When a Sale Price Isn’t a Discount: How Deceptive Pricing Tricks Shoppers

WSJ Your Money Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Business News

3.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2023

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Several retailers have been sued for posting sale prices on items that aren’t actually discounted prices. WSJ reporter Patrick Coffee joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss how the process works, and what consumers can do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When you can't quite get the angle, take hands-free selfies with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5,
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0:10.8	The new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Chromebook, available on Vodafone.
0:17.8	Here's your money briefing for Tuesday, September 19. I'm JR Welland for the Wall Street Journal.
0:25.7	Ask someone why they bought something at the store and they might say,
0:28.8	because it was on sale. Or was it? More retailers are being sued for deceptive pricing.
0:35.3	If you have a shirt or vest that regularly sells for $19.99 at a given store,
0:41.4	the retailer will briefly raise that price to, let's say, $40 and then bring the price back down
0:48.1	and advertise the item as being 50% all for limited time. We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter
0:53.5	Patrick Coffey about how eagle-eyed consumers can spot deceptive pricing. That's after the brick.
1:10.6	Mailchimp would like to talk to you about customers. A customer is what happens when marketers
1:15.9	fail to personalize their marketing, grouping customers with very different behaviors into one
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1:33.7	the number one email marketing and automation brand. Based on customer numbers for verification
1:38.4	email, advertising at Mailchimp.com. Several large retailers are facing litigation for deceiving
1:48.3	consumers with sale prices that weren't actually discounts. Wall Street Journal reporter Patrick
1:53.6	Coffey looked into this and joins me. So Patrick, walk us through how this deceptive pricing is done.
1:59.1	Well, it's one of the oldest practices in the retail industry and it's relatively simple.
2:04.0	For example, if you have a shirt or vest that regularly sells for $19.99 at a given store,
2:10.8	the retailer will briefly raise that price to, let's say, $40 and then bring the price back down
2:17.5	and advertise the item as being 50% off for a limited time. And in some cases, allegedly,
	...

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