Everybody loves a bargain, but it has to be a bona fide price reduction from a real regular price. Using inflated regular prices that are rarely if ever charged to make the current sale price look like a deal is not only misleading, but illegal.
And so, one woman from California and one from New Jersey recently filed a class action lawsuit against Old Navy for this exact practice.
In one example in the case, the West Coast shopper bought a pair of jeans like this when they were advertised at $15 — 50-percent off the regular price.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Her lawyers conducted extensive research on Old Navy’s pricing practices, and discovered that the jeans she bought were offered at the full “regular” price of $29.99 for only 12 days over a 486-day period prior to her purchase. So the deal she thought she getting was really no deal at all.
The lawsuit seeks disgorgement of their ill-gotten profits, and an injunction against further misleading sales and discounts. Cases like this have gone both ways in California. Sometimes consumers win, and sometimes stores do. We’ll keep you posted.
Wayfair seems to do the same thing.
Edgar responds: Scott… Absolutely! See the story of our investigation of Wayfair’s deceptive pricing here. Unfortunately, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office has chosen not to go after them for this blatant abuse despite their being headquartered here in MA.
No knowledgeable shopper buy ANYTHING at “regular price.” Really, is there any such thing? Wait and everything will go on sale or be “marked down” eventually.
The furniture store “Raymour and Flanigan” is just as bad with deceptive pricing. Nothing is ever really off sale and so-called sale prices take a very small amount off of “regular” prices. Like only $50 off of a $2,000 bedroom set even on big holiday weekends. That’s like 2.5% off! What kind of sale is that?
They’re the worst for this.
EVERYTHING 50% OFF, NO EXCLUSIONS*
*excludes shirts, pants, everyday steals, regular sales prices, hot deals, fashion picks, everyday great low prices, etc
Burlington Coat Factory does this constantly – I’ve never seen anything at “regular” price.
My anger at these types of fake sales are what lead me to Consumer World many years ago. It’s sad to see that the deception is as strong as ever.
I typically shop at Macy’s and JC Penny, and both those retailers have items that always seem to be “on sale” and never at the listed retail price.
At this point I focus on how much I am willing to spend on an item rather than how much of a discount I want to wait for. My shopping experience has improved as a result.