Thoughts on retailers discounting a lot right after selling with no forewarning of sale.

Chrysalis

Feels like its really common practice now aka flash sales.  but to me it feels its immoral so as a consumer I am tempted to take advantage of right to return and repurchase on discounted price which I am seeing more and more people do now.

Is this something other money savers on here do themselves if they are a victim of the next day/week post purchase price drop?

The retailer knows ahead of time they about to change the price.

eddddy

What would be the threshold or test be for a discount (or sale) to be immoral?

What if retailers were 'forced' to give, say, 14 days notice in advance of a 50% discount - but you bought 15 days in advance?


And for example....

If a supermarket is selling jars of coffee for £7, and they do a discount (or 'flash sale') for 2 weeks reducing them to £4 - is that immoral? Because some people have already paid £7. 

If a retailer buys-in 500 dresses and sells them at £50 each - but hardly anyone buys them, so the retailer reduces them to £25 - is that immoral? Because some people have already paid £50.

If a retailer discounts Easter eggs to half-price after Easter - is that immoral? Because some people have already paid full price.

oldernonethewiser

If you think a price is too high - don't buy it.

If the price comes down it's a bonus, if it goes up, you've missed out.

Swings, meet roundabouts.

dil1976

That's how retail works, would you go back to a retailer the next day if the price has increased and give them the difference? 

Jonboy_1984

At my employer, an online retailer, typically only 6% of the staff know about any special offer until the working day before it goes out to the public, when we sent the team a draft copy of the announcement email.

Sometimes we literally decide them and then pull them together and put them out within a three or so hour window.

It happens in life and morality isn’t a factor in it. You pay a price you are happy to pay or you don’t, no one is forcing you to buy…

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

The board is more about rights than morals, the CMA has issued guidance on pricing practices that are likely to fall foul of the CPRs

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1146747/OCA_business_open_letter_FINAL.pdf

Beyond that if it's legal, it's legal and if someone feels a practice or action shouldn't be legal they can try to use the somewhat democratic process we have to attempt to bring change, best bet is to vote with your feet and not buy from places you feel leave you with a negative experience. 

TELLIT01

If you purchased in a sale and the price went back up the following day, would you feel it was immoral not to go back to the retailer and demand to pay the higher price?  There is no requirement for a retailer to pre-announce a sale.

You can certainly return the item and buy again at the lower price, assuming it's still available when you attempt the new purchase.

sheramber

There has to be a period before a sale and a period after it. There will always be people buying the day before a sale.

I have returned goods after Christmas because it  did not fit. I got the full price refund and a able to buy the correct size for the reduced price.

When returning it you to get the same item cheaper you would have to make sure you could buy the same item again before returning it as the one you return will not go back on sale immediately.

JetpackVelociraptor

Victim? Really?

How is the company supposed to deal with stock clearance then? Should they just keep everything at the same price all the time even when the product won't sell enough quantity at that price? What if they are closing down or need to clear stock quickly?

Immoral would be the companies where the "sale" is literally every week of the year, who claim to offer a discount off an imaginary RRP, or who only run products at "full" price for the minimum period required to avoid falling foul of the ASA.

There are online tools you can use to check whether a price is likely to fluctuate or what seasonal sales are about to start. If you're buying something that's likely to be subject to a flash sale you can just watch and wait to see if the price drops before you buy.

Aylesbury_Duck

"Victim" implies deliberate exploitation, which it isn't.  Yes a retailer knows in advance that they're going to reduce a price, but they have to pick a date and time for it to take effect, and what should they do, suspend all sales until they can enact the change?  I see this as swings and roundabouts.  We benefit from the ability to buy almost anything from anywhere at any time, which presents lots of opportunity for customers but also the scenario where prices are dynamic. You win some, you lose some.

As for the tactic of returning online orders to repurchase at a lower price, that's a right of course, but as you'll see on this board, you run the slight risk of problems with missing parcels, disputed returns, delays and so on.  Depending on the discount you're chasing, that risk may not be one worth taking.  And if lots of people start doing it to the extent the retailer realises it's popular, they're perhaps going to be less likely to run sales in the way they do.

Chrysalis

TELLIT01 said:

If you purchased in a sale and the price went back up the following day, would you feel it was immoral not to go back to the retailer and demand to pay the higher price?  There is no requirement for a retailer to pre-announce a sale.

You can certainly return the item and buy again at the lower price, assuming it's still available when you attempt the new purchase.

No, because its not the same situation, if you think it is, you have understood my point.

The retailer knows its dropping the price the next day but doesnt say "Sales start on XX date",  Instead it sells things at a higher price than they know they about to sell for with the buyer been ignorant of whats about to happen.

I never said was a requirement either, another misunderstanding of my post.  However if we switch over to whats legally allowed, then a consumer can under consumer law return the product, and buy it again under sale, all is good?