salefail

At CVS, The Word 'Clearance' Is Essentially Meaningless
By Laura Northrup on March 15, 2011 1:00 PM   40 Comments
Reader Juhgail noticed "clearance" tags on an item that she was planning to buy anyway. Since "clearance" nearly always also means "sale" in retail, it's nice when that happens. Except in CVS's reality vortex, "clearance" actually means "we stuck a shelf tag on it, but left it at the same price." Makes sense.
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The Children's Place: Where 3 for $20 Equals $20.97
By Laura Northrup on February 17, 2011 8:00 AM   41 Comments
After Mario bought some shirts at The Children's Place shortly before Christmas, he discovered that the "sale" the store was running on the items he bought was a bad deal. Using an amazing trick of fuzzy math, the store actually increased the price of the items that Mario bought by putting them on sale. Wait, what? More »

(drjeff)

Best Buy Bungles Sale, Denies Me Refund
By Phil Villarreal on December 9, 2010 3:30 PM   62 Comments
Ian tried to take advantage of a sweet laptop and printer pre-Black Friday sale at Best Buy's website, but couldn't check out with the advertised price. A customer service rep suggested Ian pay the higher price for the items, then apply for a refund for the difference later. The plan didn't work out so well. More »

(poopoorama)

Lowe's Holds Sale, Underestimates Demand For 90% Off KitchenAid Stand Mixers
By Laura Northrup on November 5, 2010 8:00 AM   64 Comments
Home improvement retailer Lowe's went on Facebook and invited all of its friends to a totally awesome pre-Black Friday party late Thursday night and early Friday morning. Like all really fun parties, too many people showed up and things got out of hand. Which is to say that the doorbuster item, a KitchenAid stand mixer at 90%, sold out quickly, and took the store's entire site down with it. More »

(Ryan)

Target Puts iPad On Sale By Adding 99 Cents To Price
By Phil Villarreal on October 7, 2010 3:15 PM   59 Comments
It's tough to get too angry at Target for attempting to skim a buck off the top of iPad purchases, but to call the minimally-inflated price a "sale" crosses the line of decency. More »

Modell's Offers You 2 Swim Trunks For $30 Or $12.99 Each
By Meg Marco on May 24, 2010 3:32 PM   14 Comments
Commenter Randomhookup would like to contribute to the problem of Consumerist posting too many of these. More »

Red "Sale" Sign At Kohl's Means Item Is FOR Sale, Not ON Sale
By Laura Northrup on April 28, 2010 10:00 AM   58 Comments
Nice try, Kohl's, but we see through your game. An item isn't on sale just because you say it is. You have to actually decrease the price. Noah writes that when he found a tag emblazoned with the word SALE, he thought this meant that perhaps the item was on sale. Don't be silly, Noah. More »

(Aaron)

Act Now To Pay More For Contact Solution At Target
By Phil Villarreal on April 15, 2010 10:30 AM   19 Comments
Aaron spotted this example of yet another Target non-sale. This one is even more appealing because it's for a limited time only. More »

(Jason)

Walgreens Has A Loose Definition Of The Phrase '50 Percent Off'
By Phil Villarreal on March 29, 2010 10:30 AM   21 Comments
Jason spotted this photo at a Minnesota Walgreens. We ran the numbers and discovered that $7.49 is less than 50 percent off of $9.99. But the giant "50% Off" lettering looks so darn attractive that it's tough to fault the store's management from making the incorrect claim.
Go To Subway, Get Two $5 Footlongs For Only $9.99
By Laura Northrup on March 27, 2010 5:30 PM   44 Comments
Tomorrow is Sunday, which means that you can take advantage of the exciting Sunday sale at Mike's local Subway. Yes, this restaurant does participate in the $5 footlong promotion. We asked.
McDonald's Paid Me $0.10 To Take An Extra Beef Patty
By Meg Marco on March 22, 2010 1:24 PM   75 Comments
Reader Grant says he saved $0.10 by taking an extra patty off McDonald's hands, which is sort of gross if you try to picture it. More »

Sale At Target Means You Pay $2 Extra
By Meg Marco on March 8, 2010 2:05 PM   47 Comments
Consumerist readers are on to you, Target. After reading the site for awhile, people are moving the sale cards over to see what the price used to be before it went "on sale." More »

Walmart Debuts Truly Unbeatable Sale
By Meg Marco on March 2, 2010 6:23 PM   27 Comments
Yes, we suppose the only way to beat this sale is to have a store give you money for taking the thing off their hands. More »

(Stephen Hackett)

Best Buy Tried To Overcharge Me For An On-Sale Gadget; I Regulated
By Phil Villarreal on February 8, 2010 10:00 AM   51 Comments
Blake says he had to inform a Best Buy that the media player he wanted was on sale, and $30 cheaper than the sticker price offered at the store. He argued his case and to their credit, Best Buy staffers gave him the appropriate price. More »

(Photo: Meg Marco)

Sears Retracts Range Sale Email
By Phil Villarreal on January 26, 2010 9:00 AM   13 Comments
Back in November, Sears sent out an email that offered an amazing TV deal, which it recanted with a follow-up email that began with "WHOOPS!" More »

Think Carefully Before Buying Diapers At Target
By Meg Marco on January 20, 2010 4:39 PM   29 Comments
Reader Sarah was shopping for some diapers when she noticed something strange about Target's pricing. Yes, the well-documented insanity continues in the diaper aisle... More »

CVS Challenges You To Explain Their Reverse Sale
By Meg Marco on December 4, 2009 3:59 PM   27 Comments
Reader Kyle took this photo of a "discount" at CVS. More »

Toys R Us Invites You To Save -$10
By Meg Marco on November 23, 2009 4:53 PM   22 Comments

—>We love when Toys R Us does this. Ah, yes. "While supplies last." Hurry, people. Hurry.  More »

Generic Winn-Dixie Snack Bags Must Be Awesome
By Meg Marco on November 16, 2009 3:59 PM   55 Comments

—>Reader BrotherFlounder is wondering what's so special about these generic Winn-Dixie snack bags that makes them more expensive than similar brand name ones.  More »

Avoid The Diabolical Target Lysol Disinfectant Wipe Trap
By Meg Marco on November 5, 2009 7:36 PM   50 Comments

—>Target loves to keep you on your toes. Which is the better deal? 110 wipes for $4.79 or 80 wipes for $4.79?  More »