The summer sales have started and many consumers view this as an opportunity to save money by snapping up bargains. Buying goods at a discounted price also gives consumers the impression of getting more value for their money. But the way discounts and offers are marketed may sometimes trigger impulsive buying.
Reckless purchases can be avoided if consumers focus more on what they need rather than on the discounted price. Consumers should also avoid buying unfit products as such purchases also turn out to be a waste of money.
What rights do consumers have when they shop during sales? And what should they look out for to really benefit from a good bargain?
Consumers’ legal rights do not change or diminish during sales. Whether on sale or not, items sold to consumers must be as described and fit for their intended purpose. If an item purchased turns out to be defective, then regardless of the discounted price, consumers are entitled to claim a free remedy from the seller. The remedies consumers can claim include repair, replacement or refund. However, if the product purchased was marked down because of a fault, and this was pointed out to the consumer at the time of the sale, in such situations consumers are not entitled to claim a free remedy from the seller.
Consumers’ legal rights do not change or diminish during sales
Similarly, if an item is marked ‘shop soiled’ or ‘sold as seen’, consumers cannot claim for faults. However, the item concerned should still be able to do what it is expected to do. For instance, a fridge should still be able to keep food cold even if it is scratched. If eventually another fault develops that is unrelated to the fault pointed out to consumers at the time of sale, the consumers’ legal right to a free remedy will still apply.
Another circumstance where consumers are not automatically entitled to a free remedy is when they change their mind about the product purchased. In such situations it is the shop’s return policy that applies. Luckily for consumers, most sellers adopt goodwill return policies that allow them to return unwanted goods. However, these return policies may be different when a product is bought in a sale. Hence, consumers are advised to look out for changed return policies before concluding a purchase during a sale.
To fully benefit from advertised ‘bargains’ and ‘offers’, consumers are advised to shop around and compare prices. Ideally, consumers should start checking prices of the products they wish to purchase before the sales period starts. By doing so, consumers would be able to detect the best sale offers and also the genuineness of the sale advertised.
Shops are not permitted to inflate prices to make the sales price look more attractive. In other words, it is illegal for shops to compare the sales price with a higher price when in reality the same goods were never offered for sale at the claimed price. When a shop makes a comparison with previous prices, the latter must be the last price at which the goods were sold before the sales. Furthermore, signs displaying sales percentages must reflect the advertised sale.
Consumers who feel that their rights have been breached during this sales season, or who encounter misleading adverts and promotions, may contact the Office for Consumer Affairs at the MCCAA either through the online ‘flag a concern’ form https://mccaa.org.mt/home/infringement or by calling on the authority freephone 80074400.