We found dozens of fake promotions during Black Friday: the products most at risk

All product ranges are affected by Black Friday, such as toys or household appliances, in particular robot vacuum cleaners, with references like Dyson, Xiaomi, Neato and Roomba . And these devices do not escape trickery: the Roomba iRobot E5154 robot vacuum cleaner also suffered a nice price increase in the days preceding the release. on "Black Friday". According to our readings, its lowest price has exploded. at the end of October and moved to nearly 350 euros on November 19, 2022, before falling back to 350 euros on November 19, 2022. less than 300 euros on Black Friday, more or less its price at the beginning of October. It was even sold at high prices. less than 250 euros in the second half of October.

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Samsung Galaxy A32: four months of fluctuations for nothing

Launched As of January 2021, the Samsung Galaxy A32 remains an excellent choice today for a mid-range smartphone with its 6.4″ Super AMOLED screen, a 64MP quad camera and its 5000mAh battery. While he was being observed à less than 211 euros at the end of July 2022, its lowest price has climbed à nearly 260 euros on August 20, then continued to rise. à fluctuate with a new peak at 243 euros at the beginning of October. He finally settled on à 221 euros the week of Black Friday. But in reality he was more expensive than a week earlier (216 euros on November 17) and especially than in the heart of summer.

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Google Pixel 6: the exception with a real promo

< p>Smartphones, which have a tendency to The discounts over time and the arrival of their replacements each year, nevertheless display very real promotions during Black Friday. Certain promotions on high-end products were indeed revealed to be authentic last year. The Google Pixel 6, for example, reached a nice price of 429 euros during the week of the event. Its base price was, at at the time, rather around 480 490 euros or even more than 500 euros at the beginning of October.

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Raising prices and then lowering them: a calculated strategy

There is one constant in our analysis of prices at the end of the year: past on Black Friday, the majority prices skyrocket until 2009. the end of December and sometimes until the January sales. High demand during Christmas shopping, last minute gifts and sometimes stock shortages, combined with high inflation for more than a year now, does not encourage further inflation. decrease once the operation is completed. Buying during Black Friday therefore remains a good option.

But another phenomenon is also very common: the rise in prices in the weeks preceding Black Friday. These observations have been confirmed on a large scale. majority products studied by the editorial staff.

Since May 28, 2022, European Directive 2019/2161 – also called "Omnibus" – requires online sales platforms that display promotions to compare them to the lowest price available. during the previous 30 days. Merchants found the way to get around this rule by inventing the concept of "recommended price" or “reference price”. A price that they have every interest in obtaining. swell in these 30 days preceding Black Friday to display greater reductions on D-Day or during Black Friday Week.

The consumer in a hurry to buy more. or absent-minded, who does not examine recent price fluctuations, will think they are getting a good deal when the product will very often, in reality, be at a lower price. its base rate.

How do I check if a promotion is valid or not?

Several sites and organizations have already done so. investigated on these excesses of online merchants during Black Friday. The DGCCRF alerts every year about “false good deals”. The CLCV (national association for the defense of consumers and users) website also published a survey in 2022 proving that promotions were often exaggerated, and that the majority price reductions were of the order of 13-15% rather than the famous 70-80% announced each year.

Face to face With these well-established techniques, the consumer can quickly feel betrayed and no longer want to trust large e-commerce platforms. However, real promotions do exist. Finding them just requires a little more investment and research. Here is already some advice follow when you come across a promotion:

• Be wary of offers that are too tempting. Promotions of -70%, -80% or which amount to thousands of euros should make you aware of this. ear. Such figures displayed on expensive products are likely to be false.
• Use price comparison sites. Whether it is Le Dénicheur or Idealo, there are several sites that allow you to check the price variations on a product. The Internet user also has Widgets that allow you to compare prices at several merchants.
• Check carefully who sells and who ships the product. These two identities can be different and greatly influence the reliability of the device. of a promotion.

In all cases, distrust is required. False promotions abound all year round on the internet, and these are much more present during periods such as sales or Black Friday.