The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
1–10 of 250 posts
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#2My local supermarket does this all the time to my great annoyance, I never thought about the mathematics of why they don't just discount the item. At least it's better than the kind of deals that abuses people's misundertandings of mathematics entirely, such as https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-sa...
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#3[deleted]
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#4> A coffee mug that usually sells for $10 + $3 S&H will go for $13, with FREE shipping.
I actually prefer this. It's much better than shops that activity try to hide shipping costs until the last moment. Also it makes comparing prices quicker.
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#5My mother always said "50% off what?" Obviously when the merchant sets the nominal "retail" price to whatever they want, they can set the discount to whatever they want too and maintain their profit margin. This is basic algebra solving for one variable given a desired "discount". It's amazing how effective it is though.
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#6Fortunately some of this (bloating the price just before a sale to cover the cost, note: e.g. day before) is illegal where I live. Though it doesn't stop shops from trying. It does give the customer some extra power. If for instance the shop fails to sell all stock and dumps it afterwards you can try to claim the difference as this falls under deceptive practices.
The buy one get two variant is fine as long as there is actual profit to the customer and no shady 'you still pay the same but it looks different' offers.
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#7My mother always said "50% off what?" Obviously when the merchant sets the nominal "retail" price to whatever they want, they can set the discount to whatever they want too and maintain their profit margin. This is basic algebra solving for one variable given a desired "discount". It's amazing how effective it is though.
In the UK the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) does regulate this to an extent[0]. I don't know if America has a similar agency.
[0] https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/promotional-savings-cla...
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#8Fortunately some of this (bloating the price just before a sale to cover the cost, note: e.g. day before) is illegal where I live. Though it doesn't stop shops from trying. It does give the customer some extra power. If for instance the shop fails to sell all stock and dumps it afterwards you can try to claim the difference as this falls under deceptive practices. The buy one get two variant is fine as long as there…
Same in France. So when sales time arrives, you can see some items prices rising up a week before (which is, de facto, legal as long as you do it in advance)
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#9> A coffee mug that usually sells for $10 + $3 S&H will go for $13, with FREE shipping. I actually prefer this. It's much better than shops that activity try to hide shipping costs until the last moment. Also it makes comparing prices quicker.
On the other hand, if you want to buy two of them they cost $20 + $3 S&H or $26 with free shipping.
Re: The shady economics of ‘buy one, get one free’ deals
#10> A coffee mug that usually sells for $10 + $3 S&H will go for $13, with FREE shipping. I actually prefer this. It's much better than shops that activity try to hide shipping costs until the last moment. Also it makes comparing prices quicker.
That's true. But every time you buy two mugs you subsidize the shipping for people buying just one. There are better ways to solve the "hidden shipping costs" issue than tack the price to every item.