So I was shopping with my wife today and I said “oh let’s see if my membership helps out.” So we went and added the same item to each of our carts, and to our surprise, the total was the same! So what is it exactly that I’m paying for in this membership if the items “original price” is higher for me than it is for regular shoppers?
Edit: yeah, I am derp, the protection plan is part of the cart and is what makes the “member” price higher without the discount. Leaving my original response in case anyone doesn’t know what would be illegal, if it was actually happening here
~~This is, in fact, actively illegal. Companies cannot advertise a “sale price” under a number of circumstances, such as when the price is the same absent the sale (e.g. there’s no actual discount) or when the price was artificially raised just prior to the “sale”: https://content.next.westlaw.com/practical-law/document/I6dfb3ee4077511e89bf099c0ee06c731/Beware-of-the-Sale-Complying-with-Promotional-Pricing-Guidelines~~
In this case, the “regular” or non-member price was raised precisely 0 seconds before applying the uh… “discount”. Pretty cut-and-dry violation by any metric.They gave him a protection plan. The price of the item didn’t change.
And free shipping. I think he would have been charged for delivery on the non-member order. Probably why he didn’t add it.
Unless the item he is buying is one of the “exclusive offers”, then I don’t really see the issue.
Well its really hard to say tbh. Delivery isn’t available in the top section but has a different area code. On the bottom section it’s a different area code but has delivery as an option. Without checking if the top has free delivery without membership when the area code is fixed there’s no way to tell. Some places do offer free shipping on cart values over whatever designation they set.
Looks like they got a free protection plan though
Best Buy and most retailers offer free shipping on items $100 and above most of the time. You just don’t see that until checkout. No special plan needed. It’s to compete with the likes of Amazon.
That’s true, I didn’t notice that it was part of the cart with a (discounted) price. It looked like an optional extra that could be added. Makes the whole thing a nothingburger. Yet again, a derp is me - at least I have a few dozen friends in the same boat this time!