According to UFC-Que Choisir, the vast majority of online prices that include promotions are misleading. Thus, more than nine crossed out prices out of ten would actually be false promotions on online sales sites such as Amazon, AliExpress or even Cdiscount or Ebay. The buyer who thinks of doing a good deal thus finds himself with a product paid simply at the market price, when this is not even higher than that of the official seller himself.
If this method is used frequently during sales or Black Friday, we find this type of promotion daily on online sales sites. To avoid being fooled, here are some simple tips to put into practice.
First reflex to adopt for an online purchase: copy/paste the reference of the product in Google, to study the prices charged by the market. In addition to avoiding unpleasant surprises, this also helps to avoid fakes and rogue sites. This advice also applies to new and used resale sites.
On the web, various extensions allow you to compare prices and thus avoid being fooled by a false offer. For example, there’s the Keepa extension for Amazon, which offers price history for around three billion products. It’s free and available on all browsers.
Without actually installing an extension, you can also use the services of a price comparison site, such as PriceSpy, Idealo or 123Comparer. These sites allow you to identify the prices charged by many reseller sites and thus optimize your purchase.
A good way to save money is to play the community aspect. This is particularly the strength of certain sites, such as Dealabs, where Internet users broadcast (real) promotions.
Source: BFM TV
