Black Friday seems to be the ideal time to score good deals, with thousands of discounts on e-commerce sites. But be careful, because the reductions displayed are sometimes misleading, as UFC-Que Choisir points out.…
The end of November, like every year, marks the return of Black Friday and its share of promotions, each more attractive than the last. Because if the official date of the event is November 29, this big clearance sale extends from year to year over much longer periods, to the point now of extending over the entire month! Also, for almost four weeks, online retailers are increasing promotions to boost sales during this inflationary period. The perfect opportunity to score good deals and prepare gifts for the end of year celebrations!
But while we must be careful of the many scams set up by cybercriminals, the danger also comes from large merchant sites. As he has done for several years now,UFC-Que Choisir Consumer Observatory looked at the various promotions to check whether the discounts announced were real. Unfortunately, many good deals actually aren’t really good deals…
Black Friday: watch out for the many pitfalls!
The survey revealed that, as with sales, the discounts displayed are sometimes exaggerated, while prices vary from one merchant to another. In addition, you should be wary of some seemingly tempting discounts. Indeed, as UFC-Que Choisir denounces, with supporting evidence, certain merchants – including among the most famous… – did not hesitate to put forward a fictitious reference price, which was never practiced , just to display a greater reduction.
Yet, article L112-1-1 of the Consumer Code stipulates that, when a reduction is displayed in the form of a crossed out reference price, “this previous price corresponds to the lowest price charged by the professional to all consumers over the last thirty days”. Also, to comply with the legislation, some merchant sites go so far as to artificially increase the price of their products shortly before the Black Friday period, to bring it back to normal at the start of the promotions, by making people believe that it is subject to a reduction.
Black Friday: merchant sites that inflate prices upstream
This is the case for Boulanger which, although it takes as a reference the lowest price charged during the 30 days preceding the promotion, is careful not to indicate that the product was already sold at the sale price before this period. This is for example the case of a washing machine at the displayed price of €599, instead of the €799 charged 30 days before, a reduction of 25%. However, UFC-Que Choisir noted that before this period, the device was already sold for €599. In short, no savings…
Same situation at Darty, in particular with another washing machine sold for €299.99 during Black Friday. If the device was indeed displayed at €449.99 in the month preceding the promotion on the site, “it has been sold for around €299 for months by the vast majority of competing brands, including on the Fnac website, which is part of the same group as Darty”explains the association.
Black Friday: false and illegal crossed-out prices
For its part, Conforma has its own techniques for selling old stocks at lower costs. UFC-Que Choisir noticed that an induction hob sold by the site with a 38% reduction was in reality a model dating back several years. It has been sold for several years for around €300, including through the merchant site itself. However, during Black Friday, the site displays a promoted price of €299.99 for a “basic” price of €479.99. A comparison price that comes from who knows where.
Worse still, Cdiscount did not hesitate to sell an airfryer… at a price that was actually more expensive than that charged a month earlier! Showing a reduced price of €69.99, it was actually sold for €59.99 in October. Nothing to do with the 119.99 € yet crossed out! In fact, the product even saw its price increase by 17% for the event! Finally, Rakuten is not left out, since it replaces the reference price with a “recommended price” by the manufacturer, which allows it to circumvent the famous 30-day rule, and therefore to display promotions that do not ‘are not. On the other hand, it seems that Amazon has returned to the ranks! Incredible but true!
The ideal way to detect false bargains is to monitor price developments with specialized tools, as we explain in our article. There are several, notably for Amazon (see our practical sheet), which remains a major player in the market, particularly for Black Friday and before the end-of-year holidays. You can also use price comparison sites, such as Idealo, theSpy, LCD-Compare, Electro-Compare Or i-Comparator to name only the most famous. They offer, for each referenced product, not only detailed technical sheets, but above all price development curves over several months. At CCM, we promise we do our best to find you the best promotions in our selection of the best high-tech offers!