door busters where there's what like 6 at each store ?
A sale price , a good sale price or a cheap sale price are all different things but most sheeple only see the word sale .
]]>Gordon Brothers hard at work taking care of the public.
Sorry for the sarcasm.
]]>@jurijuri:
There must have been a conglomerate corporation owned business like Lowe's or Home Depot moving in right across the street...
Save your paper and ink. Congress could give a crap less about this, especially in these economic times.
Perhaps they'll give the liquidators a bailout after no one buys there crap at over inflated prices...
]]>Solution, visa gift card.
1) Harder to use it on hookers and blow.
2) Can be used practically anywhere that takes visa.
]]>So, in essence, they wanted $400 MORE for a used TV that had been sitting out there for 4-5 months with people messing with it all day. Great thinking
]]>@MooseOfReason: You can do that via text message too:
@charmaniac: And I prefer gift cards myself because I despise having to carry cash. If I ever get mugged someone's going to be mad because all they'll get is a credit card, debit card and my license.
I just have to hope that people give me cards to places I normally go.
]]>@charmaniac: Some people give gift cards so you have some control over how the recipient spends their money. If I give you cash you could spend it all on hookers and blow. At least if I give you a Krogers or Kohl's gift card I know you'll get some food or clothes.
We usually give my grandmother-in-law Walmart gift cards so she won't gamble with the money.
]]>Wish I had one, haha.
]]>According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, one of the meanings of word "Liquidation" is to "to do away with". I think that's exactly what's going on here...
]]>You'd think they'd just sell the stuff cheaper? I'm sure a few people fall for this, but having to keep the stores open and running, electricity and payroll would end up costing them more as the stuff just sits on the shelf unsold. Unless their army of accountants has concocted a master plan of writing off losses or some other creative financing. Bloodsuckers.
]]>Cash would seem to be preferred. I know people say that if you give cash, you didn't really think about the gift. However, I have never seen anyone get upset when I give cash as a gift. Go figure...
]]>This practice really ought to be illegal. Perhaps we should write our representatives in Congress and do something about it?
]]>Plus the liquidators are notorious for doing this, and figured any great deal I could get on amazon without walking inside that place.
]]>I remember in my retail days I worked for a chain that went into bankruptcy, and shut down about 1/3 of their stores (mine being one of them) via liquidators.
People would come in and accuse us of raising the prices before discount, and would call me a liar when I told them we hadn't. this thing is that we really hadn't raised the prices, our merchandise really was that overpriced to begin with.
]]>People fall for this crap though. My girlfriends mom went and bought a bunch of junk and Linens and Things for 25% off. They used to send out coupons for 20% off purchases every 3 weeks since they opened.
]]>@unobservant: FALL!
I fail at fall.
]]>This post has actually taken energy away from my anger at the liquidators and put it towards the people who will invariably all for this nonsense.
]]>