johnbee418 Loc: Manchester Conn.

All year long I have been accessing several retail sites plus the Pentax site to check on the cost of a Pentax bridge camera, the XG-1. Everybody has been selling the camera for $139.00, plus free shipping. Three days ago, 9 December, 2015, without any warning or announcements or discussions, EVERY site on the planet raised the cost to $189.00 plus free shipping. Roughly 30% increase and dollars in the pockets. Just in time for Christmas, eh?

Asahi, how could you? My favorite camera company is a money hungry charlatan. Oh well, I will simply not buy another camera.

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

Remember "The early bird catches the worm "

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Cheer up - what goes up may come down again

colo43 Loc: Eastern Plains of Colorado

Yesterday, i purchased a course off
"The Great Courses' and today its $30's higher than what i paid yesterday. They are all out for the almighty buck !

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

Might the lower prices have been the last of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales? And now things have gone back up to their regular prices?

Michael Hartley Loc: Deer Capital of Georgia

It'll be $50.00 off sale, right after Christmas.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Even the after Christmas (and any other) sale can be a ripoff. My favorite camera shop (now out of business) was guilty. As an example, a retailer will take a $100 item, retag it to to $120 and offer it at 10% off - that is $108. I once took a picture of a price tag the week before Christmas. I also took a picture of the serial number of this particular item. Sure enough, the seller had the item "on sale" at +20% marked down 10% on December 26. The sales manager, a neighbor of mine, confessed that the "sale" tags were made up well before Christmas and that most consumers were so interested in getting a bargain that they did not notice the difference. I was so angry that I made a flyer showing with four pictures (two of the identical S/N and one of each price, all with date/time printed on each exposure. I spent the morning of 12/27 on the sidewalk outside the business and passed out 100 copies of the flyer. The owner, of course, threatened me and called the police. Since I was on a public sidewalk and the flyers contained only the four photos, the police did nothing except tell the owner "shame on you" and drove away laughing. The really funny part came when the owner was found to have paid sales tax on the original price although he charged tax on the "sale" price. The punitive fine on the 60 cent per item falsification was $10,000. All in all, a satisfying outcome.

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

Oooooooooooo. You're a very mean man! :twisted:

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Not really. Actually I'm a nice guy - usually. What really irritated me in this case was my learning that the owner has pre planned the move. The tax matter was incidental; I was not involved (although I have since learned that a copy of my flyer is in the file).

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Canon has begun it's Christmas sale today!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That seems like a stupid move, especially with other makers reducing their prices.

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

a quick story,
several years ago, 25 or 30, a large retail store went out of business {I believe it was a national chain, although I do not remember the name!?} was advertising "going out of business sale" "UP TO 80% OFF!!!!
we shopped there at times , so I thought it would be a good idea to pick up some items at a discount! I was walking around the store and looking at prices, "thinking" they were good deals,
I had managed to pull up a sticky tag over an original tag and they had marked up the item double what it was !! that is the day I learned to be very leery of "sales " and to do my research!!

:thumbup: :thumbup:

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

One of my favorite mother-in-law quotes, "see it, like it, BUY IT !".

Ted Liette Loc: Greenville, Ohio

I have been watching the price of a Canon 6D since last Christmas, just waiting for this time of year to come around again with all of the great sales. Since last summer the 6D started to fall in price. I found a Canon 6D with a 24-105mm L lens and Canon grip for $1600.00, and needless to say I bought my own Christmas. I've been wanting to go full frame for a good while, so this year I will make the jump. The only drawback is I have to wait until Christmas to get my hands on it. I live for the Christmas season with all the holiday photography bargains.

JCam Loc: MD Eastern Shore

Mogul,

You stated the Real Problem with this story: "The sales manager, a neighbor of mine, confessed that the "sale" tags were made up well before Christmas and that most consumers were so interested in getting a bargain that they did not notice the difference. To survive brick and mortar retailers need regular customers to purchase the day-to-day items at the regular prices--they can't survive on the specials. Were you a frequent customer, or did you only buy things on sale and all the other stuff where it was "the least expensive", ie. on line? If the latter, you helped drive him out of business. All over America the 'Big Box" stores are driving the small downtown retailers of America out of business with the help of the customers who only want cheap--service, advice and knowledge of the products they sell be damned.

Today's Rant :thumbup: