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by dlkinney
2016 days ago
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JCPenney, Macy's, and Kohl's were sued (successfully) for the same kind of perpetual sale racket. A "sale" is a "misleading advertisement" if the product never actually sells at the "original" price. Note that this is distinct from Amazon's stricken price, which is the suggested price. You'll see that none of Amazon's own products have a stricken price unless it's actually on sale. Since Udemy defines their own pricing, this forgiveness does not apply. They're ripe for a lawsuit, frankly. |
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A lot of people in one industry I’m familiar with that has been badly hit by the coronavirus situation got together and started a movement to basically do discounts across the industry for as long as the virus lasts. It really is a sincere attempt to help customers who will in many cases be taking a hit themselves. This is a small world, and many of the businesses in it are small and might be on first-name terms with at least their regular customers, so I think there is a genuine sense of everyone being in it together at the moment. However, it does also make sense as a purely commercial decision. Some sales making at least a slight profit is clearly better than almost no sales at normal margins in the current environment, and it’s in everyone’s interests, including merchants’, to avoid losing customers for good because they can’t themselves afford to continue in the field after all this disruption.
So, at what point does having a price that is X% below what you would normally charge cease to be that, because it has itself become what you normally charge? Is it deceptive to say prices are reduced by X% right now if you reduced them 3 months ago as the virus started to affect your market? What if it was 6 months, or 9, or 12? Does it make any difference, either morally or legally, if you intend (but presumably can’t prove it) to put your prices back to normal once the virus situation has been sufficiently dealt with? If so, does it make any difference how long that takes? What if you discover in time that your reduced rate is actually a better price point and you do want to keep it even after things get more back to normal?
These seem to be surprisingly difficult questions at the moment, even if you’re just trying to keep your business afloat and help your customers out a bit.