A real deal or a scam?

[Found It!]

A $40 4GB SD card was recently sold to my aunt at one of the Futureshop stores - simply because the guy at the store told her she was getting a good deal. My aunt is not a tech-savvy person and he trusted the salesperson (in her view, a professional). When she told me, I told her to return the SD card immediately - at least, they accept returns. I bought her two 4GB SD cards (same speed) for $25 after shipping and handling.

Quite often, I have come accross websites and sales agents that call simple discounts good deals - especially when tech products are involved. Knowing that some people are not tech-savvy and are not aware of the tech market, some sellers try to take advantage of the situation. I have seen that the supposedly good deals that I was pushed to consider were selling for less at other locations that do NOT offer a discount at all - sometimes exact same products! I thought I share the experience and recommend that people assess who's claims they trust when purchasing "deals". A mere price discount, sometimes, does not mean a good deal. Research and, if applicable, compare price, brand, performance, supplier etc. before buying.

[momof3heathens]

That kind of stuff happens at all kinds of stores not just tech types. Like seeing HOT DEAL limit 2 while supply lasts and then finding out that it's maybe a couple of cents cheaper. I used to get suckered into this years ago.

One that drives me crazy is Payless's bogo 1/2 price sale. If the items are the same price you are getting 25% off each pair. It's a better deal to buy one pair during the 30% off sale that comes up quite often.

[janetta]

$25 for two 4GB cards?! What brand/speed?
I'm heading off too Arizona in two weeks- mind telling me where you got such a fab deal?

[xox2010]

That kind of stuff happens at all kinds of stores not just tech types. Like seeing HOT DEAL limit 2 while supply lasts and then finding out that it's maybe a couple of cents cheaper. I used to get suckered into this years ago.

One that drives me crazy is Payless's bogo 1/2 price sale. If the items are the same price you are getting 25% off each pair. It's a better deal to buy one pair during the 30% off sale that comes up quite often.

Zellers is like that too... Usually (like last week) there's a 30% off sale on all fashion boots for instance - so boots regularly $14.97 are now $10.47, but if you buy them during the B1G1 1/2 price you're paying about $2 more - not much but it's still $2 that could be in your pocket

[blessedmommy]

I totally agree!

[theweave]

Reminds me of the garage sale we had once... No one would buy my books at $0.50 each... so I changed the sign to 2/$1 and they were all gone within half an hour! People think it's a deal but really it's the same thing!!!!

I think store like Sears overinflate their prices so that they can have "sales" all the time... have you ever gone into Sears and not seen a sale on????

You want deals? You go reallllly early to the USA for Black Friday and get yourself deals!!! For now, I will rely on Smart Canucks!

[Natalka]

Great that you got her such a good deal!

Unfortunately, these things happen at all types of stores with many different kinds of products.... you must do research to know the prices and what items are worth. Plus, there are cases where a lowest price item isn't the best, particularly with tech products.

My bugaboo - Safeway when they have BOGO sales. Hm.... double the price, then put it on sale as buy one get one free? My example is cases of Campbell's soup - the ones that sell for the lowest such as tomato, mushroom, and chicken noodle. When these go on sale at other grocery stores in our area, you can get them for 4.99 easily, and sometimes even 3.99. But Safeway will put them on BOGO for $13-14! Crazy. Yes, this may happen at other stores, but that one knocked me out!
Plus, they don't put what the prices are in the flyer... at least Co-op does when there is a BOGO sale, so you can judge when making up a list what is a good deal or not. I find Sobey's only puts prices in sometimes...

[momof3heathens]

I hate that too about Safeway. Meat bogo sales are the absolute worse no matter what store you shop in.

[momof3heathens]

Another thing I hate is flyers that advertise 15% off. How do I know that's a great price if I don't know 15% off of what?

[Found It!]

I agree, absolutely furstrating! I personally won't spend time looking at flyers or deals that states a percentage or publishes something like 'up to 50% off electronics'. I would not be able to monetize the value of a specific item with these announcements. For this reason, I refer to trusted deal sites that tell you exactly what it costs to get a specific item and how much I am saving on that item through some market comparison.

[Eva-M]

I hate going to Future Shop. The last time I went; I was browsing around with DH for a flat screen tv - comparing prices with Best Buy and one of the sales rep. came behind us from the moment we entered the store. He followed us everywhere offering help/assistance - my DH kept telling him "we are just browsing around" and he still kept following us asking what we were looking for. We had to tell him "Thanks but I will call you if I need any help"
super super annoying
I think they work on % of sales because that's not usual! Awful!