Discover Debt Freedom!

In today’s consumer driven society, many retail stores have become experts at separating consumers from as much of their money as possible.  Some of the tricks that they are using to entice consumers into their stores and get them to purchase much more than they intended to are very devious and created by consultants that have been paid thousands of dollars to review shopper’s habits and develop ways to squeeze every last dollar that they can from the pockets of these consumers.  The best way to fight against these practices is to be aware of them and not let these retail rip-off artists take advantage of you any more.

Retail Rip-off Number 1 – The “Price Only Good For Today” Sale
Many retailers will send out an advertisement that they have a great deal on their items, but these amazing prices are only good for one day or within a certain time period.  They will have a limited supply of the items that they have offered for sale because the real goal of the advertisement is to get consumers in the door so that the retailer can sell them more items or another item at a higher price.  If you really want the item that has been advertised, go to the store to purchase that item only and resist any attempts by a salesperson to steer you towards another item or a higher priced alternative.

Retail Rip-off Number 2 – The Delay Tactic
Some retailers that sell higher priced items or items that you can negotiate the price on will tell the consumer that they are going to check paperwork or run a price by their manager so that they can leave the consumer to stew in silence alone for long periods of time.  They know that the longer that they can keep you in the store, the more time that you will have invested for purchasing their product and the less time that you will have to comparison shop at other retail stores.  After hours of waiting, you may be so tired of the process that you will sign anything to purchase the item and stop the shopping process.

Retail Rip-off Number 3 – The Wrong Price Ploy
This one is very common in places where a person typically purchases a lot of items at once, like at grocery stores, mass merchandisers, or clothing retailers.  They will advertise a sales price for the item on the shelves but when the purchase is rung up at the register, the price rings up as much higher.  Most retailers are betting that you do not notice until you get home and then consider it too much of a hassle to return to the store to get your money back.  If you do notice the higher price while still at the store, the store will take one of two tactics; politely adjust the price at the register while apologizing or telling the customer that they cannot adjust the price at the register and send you to customer service department, which is often located in a different part of the store, to try and get the price adjusted to the right amount.

Retail Rip-off Number 4 – The “Oh, We’re Out Of It” Tactic
Some retail stores will advertise a desirable item at a low price to draw consumers into the store, but will only have very few of the items on hand, not nearly enough to satisfy the demand that they have created with the low sales price.  When a consumer comes in to buy the sold out item, the salesperson will regretfully tell them that they are all out of that particular item and will try to steer the person to a higher priced item instead.  If you complain enough, they may give you a rain check for the item that you wanted but many stores will have a disclaimer that no rain checks will be given for a sale item that is out of stock.

Retail Rip-off Number 5 – Trying To Scare You Into An Extended Warranty
Some retailers make more money by selling the extended warranty than they do selling the product so they will push hard for the consumer to purchase the warranty, even if it really isn’t feasible for the item being purchased.  In some cases, the price of the extended warranty is much more than it would actually cost to repair the product in the event that something did go wrong, but the salesperson will not tell you that.  If it seems like the salesperson is trying much too hard to sell you the extended warranty or are using words such as “costly”, “regret”, or “valuable protection”, chances are the warranty is not worth what you are paying for it.