I see what you did there. Price gouging

[PepperElf]

Sis's idea for an xmas gift to my BF and I was a tour of something local, like a little adventure for us.

I found a website that offered tour packages and we picked a couple of things that interested us. On a whim I also looked up the web page for the venues.


And then I saw what the tour page did... They raised the prices.

I picked one of the tours to compare prices. The tour site priced it at $27.05 for adults and $22.05 for "internet special". The venue charges $22.00 and offers a 15% discount for AAA.


I figure the tour site is probably buying up bulk tickets to get the "group rate discount" and then charging MORE than the flat rate, just to pocket the difference.

[LillFilly]

Ah, yes. My mom was part of a group that took a lot of these day long bus tours organized by one of the women in the group who worked for the tour company. Mom found some original paperwork from the tour company one day with a lower price than what the woman organizing the trip said the price was. The woman was charging about 10$ extra on top of the bus tour price for her 'organizational' services and pocketing it. Mom ratted her out and put a stop to it.

[Catwoman2965]

Good for your mom for ratting her out!

Slightly OT, but many moons ago I ran into something similar, but it was rent/roommate. I was looking to move out, and saw an ad for someone looking for a roommate, and they had cats. which doesn't bother me in the least, I love them.

So we meet up, to see the apt. She had already signed a lease, and was now looking for someone to share. Ok fine, it was in the same town I worked in, close to the downtown area, which was fine, and while a tad small, it was a decent apt. So she told me she was asking x dollars for the rent, plus an additional $20 a month if I wanted the one parking spot. Since parking was a premium, i was ok with that. We leave, and are chatting outside. She then lets it slip that well, half the rent is really $90 less than what she was asking, but she had paid a broker something like $1100 or 1200 to find the apt, so she was going to ask for more, to get that money back!

Um no. Sorry, first of all, even if i was ok with paying HALF the broker fee, which I wasn't, $90 a month would have paid it off in 5 or 6 months. Secondly, not my problem. So the next day I called her back and politely declined. I wonder if she ever found anyone!

[TheSHAD0W]

I hate bait and switch.

I happened to be in an Albertson's market the day after Easter, and they had a big display "EASTER CANDY 75% OFF!" So of course I went over to look... Uh, yeah. Riight.

The regular price of a large bag of M&Ms is *not* $8.

I rarely shop there.

[PepperElf]

I hate bait and switch.

I happened to be in an Albertson's market the day after Easter, and they had a big display "EASTER CANDY 75% OFF!" So of course I went over to look... Uh, yeah. Riight.

The regular price of a large bag of M&Ms is *not* $8.

I rarely shop there.

heh you reminded me of my <last job>. tax free weekend last year i found out the store was jacking the prices up a little IIRC. So customers would still save money compared to the taxable rate, but the company was going to keep a little of the extra for themselves.

so say Computer X normally sells at 1000, customer pays 1095; during tax-free weekend they may price the computer at 1025 or something like that.

[EricKei]

This sort of thing happens all the time when a store has a going-out-of business/liquidation sale. All of those 50~90% price signs are referring to discounts off of (say, for books) cover-price retail or higher, and not necessarily any price that the original store would EVER have charged. This is because, in part, because the original store has already sold off all of its product (usually really cheap) and the *liquidation company* is setting those exorbitant "base prices". Note -- not the cashiers' fault, either

[Chromatix]

I believe there are rules about this in the UK, mostly because of the "discount carpets and furniture" merchants who ran "sales" all 12 months of the year. Now they run "sales" 10 months of the year, and simply stop running ads during two slow months during which the prices are much higher - those are then the base prices for the next 5-month series of "sales".

It is entirely possible that these rules are also an EU Directive.

[PepperElf]

merchants who ran "sales" all 12 months of the year.

Indeed I've seen those too.

At my first 2 retail jobs we had sales that never ended. The first was "BOGO Free" all the time at my pizza pizza job. The second was jewelry that was always on sale. While at the second job we were informed "no more 247 sales"; manager said they were spoken to and had to either lower prices permanently or take items off sale sometimes*. I can only suppose the pizza place got the same notice cos the BOGO sale is long gone too.


*except clearance items of course.


i guess it proves it's always good to do research before making a purchase. although in some items, one doesn't normally do it, not if the price seems cheap already.

[raudf]

I believe there are rules about this in the UK, mostly because of the "discount carpets and furniture" merchants who ran "sales" all 12 months of the year.

In my neck of the woods, there was a furniture store that had "Going out of Business" sales all year long! Took them 10 years to finally go out of business, because the city and state finally passed laws concerning those types of sales.

The idea was that they'd mark something up like 90% and then take "up to 75% off" that. As we here all know, most customers only read the words "75% off," and don't actually check the price, because "OMG, it's on SALEEEEEE!!!"

[wolfie]

Many years ago I recall a pizza place that had both "2 for 1" and "3 for 1" deals - and the "3 for 1" price was (no surprise) 50% more than the "2 for 1" price.

[RayvenQ]

Place where my mum worked was pretty notorious locally for having "Closing Down" sales, except they never closed down, and then finally they got around the law or whatever by still having those kinds of sales, but not mentioning the word closing down or going out of business, just making it look like (i.e "EVERYTHING MUST GO" etc etc). I don't know if they actually gouged the prices, but still, was unusual behaviour.

[PepperElf]

Place where my mum worked was pretty notorious locally for having "Closing Down" sales, except they never closed down, and then finally they got around the law or whatever by still having those kinds of sales, but not mentioning the word closing down or going out of business, just making it look like (i.e "EVERYTHING MUST GO" etc etc). I don't know if they actually gouged the prices, but still, was unusual behaviour.

i think those often happen because the "closing down" sales generate enough income to get back on their feet. at least for furniture stores.

[Aethian]

We have everything must go sales around here but most often that means they want to clear everything out for the new season and whats left goes to discount stores. How I got some chairs I love and how I want to get a sofa...when I finally have money.

[Jack7957]

I picked one of the tours to compare prices. The tour site priced it at $27.05 for adults and $22.05 for "internet special". The venue charges $22.00 and offers a 15% discount for AAA.


I figure the tour site is probably buying up bulk tickets to get the "group rate discount" and then charging MORE than the flat rate, just to pocket the difference.

When I was down in Australia I wanted to do the Harbour Bridge Climb in Sydney. I booked directly rather than through the cruise line and saved almost $100US off the price.

This sort of thing happens all the time when a store has a going-out-of business/liquidation sale. All of those 50~90% price signs are referring to discounts off of (say, for books) cover-price retail or higher, and not necessarily any price that the original store would EVER have charged. This is because, in part, because the original store has already sold off all of its product (usually really cheap) and the *liquidation company* is setting those exorbitant "base prices". Note -- not the cashiers' fault, either

Best app for any smart phone is one of those UPC/barcode readers for shopping comparisons. (I use Red Laser on my crapPhone) One example is when an electronics store was going out of business, I was looking at their DVDs. When even with the 30% discount, the DVDs I was checking were cheaper at the Best Buy nearby.