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COLD! K-mart marking up prices on games before sale

M

mmartinalpha

Member
I went into the K-mart that is going out of business in Raynham MA today, and I saw that they marked up a bunch of video games. Everything in the game department is 10% off, well a couple games like Mario Sunshine were marked up to 54.99, with the 10% off bringing them down to the MSRP.

So is this legal or what? Is this the same as price gouging?
 
I remember last K-mart closing sale(about 6 month back). Kmart mark up a HP 8x4x32 cdrw for $299 then take 50% off from it.

What the ........
 
I caught dell doing that on their monitor sale last month. They offered 15% off for like a week, but I found a section of the website that listed prices for a 19" Dell Ultrasharp LCD for $750, but if you tried to go to the product information or add it to your cart it showed a price of $899. They were taking 15% off of $850 rather than $750. Called them on it and got the reduced price plus a 5% coupon off. 2 days later the sale was off, and the price was back down to $750. I agree that it is bullshit and it is a highly questionable practice. But one thing that I know is legal and was recently covered in my business class was the case of a supermarket that had 30 cases of beans that wouldn't even sell at 25 cents a bag. They then put up a sign that said 3 for a dollar and sold out in only a few days.
 
I don't think that it's really even unethical. They advertise the price and the discount. Just because that happens to come to the price that it might have been selling at the week before when it was not onsale doesn't mean it's unethical.
 
well, for one thing, if they're going to keep on doing that kind of business practice the liquidator won't be able to sell ANYTHING off.
 
Originally posted by: uibd
I don't think that it's really even unethical. They advertise the price and the discount. Just because that happens to come to the price that it might have been selling at the week before when it was not onsale doesn't mean it's unethical.
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This most definitely is unethical. Designating something as a sale should mean that it is cheaper than what was previously available from the same source, not the same price, and not more.
 
Originally posted by: mmartinalpha
I went into the K-mart that is going out of business in Raynham MA today, and I saw that they marked up a bunch of video games. Everything in the game department is 10% off, well a couple games like Mario Sunshine were marked up to 54.99, with the 10% off bringing them down to the MSRP.

So is this legal or what? Is this the same as price gouging?
Click to expand...

You can't claim it is a markup unless the prices had previously been lower. Kmart is NOTORIOUS for having *really bad* prices on video games. I've NEVER seen a gamecube game for below $49 at KMart, and my local KMart (not closing) does indeed have some games for $54.99. Please don't jump to conclusions.
 
I just got home from a Kmart which is closing. The other trick they are using is that they have removed as many price tags, shelf tags, and price signs as possible. We had absolutely no idea how much anything cost before liquidation, and no idea how much it costs now for that matter. Toys are 25% off at this store, they had Simpsons Clue..but it was still $14.99 after the % off.
 
For what it's worth, on Super Mario Sunshine, the KMart Price in NJ is $55, and they bundle a game guide which would cost $15 elsewhere at Retail...I actually bought this deal for my kids as I c/n find the guide book locally anywhere else...so basically got the game for 40 and book for $15...

This is actually the regular price, and if you go to kmart.com you will see that

http://www.kmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1162715

SO anyway, in this case I believe they did not mark up the games, this is just their 'regular' bundle (albeit overpriced) price...If you buy the game and they still have the book, then it is possibly a hot deal, but you need to know to ask for the book...but then again, it seems by local best buy and Sams Club are blowing out games for $20-$30 lately, so even with say 20% off for the game and book it is only warm.

-MJ

 
Liquidator bring in stuff from their own warehouses to pack the Kmarts to the wall. Therefore selling their own inventory along with the inventory of the company they are liquidating for. What they dont sale they take it to the next store etc. I did learn something today in ACCT 5401 😉
 
Originally posted by: emmpee
Originally posted by: mmartinalpha
I went into the K-mart that is going out of business in Raynham MA today, and I saw that they marked up a bunch of video games. Everything in the game department is 10% off, well a couple games like Mario Sunshine were marked up to 54.99, with the 10% off bringing them down to the MSRP.

So is this legal or what? Is this the same as price gouging?
Click to expand...

You can't claim it is a markup unless the prices had previously been lower. Kmart is NOTORIOUS for having *really bad* prices on video games. I've NEVER seen a gamecube game for below $49 at KMart, and my local KMart (not closing) does indeed have some games for $54.99. Please don't jump to conclusions.
Click to expand...

