When I was in 8th grade, my parents were kind enough to take me out to California, we did all of the usual fun things. We went to Disney world, went to see NBC studios, saw the beach, went to the Hollywood strip, and even got one of those fancy bus guided tours. On our tour of Hollywood, we drove past a series of stores that had signs that said 70% or 80% off. There must be some good deals in there, right? The tour guide warned us to stay away from those stores because even though they were “on sale” the prices were still really expensive. I’ll never see that person again, but she was absolutely right. Just because something is “on sale” does not mean you are getting a good value.

My fiancé went shoe shopping a while back, and I believe she went with one of her friends. They went down to Sioux Falls and planned on going to this shoe store that they’ve never been in before since it was having a big sale, even after the discounted prices, the shoes were still nearly $50.00. I’m blessed to have a woman in my life who’s very frugal, and she promptly left there and went somewhere less expensive.

Be wary if you see advertisements that say that you’ll get a 20% savings off the original price. It doesn’t matter that you’re getting a percentage off if the original price was a rip-off. All that means is that you’re not getting as ripped-off as you were before; it’s still not a good deal.

Quite often companies will use sleazy marketing to make their products look like a better deal than they actually are. Infomercials for products that are supposed to save you time, money, and effort are major offenders in this area. They’ll sell a spray bottle of some magic orange cleaning substance for $19.95 even though it only cost them $2.00 to make, and then give you a “deal” by giving you two bottles of magic orange liquid instead of one of them. This means is that you’re only paying a 500% markup instead of a 1000% markup.

Companies will also tell you that a product or service has a suggested retail value of something much higher than it is. Then they will sell you the product at what they really wanted to sell it for, and then let you think that you are getting a deal, because then you paid less than the rip-off suggested retail value price. Automobile companies and jewelry companies are big offenders here. Fine jewelry will always appraise for a few hundred dollars higher than what it will actually sell for. The $1000 engagement ring I bought on Blue Nile appraised for $1400.

Be aware of the deceptive marketing techniques that companies are using to try to make you think you are getting a deal when you’re not. These deceptive practices happen on a very regular basis; don’t fall for these shopping shenanigans.



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