– I don’t think anything of it at all. I think it’s hysteria and have no faith in the prices they think are sales, says Helga Lockert-Hansen. Neither she nor her friend Wenche Heggland cares about Black Week or Black Friday. Even if they come out of a busy store happy, there is nothing new in the bags. – I have been to the seamstress and had my trousers repaired, says Heggland. This evening there is a queue both in and out of the parking garage of the Amfi Madla shopping center in Stavanger. There are crowds of customers inside the centre. But how good a bargain can you really get on Black Week and Black Friday? It has previously been known that companies and shops all over the country raise the prices of goods ahead of the big shopping days, then lower them to relatively normal prices disguised as flashy sales posters. And the practice is actually legal. Helga Lockert Hansen (left) and Wenche Heggland think nothing of this year’s big shopping day. Photo: Maja Mathisen / news Important with real offers Consumer lawyer Thomas Iversen at the Consumer Council is familiar with the price increase ahead of sales. He believes this makes it difficult for consumers to know whether they are actually making a good purchase. – Sales will be an opportunity for people to buy things, but then it is important that it is a real offer, says Iversen. Thomas Iversen, consumer lawyer at the Consumer Council, believes the price increase makes it difficult for consumers to know whether they are actually making a good purchase. Photo: Consumer Council But it is legal for companies to set the price ahead of Black Friday, as long as it is done in good time. – As a rule of thumb, you should have sold an item for four to six weeks at the preliminary price you use to calculate the selling price. As long as the product is sold at a higher price for a longer period of time, the company takes the risk that fewer people will buy the product, but can then possibly lower the selling price. But for those who want to pull the trigger on Black Friday, Iversen has a couple of tips: – Don’t buy more than you have to. Even if it’s on sale, you won’t make money buying extra. In addition, I will do my best to do good preparatory work by using online price comparison services, he says. – Double-check and triple-check This year, the electronics chain Elkjøp was early to launch some of the offers you can expect during the big shopping week. Communications manager Madeleine Schøyen Bergly at Elkjøp says they have strict internal guidelines for how they price products against promotional periods such as Black Week. – We can say with certainty that this is both double and triple checked before we release our prices within this period. Our prices are never as good throughout the year as they are during Black Week. This is what our customers expect from us, she writes in an e-mail to news. Madeleine Schøyen Bergly in Elkjøp. Photo: Elkjøp Norge – Sleipt Friends Lotte Hamre and Marie Stange are also out shopping ahead of Black Friday. They have a slightly different relationship with the shopping day. – I think Black Friday is good. Among other things, you can buy Christmas presents on sale, says Hamre. Nevertheless, she is aware of the phenomenon of price increases ahead of the sales. – It’s a bit sloppy, she says. The friends believe that many choose to wait to shop until Black Friday in the hope of saving a little in the current economic situation. – It’s stupid, too many people wait until Black Friday to save money. But it’s a shame if they raise the prices to lower them to the regular price, says Hamre. – Prices in society have increased. So you might want to shop more on sale, adds Stange.
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It is not illegal to increase prices ahead of Black Friday – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
