Shoppers on alert for fake Boxing Day deals and scams

2 months ago 4

Shoppers have been told to be on alert for a range of Boxing Day sales scams, including retailers hiking base prices before applying discounts as well as fake websites mimicking well-known brands.

Australians are expected to spend more than $3 billion over the Boxing Day sales period as stores slash prices following Christmas, according to survey data from Finder, which also found the average shopper is predicted to spend $440.

Boxing Day sales are steeped in emotion and are traditionally when Australians spend on themselves.

The anticipated rush has led to warnings from groups including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Choice that shoppers should be careful not to fall prey to deceptive sales tactics and fraudulent businesses.

Gary Mortimer, a professor of retail and consumer behaviour at the Queensland University of Technology, said Boxing Day sales are steeped in emotion and are traditionally when Australians spend on themselves.

“We shift from this feeling of self-sacrifice, from spending money preparing Christmas lunches and dinners and buying gifts for family and friends, into this mindset of rewarding ourselves for the year we’ve had,” Mortimer said.

“For those who may have been disappointed in the gifts they’ve received too, they can look to compensate themselves for the negative emotion.”

Crowds prepare to experience the rush of Boxing Day bargains.

Central to the appeal of Boxing Day Sales is “the dopamine effect”, Mortimer said.

“A deal can feel like winning a prize, similar to playing bingo or pokies at the pub, when you win you get that dopamine hit, and it encourages you to keep going again,” he said.

“Naturally if you’re looking to reward yourself, and you can score a big discount, that’ll feel like a double win.”

The psychological lure of a discount can drive behaviour and has prompted the ACCC to urge shoppers to check they’re getting a genuine deal. In recent days, the consumer watchdog has also written to some of the nation’s major retailers to warn them against misleading or deceptive conduct during Boxing Day sales.

Officeworks has defended hiking the price of a computer monitor before lowering it days later to spruik it as a Black Friday “top pick” last month.

The watchdog’s warning followed a crackdown during the recent Black Friday sales period, where it found sellers promoting discounted products with strategies such as using countdown timers that didn’t align with the full duration of a sale, as well as misrepresenting the full scope of discounts available.

This included banners advertising figures of “60% off sitewide” in prominent text, with a significantly smaller “up to” placed within the top half of the “6” character. Other examples flagged by the ACCC include describing a “site-wide” sale that excludes a range of products.

Officeworks is among those accused of misleading tactics recently, the retailer defending hiking the price of a computer monitor before lowering it days later to spruik it as a Black Friday “top pick” last month.

One-third of advertised Black Friday deals globally offered no real savings or were, in fact, more expensive than their lowest prices advertised throughout October and early November, an analysis by price monitoring firm Visualping found.

“We are concerned that despite many warnings, some retailers are still using a range of tactics to misrepresent the size or scope of discounts and the duration of sales to consumers,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said.

“As sales periods become longer and more frequent, we want to ensure that the discounts being advertised to consumers are genuine,” Lowe said.

She encourages consumers to shop around and monitor prices in the lead up to Boxing Day, and to “focus on the final price, not the advertised discount”.

Lowe said the ACCC will not hesitate to take enforcement action if it catches retailers misleading or deceiving shoppers.

Choice has echoed the ACCC’s concern over misleading discounts, and suggested consumers use historical price tracker websites such as CamelCamelCamel.

Choice has also cautioned shoppers to be alert for “fake websites impersonating major brands”. “Boxing Day is a huge time for online shopping and sales, which also means scammers will be out in full force,” a spokesperson said.

Being calculated and not feeling pressured is key to better detecting fraudulent websites, said Hemi Herath, performance director at digital marketing agency SearchMax.

“Check the URL carefully. If it is weird or slightly off, that matters,” she said. “If the site looks rushed, the contact details are thin, the returns policy is vague, or the only payment option feels risky, that is usually your answer,” Herath said.

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