Black Friday, should Amazon be taken to court?

[devonwoody]

Black Friday offer by Amazon for new smart Ferguson TV 32pfs 5803/12 reduced to £179
Purchased same model last week £179 from them. (they just put the price up for Friday with a discount to get to £179.)

Have they found a legal way to get away with this sort of thing.

 

[Duncan A]

It doesn't need to be legal. The consumer laws are widely flouted with impunity by many large retailers. In High Street shops this is often done by having the item at a higher price in one store only, which probably wouldn't stand up to serious legal challenge but no one in authority cares.
Caveat emptor as always!
Duncan

 

[Racers]

Camelcamelcamel.com

 

[lurker]

They sell stuff that is dangerous and breaching regulation. If a high street shop sold the same thing they would get dragged through the courts.
Beggars belief how they get around that one.

 

[pcb1962]

They sell stuff that is dangerous and breaching regulation. If a high street shop sold the same thing they would get dragged through the courts.
Beggars belief how they get around that one.

example?

 

[Trainee neophyte]

They sell stuff that is dangerous and breaching regulation. If a high street shop sold the same thing they would get dragged through the courts.
Beggars belief how they get around that one.

example?

This article has a selection: https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepar ... 168ac77cf1

 

[Trevanion]

They sell stuff that is dangerous and breaching regulation. If a high street shop sold the same thing they would get dragged through the courts.
Beggars belief how they get around that one.

example?

All the countless cheap Chinese appliances without fuses in the plugs, Including 16-socket power towers which have burned houses down.

Admittedly it's not Amazon's fault totally since it's Chinese companies selling the junk but they should be more stringent.

 

[lurker]

But if Tesco sold that stuff they would get hammered.

I was actually thinking about toys that have small parts and toxic paints.
And I am on about stuff that comes from Amazon warehouse

 

[lurker]

They sell stuff that is dangerous and breaching regulation. If a high street shop sold the same thing they would get dragged through the courts.
Beggars belief how they get around that one.

example?

This is just one recently
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50478221

 

[lurker]

As we are still in the EU and amazon hq is Luxembourg, it is Luxembourg who should be sorting this out.
You know, the country that Mr Junker comes from!

 

[The Kergan]

Argos done this a couple of years ago with a LG soundplate. Selling it for ages at one price then bumped it up £40 for a few days and brought it back down again for black friday.

Funny thing is I found it cheaper elsewhere anyway.

 

[MARK.B.]

Heard that approx 95% or so of called Black Friday bargains are not really bargains at all , just some jiggery pokery with the prices over a period of time to make it appear you are getting a bargain.

 

[marcros]

I read that, but it genuinely surprises me. I haven't bought much in the week long black Friday deals, and no big ticket items. The bits I have bought though, I am satisfied that they have been as good or better a deal than otherwise available during the year (because I have been watching and waiting). They have been better than introductory offers, or sign up to the mailing list discounts.

I wonder whether the "95%" reflects that technology moves on and within 3 months of black Friday, many electronics are not the latest model in many cases. Perhaps also the black Friday deals are a few nominal pounds or pence more than at other times, but still get counted as more.

Don't get me wrong, black Friday is a marketing event, and the retailers are not under a duty to offer best ever prices, but I am surprised that 95 out of every 100 people are being fleeced.

 

[Lonsdale73]

I don't get this BF B/S, some companies have been running their BF "deals" for the past two weeks or more and we still haven't got to the designated Friday yet. I remember when sales were maybe a twice a year thing but now there's always someone somewhere having a "sale". It is all a marketing ploy designed to make people think they're getting a bargain. Many such "deals" come with some sort of disclaimer that they might have been advertised at a higher price prior to the offer. Another one to look out for is the percentage off deals on the bay. Often these are restricted to certain retailers whose prices will rise correspondingly during the offer periodI bought something during their recent 15% off offer. The same item was £5 cheaper at £30 on amazon so I saved a whopping 25p however I see the same item is now £7 less than on amazon.

Fleeced is perhaps a bit strong, it's more about the psychology of selling, praying on a desire to find a bargain.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Anyone remember Queensway Furniture, and their "Massive Clearout!!"?

It was so ubiquitous that a particularly extensive bowel movement became known as a "Queensway" at one point, at least in some of the circles I once travelled. I wonder if it still is?

(I've just googled it, and it turns out that it is still in use, but the definition has changed for the worse...bloody millennials). You may want to avoid looking.)

 

[novocaine]

******* companies. all they ever seem to want to do is make money, it's crazy. :roll:

amazon aren't selling you the cheap tat from china
they are acting as a service provider to the company who is selling you the cheap tat from china.
they act as a market place for it (Remember those, where you could go and buy a hoofer vacuum cleaner and a bisch drill) the market is liable for what the stall holder sells.
they act as a warehouse for it, not sure blueline or any of the other big logistics firms are to blame for the stuff they store for other people
they act as a post service for them (like the bloke in red on his bike, only with vans and high viz), I can't blame the postman for what he delivers to my door because I've ordered it, why can I blame amazon for it?

as to black friday, yep, it's a marketing ploy, it seems to be a rather good one as sales go through the roof, based on a day following an american holiday (happy thanksgiving everbody, lets celebrate the day we rocked up in our pea green boat and sat down with the population of this new country that no one had ever found before, except those people, but we can get rid of them). what have I bought in the sale, nothing I didn't already intend to buy, it's saved me a tenner on the wifes christmas present, that'll do.

don't get me wrong, I rather despise Amazon much like a don't really like Ebay, Currys, argos, tkmax.......... but they serve a purpose that has to be served. perhaps if we weren't a consumerist society that "has to have one of everything please and can you wrap it too" these companies wouldn't work in the way they do, but we are, not much you can do about it.

Rant over. merry eat turkey if your America (but only the bit that isn't called America and isn't really a country) day.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Anyone remember Queensway Furniture, and their "Massive Clearout!!"?
(I've just googled it, and it turns out that it is still in use, but the definition has changed for the worse...bloody millennials). You may want to avoid looking.)

You've been reading Roger's Profannosaurus again, haven't you?

 

[Lonsdale73]

Anyone remember Queensway Furniture, and their "Massive Clearout!!"?
(I've just googled it, and it turns out that it is still in use, but the definition has changed for the worse...bloody millennials). You may want to avoid looking.)

You've been reading Roger's Profannosaurus again, haven't you?

Bo**ocks!

Which I'm sure would be how he'd define Black Friday

 

[Garno]

Lonsdale79 I also remember the days when we had maybe two sales a year if lucky, certain stores would do a summer sale but the main sales that most people looked forward to was the January Sales. People were known to queue up for a couple of days to snag a bargain and every shop was packed out until the sales ended. Every shop in the sales had genuine bargains as well.

 

[Titan_uk]

I don't get this BF B/S, some companies have been running their BF "deals" for the past two weeks or more and we still haven't got to the designated Friday yet......Fleeced is perhaps a bit strong, it's more about the psychology of selling, praying on a desire to find a bargain.

I'm not naive enough to be suckered in and totally ignore it, but 'fleeced' is exactly the right word for it. It's not exactly moral to hike up prices prior to a 'sale', supermarkets especially have been reprimanded for that and now have to have a certain time limit selling it at the higher prices. No such rules governing Amazon.

Eg. Been tracking prices on a few things like a DeWalt DCD796N (I need a new one) was around £69 on Oct 8th, been creeping up and up since then and now it's 'only' £72.49... with 20% off!! and that's from the bloody warehouse. Yeah buy one for your Dad at Christmas while it's cheap!!