Today, as I was checking out the Lightning Deals on Amazon, it became apparent that many, many people were jumping onto Cyber Monday "deals" without a second thought.
If you're unfamiliar with how these deals work, Amazon will tease you with a picture or description of an item that will soon be on sale. Many times, it lists the current selling price under the description. When the time comes for the deal to start, that price will (usually --see below) be replaced with the retail price, which will then be crossed out and the new sale price will be displayed along with the % savings. Keep in mind, the % savings is based off the retail price, not the price you could have purchased the same item for minutes ago (since many items on Amazon are already on sale every day). Many of these deals will actually be only a few dollars different than Amazon's normal sale price.
My favorite example of this was for a Bucket-O-Balls, which was selling for $19.99 just a few minutes before Noon PST. Once the lightning deal started, the deal price was suddenly $29.99. Only Amazon forgot to update the retail price to the $39.99 price (which you would find if you clicked on the picture). So instead, the % savings was actually a negative 50% off. Yes, it read NEGATIVE.
And people still bought the deal.
I didn't actually click on this item before the lightning deal began, so it's possible that the $19.99 is the actual typo. However, if someone was interested in purchasing this, you would think that the negative savings would make anyone pause and wonder what was going on. You would also think said person would click through to the reviews to determine if this was a product worth $30. According to many reviews, it doesn't appear this product was even worth the $20. And yet, by the time the deal was over, 100% of these products had been claimed.
In a few weeks, when I need a good laugh, I may have to go back and read more reviews after these have been delivered...
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