Beware of Scams This Black Friday 2013

Advertisement

black friday saleNerdWallet has conducted a study of 25 Black Friday 2013 ads and has found four Black Friday scams used by retailers.

The study found that 92% of the ads that were  looked at contained at least one item that is selling for the same amount for Black Friday 2013 as it did during last year’s Black Friday.

The Black Friday ads examined for the study came from stores including: GameStop (GME), Lowe’s (LOW), Walmart’s (WMT) Sam’s Club stores, Staples (SPLS), Walgreen (WAG) and many others, reports NerdWallet.

Let’s take a look other scams to watch out for as you hunt for the best Black Friday deals.

Black Friday 2013: Watch out for repeated deals

black-friday-2013Many stores are selling items during Black Friday 2013 for the same prices that they sold them for during Black Friday 2012. This might not be a bad deal for those customers that are looking for bath towels, but those purchasing consumer technology should be weary, reports NerdWallet.

For example, GameStop is selling a PS3 Gold DUALSHOCK 3 Controller for $39.99 as one of its Back Friday deals. This is the same price that the retailer sold the controller for during Black Friday shopping in 2012, despite the fact that Sony’s (SNE) Playstation 4, the newest iteration of the company’s video-game console, came out on Nov. 15, NerdWallet notes.

Black Friday 2013: Watch out for deceiving original prices

black-friday-2013Retailers often use an item’s MSRP price to advertise the item’s original price when listing them in a Black Friday deals ad. This doesn’t mean that the original price listed in the Black Friday shopping ad is the same one the store uses when normally selling an item, reports NerdWallet.

An example of this is Bon-Ton’s (BONT) Black Friday 2013 ad. The ad shows a Keurig K45 Elite Brewer for $99.97 and has its original price set at $172. However, visiting the retailer’s website shows that the item is actually selling for $119.99, NerdWallet notes.

Black Friday 2013: Watch out for peddling derivative products

black-friday-2013Some retailers sell products that are specifically made for Black Friday. The retailers don’t usually give specific information regarding the products in ads for Black Friday deals.

The products, while having cheap price tags, are usually stripped down versions of more expensive products.

This makes it so that retailers can sell the product for a low price during Black Friday shopping that makes the deal look good to customers, NerdWallet notes.

Black Friday 2013: Watch out for rebates

black-friday-2013Retailers will also include rebates in the reduced price of an item in ads for Black Friday deals. The Black Friday ads normally note that the item is only sold at that price after getting a rebate, but this is usually printed in small text that is often overlooked by customers.

This means that customers will grab items during Black Friday 2013 thinking that they will get them for one price, but they will then be charged a higher price when they get to the register, NerdWallet notes.

For more information regarding Black Friday shopping scams, click here.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2013/11/beware-scams-black-friday-2013/.

©2024 InvestorPlace Media, LLC