5 ways to tell real New Year discounts from fake ones

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Deception is easy to expose if you know where to look.

During the New Year's sales, there is a high risk of stumbling upon a fake promotion - when the seller first greatly inflated the price, then crossed it out and set a discount. In the best case, you will buy the product at a non-promotional price, and in the worst case, you will pay even more than the item was worth before. Here's what you need to do to prevent this from happening.

1. Write down the price in advance

If you have long wanted to buy some product and are specifically looking forward to the New Year's sale, it is better to fix its price right now: write it down, take a screenshot or just remember it. And when the promotions start, compare it with the updated one.

Those who plan to purchase on Aliexpress do not need to remember the cost in advance. It is enough to install an extension in the browser that shows the dynamics of prices in recent years. There are several such extensions: AliTools, AliPrice, AliTrack.

They work simply: after installation, right on the product page on AliExpress, they create a window with a price change schedule.

Some extensions also show seller ratings, upload product reviews, allow you to subscribe to one and track when prices fall. Thus, it is easier not to miss the New Year's sale and not to buy a low-quality item.

2. Compare prices in different stores

It is unlikely that all sellers will decide at once to arrange fake promotions for the same goods. Therefore, if you see an item at a discount, just look for it in other online stores. You will probably find several sites where there will be no stocks for the product - this will help you see the real value. If the discount price is about the same everywhere, then the promotion is most likely real.

Prices can be compared manually, but it is more convenient to do this with the Yandex. Advisor extension. It will show the cost in different stores right on the product page and tell you if there is a better one somewhere.

Please note that the "Advisor" sometimes shows a better price in stores in another city. If you don't want to pay for delivery and wait, choose outlets only near your home.

In addition to the Yandex extension, there are also price aggregators - sites that collect prices from various online stores. Here you can search for products, compare prices and even order directly. The most popular of these resources: Price, "Yandex. Market", Goods, "Goods @ Mail. Ru".

3. View prices on the manufacturer's website

Usually shops like to inflate prices before sales. Manufacturers, especially foreign ones, either make real discounts or do not hold promotions at all. Therefore, if you are looking for a product from a well-known brand, it is most reasonable to go to its website and see the official cost of the product. Sometimes they also write directly about Christmas sales - then discounts in stores are likely to be real.

This method does not work 100%: the store can still inflate the price or give a real discount even without a promotion from the manufacturer. But as an additional check, it will not hurt to go to the official website.

4. Carefully study the price tags

If you buy not on the Internet, but in a real store, another way to check is available to you - price tags. They are usually printed from a single database, and if they forget to raise the cost in it, you can see a funny picture: the price of 12,999 rubles is crossed out, and the new one with a discount is 14,999 rubles. Of course, such errors are rare, but it is still better to look at small numbers on price tags more closely.

If everything is in order with the crossed out value, do not relax your vigilance. Sometimes a new price tag with a stock is glued right on top of the old one, and the old amount shines through. It is enough to take a closer look, and you can see the real price of the product, which sometimes turns out to be lower than the promotional price.

5. Estimate the size of the discount

Big discounts are pleasing to the eye, but you need to be realistic: a cost reduction of 80–90% is hardly profitable for the store. Nobody wants to work at a loss, so before setting a huge discount, the seller, most likely, raised the price by at least 50%, or even more. This is especially often done with inexpensive goods, the multiple increase in prices for which is not so noticeable.

In general, discounts of 80–90% are found on New Year's sales. They are usually placed on branded clothing that is out of fashion. Most often, such promotions are arranged in Europe, but sometimes they can also be found in Russian stores of large brands. High prices for branded clothing are related to fashion, not production costs, so manufacturers can afford huge discounts in this area. But a smartphone or laptop is initially expensive to manufacture, so no one will sell them with a discount of 80–90%.

Check list

1. Write down the price in advance.
2. Compare prices in different stores.
3. Check if there are any discounts on the manufacturer's website.
4. Pay attention to price tags in offline stores.
5. Don't believe in 80-90% discounts on products that don't go out of style.