Suspicious Terms That Ruin Great Deals
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In the midst of the busiest shopping season, retail companies have plastered their stores with large signs stating: a number, the “%” symbol, and the word “OFF”.
As I took a stroll in Midtown Manhattan, I couldn’t help but notice that every store’s window had a sales poster. Soon enough, I came across a clothing store with a sign claiming “70% off everything”.
I’m thinking: “70% off? Why don’t you just hand it out for free?”. After checking out their stuff, there were a few items that I would buy but it turns out that they were not on sale.
While leaving the store, I walked across the sales poster again and found two words in a super small font size – “up to”.
Yes, even the most financially conscious and money-wise people get duped by these deceiving advertisements. Embarrassed? Sure, I was. But it was a good old “if-it-is-too-good-to-be-true-then-it-is” slap in the face.
Upon realizing that such marketing schemes exist beyond just retail stores, I chose to expose some fishy terms that tend to ruins so-called “great deals”.
“Up to”
It denotes the maximum that the deal is good for. If a clothing store says you can save “up to” a certain amount, it means you can save up to nothing also. When a bank is offering savings accounts with an interest rate of “up to” 3.45% APY, it means you need to keep $1 million with the bank to get that rate.
“As low as” or “Starting from”
These words often state the best terms or the cheapest options available. When I signed up for a credit card the application sys I can get a rate as low as 9.240% APR. Of course, that rate is only attainable by those with the highest credit scores.
And, the car commercials on TV constantly sport the terms “starting from” which, short of taking out the airbags, is just giving us the minimum price for the car with the least features. Another example would be retail stores, again, saying everything is on sale “starting from $9.99”. There only needs to be one item at that price to justify that statement.
“Exclusions apply”
This means that you have to read the 20 lines of fine print to find out if that “extra 20% off” coupon works on the stuff you want to buy. Those in NYC can probably relate to this when shopping at Macy’s. The “largest store in the world” seems to always have sales and coupons but there are so many exclusions that apply – often resulting in a bunch of disheartened shoppers.
These are just a few of the many, many suspicious terms that can shatter you hopes of a great deal. Companies don’t really care about how much you can save, they just need you to be interested in their products and services.
Other terms to be wary of:
- on select items: it works only on a fraction of the items in the store
- with a $ purchase: spend more before you save
- 50% off when you buy one at full price: get 25% off each one
- limited time offer: a false sense of urgency to lure you in
Surely, some people may view my thought to be slightly exaggerated. But, until that feeling of being cheated hits you, shop wisely.
Got a similar experience? Whether it was shopping for clothes, a car, or a mortgage – share your story.
(Photo credit: Cosmic Kitty)
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Ashley said:
Simon have you ever used Groupon? Something I’ve noticed with a few of the deals that seem to good to be true is that the prices seem to have been marked up and then dropped back down to make the discount seem much larger than it is. I’ve noticed some clothing boutiques that do the same thing… the t-shirt is 80% off yet still costs $30! Not a real deal to me.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:14 pm -
Simon Zhen said:
Never heard of Groupon but I’ve certainly seen things marked up just so stores can claim that they are offering even larger discounts.
Despicable business practice? Yes. Just don’t give them your business!
December 12th, 2009 at 11:58 am
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