Oh, they most definitely marked up prices. I was in there the week before and I didn't see any games over 49.99. Other stuff as well, televisions, a lot of stuff in the automotive department. This is SOP in hardware stores, but I wasn't sure if it was legal to mark up things like video games.
 
Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Originally posted by: sparkyclarky
This most definitely is unethical.
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Liquidators are rarely, if ever ethical.
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LOL--too true!

If you've been to enough GOB sales, you'll learn these kind of tactics are SOP where they're concerned.

 
Liquidators don't honor gift certificates either. I tried to use a $50 Lechter's G.C. RIGHT after I found out they were going out of business. Too late. :|
 
I remember last K-mart closing sale(about 6 month back). Kmart mark up a HP 8x4x32 cdrw for $299 then take 50% off from it.
Click to expand...

Mine did the same thing I looked to the manager who wouldn't PM even to a sony website suggesting a retail price and said no wonder your company is going down the tubes! rolled my eyes and left all other items in the cart and left. K-mart is suck!
 
Kmart did the same thing last time a store closed near my location. Kmart just jacked up the price to retail or beyond during liquidation.
 
My wife and I visited the K-Mart near us the other day.It's closing in March so we figured we would get some good deals.They got signs plastered everywhere about the "10%-30% off" everything.Unfortunately,K-Mart has always had bad prices,so 10% off anything is STILL higher than the Wal-Mart that is 2 blocks away.
One of the big jokes my wife and I always laughed at was a "Learning Windows 95 video tape starring Jennifer Anniston and Mathew Perry,that has been sitting on the shelves for as long as we can remember.Even funnier,was the thick layer of dust on the cover showing that noones touched the thing in 8 years.And even funnier than that,is that they want $19.99 for it! But with this grand sale they are having it has been repriced to $16.99! Kick Ass!
One of the last things I looked at before we left was Return to Castle Wolfenstien.Thought about buying it,despite it being over a year old.Looked at the $49.99 price tag on it and promptly sat it back down.RIP K-Mart....no wonder you're going under....
 
My mother was a department manager at a Kamrt that closed last year in the first wave of closures. She told me that what was happening was that the liquidators would come in and raise the prices to MSRP. Then they would put up the %-off signs throughout the store. What most people didn't notice was that the prices were the same or even higher after the discount. The amazing part was that sales skyrocketed (more than 300%). The 5 months of that store's closing sale (yep, 5 months) were the best sales months they ever had. People were just buying the stuff cuz they thought it was on sale. Periodically, the liquidators would actually lower the prices and a produce a good deal, but that was in the last month or so to get people to still keep coming in. I guess this just reminds us to watch out when we see a "deal".
 
As someone else mentioned, Super Mario Sunshine has ALWAYS been $54.99 at K-Mart since it comes with a separate strategy guide. The same goes for a lot of other other 1st party GameCube games (such as Metroid Prime and Animal Crossing) sold at K-Mart. They're $54.99 as well. You can tell because they have a sticker on the front that says K-Mart exclusive - comes with Nintendo Power strategy guide (or something to that effect).
 
Originally posted by: mmartinalphaThis is SOP in hardware stores, but I wasn't sure if it was legal to mark up things like video games.
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You are correct. It's ok to do this for nuts & bolts, but NOT video games! The UN strictly forbids it. You may have heard of the Geneva convention (for treating POW's fairly). This falls under a doctrine known as the Nintendo convention.

 
There has been a LOT of talk about this practice being illegal, unethical and maybe even unfair. The fact is that it is neither. K-Mart or it's agents (the liquidators) may charge ANYTHING they wish. It is up to the consumer to decide whether the item is worth giving up their hard-earned $$$ for the item. It is obvious that K-Mart's pricing methods are flawed - as they are losing more and more market share, are in bankrupcy, etc.

I have a friend who just paid $500 to company A for a service I paid $200 to company B just two months ago. Was company A unethical or did they do anything illegal? No. Their prices are just too high. My friend is the one to blame (as are anyone who would buy the overpriced stuff at K-Mart). He simply did not do any price comparison. He called one and only one company and hired that company before getting more estimates.

The Anandtech community is populated with some of the most intelligent (and cheap) people I have ever met. The issue is as clear as can be ... just don't do it (buy at K-Mart) if you don't like the prices.

 
The saddest thing about this is that you'll still have "sheep" that will go in and buy crap from these store closings just because they have a big "SALE" sign hanging up. The miracle of the "Gee, they're going out of business, so the prices MUST be low to sell it" mentality.

Seen it time and time again, with several other "Going out of Business" sales, especially furniture stores. It's pathetic.

QnD
 
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