Every morning I wake up to an inbox that has over 150 new emails, mostly all sharing “today’s great deal” at various websites.  The titles are all well crafted to make you long to open it as fast as possible with the fear that it could self-destruct the deal is so good.  After you open it, your dreams are smashed to learn that it isn’t “Free Shipping” as you hoped but instead free shipping on any $100 order.  Or they said the entire Swim line was on sale, but really it was the entire clearance section that was red and orange in color on sale.

To help save you from remorse over deals that just weren’t as good as you thought, lets cover some of the worst advertising tactics used by online and local marketers.

7 Bad Advertising Tactics (and How to Spot a True Sale)

Flash Sales

You have 4 hours to open the email and grab the deals before the sale is over. Guess what the same deals will be back in another week or two.  Rarely (like .05%) is there a deal that never returns.  This tactic along with any other time-sensitive sale is just used to get you to jump now. Their goal is that you will throw caution to the wind and buy something you will never use and have really never even wanted just because time is running out. Think of TV shopping channels—if they removed that little clock counting down on the screen odds are their sales would plummet.

Before jumping on these deals, do your homework. Head to other sites and see what their price is for the same item. Make sure to consider shipping costs when comparing the deal. I would also recommend that you set an amount for yourself that if the value of the item is over a certain amount, you won’t jump on it right away.  When my husband and I were first married we read a book by Crown Financial Ministries. I don’t remember anything about the book (not even the title), but I do remember one thing they said. This is the perfect solution to online flash sales:

Set a limit for purchases that each spouse can make without having to consult the other spouse first.  For example, anything $25 or less can be purchased without discussion.  Anything over that amount not only gets discussed it also gets put off for a bit.  Create a list and anything you want (not need) that is over a certain amount (we said $40) gets put on the list.  After thirty days if you still want it, and you both agree, then you can start to shop for it.

Extending Deadlines

Remember that 4 hour sale from last week? Well, guess what—it’s still running. I can’t count the number of deals that I see that are “extended.”  I searched my email for just one brand at a time. Not to pick on Land’s End, but look at these three emails that all came over a 4 day period:

I’m curious what tomorrow’s email will be.  This is another huge reason to not believe the time sensitive sale.  Don’t rush out and overspend just to get the deal.  That deal will more than likely be there 4 months from now. Read More→