Given a few posts on a recent live sale, I have got to thinking are these live sales ethical? This thread is in no way to bash any vendor whatsoever so please do no name ANY vendors. Hear me out though. A vendor sells corals online regularly, say I can go onto the site and buy a torch for $400. During a livesale they mark the "original price" up to $650 and then "discount" it back to $400. To the average joe who wasn't shopping there before would think WOW $250 off, what a steal!!! Then with the format of posting say 6 corals at a time they create a panic buy situation (similar to the toilet paper thing) where the first to check out wins and the rush removes the logic. In this format, the average joe is so excited by his "discount" and the rush of getting it first they rush to purchase and are excited when they "win" the checkout game. In reality this person did not get a discount at all and the vendor is just manufacturing the sale.....
To me this is a deceiving tactic, and is a type of predatory pricing. As long as livesales are permissible (a form of gambling in a way) and people participate in them, this will continue. Unfortunately, most people do not religiously follow the prices on the 300+ frags on vendor sites and never know what a true discount is and the rush to buy before everyone else removes buyer logic.
To me this is a deceiving tactic, and is a type of predatory pricing. As long as livesales are permissible (a form of gambling in a way) and people participate in them, this will continue. Unfortunately, most people do not religiously follow the prices on the 300+ frags on vendor sites and never know what a true discount is and the rush to buy before everyone else removes buyer logic.