has anyone noticed lately how black friday deals or any type of "sale" deals aren't actually deals. like i had something on my amazon wishlist that was $19.99 before, and now it's saying it WAS $49.99 but is on sale for $19.99 for a "black Friday deal." as if it wasn't just $19.99 two weeks ago at regular price. like these damn websites atp are straight up lying and trying to trick people into thinking something is on sale/is a good deal when it's not. and this isn't exclusive to that one item or even just amazon. i've been seeing it everywhere. the fuck
There are a several sites for tracking this kind of thing, depending if you're looking at a particular product or a particular market.
For Amazon, I like to sanity check Camel Camel Camel if a particular deal seems too off.
For example, Amazon is listing these headphones as a -43% sale at $199.99.
CCC backs that up! But also, looks like they do go on fairly frequent (if smaller) sales. Good to know!
As a bonus, CCC is pretty easy to check for whatever listing. You just need the listing ID: https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0CCZ26B5V
From: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCZ26B5V
This kind of thing doesn't help if they make a dozen listings, or if they have one listing with several options that change the pricing. Still handy though.
This is a helpful tool! This applies moreso to Americans (though non-USAmericans can file reports), but if you notice activity described by OP, that's called "deceptive pricing" and is illegal under FTC regulations. The FTC has a pretty simple reporting system here. This reporting also applies to all sorts of fraud, from scam calls to identity theft. It may not immediately resolve your personal issue, but it can help the FTC gather enough data and proof to bring a lawsuit against the company.
