Sales shopping? Here’s what to watch out for

If you’re wondering when Black Friday starts, then I’m here to tell you that you’re already deep into the season of sales.

While that’s good news for savvy shoppers, there are still lots of things to watch out for. Retailers want your cash, but they don’t want returns, complaints or last-minute doubts at the checkout. Here’s my checklist on everything to watch out for.

Fake discounts

There are bargains to be had out there, but don't immediately believe big 'money off' claims (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The government is looking in to dodgy pricing practices, but at present, retailers can use a range of tricks to manipulate us in to buying items. The most common is to mark up the value of an item way above the standard price for a few days, then discounting it by a big percentage. Let’s say a new vacuum has a RRP of £150. The business increases the price to £250 for a few days, then discounts it by 30% to £175. That’s still £25 more than it originally was. Never trust the big discount percentage – research the actual price.

Pick a price tracker

How do you know if you’re getting the best price? Well, there are lots of free price tracker websites out there that monitor the cost of items over a set period of time – usually a year. I use CamelCamelCamel for Amazon products and PriceSpy for other retailers. Price tracker sites allow you to see how a price has fluctuated over the year, giving you an indication of when the cost was the lowest. You can even set price alerts on some sites, so you get notified when the price drops to your ideal range.

Checkout challenges

Retailers are obliged by law to give you a refund if their package delivery contractors don’t follow your delivery instructions to the letter. So they are fighting back by trying to get you to allocate a ‘safe space’ when ordering. This means that you have specified somewhere where it’s safe to leave your parcel, like outside your front door or in the recycling bin. Courier companies are up to this too – but resist! If the parcel goes missing from a safe space, they don’t have to refund you because they’ve followed your instructions. However, make sure that you haven’t previously given a retailer a one-off safe space in the past. Some shops are retaining these instructions and are applying them to future orders – so always check everything before you click. Oh, and make sure you’ve checked your address is correct too. Many of the address auto-fill options I’ve come across on websites are rather flaky. My address came up incorrect 50% of the time on the sites I checked.

Where is the shop based?

One of the biggest complaints I hear from readers concerns businesses pretending to be from the UK when they are actually based abroad. Some have websites and even URLs festooned with Union Jacks! Don’t assume that because goods take a day or two to arrive that the retailer isn’t foreign. Some businesses are clearly using warehouses in the UK to store goods but insist that you return them to China at great cost. Look for the returns policy. If there’s no address, just an email address to arrange the return, chances are it’s not UK based.

Buyer’s regret

Gone mad in the sales and woken up with buyer’s regret? Don’t worry. If you’ve shopped online, then you have the right to change your mind for up to 14 days afterwards. Just tell the company that you want to cancel the order. You might have to pay to return an item if it’s already been sent, though.

Want more tips? Check out the Competition and Markets Authority website for all your legal rights too at this link!

Martyn James is a leading consumer rights campaigner, broadcaster and journalist. Read more from him at this link.