This Almost Qualifies as a Scam

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion) 05/06/2019 at 11:40 • Filed to: scams, photography

0

10

Rare snowy p ic of my truck for your time.

Since I first discovered printing photos on canvas, I really like the product. The images look good, and they can get knocked off the wall by kids, dogs, or a errant elbow and be totally fine. But the pricing has always kind of baffled me. We had a huge one made from our wedding and I don’t know how much it cost but I’m sure it was a lot. The first time I looked at them online I thought, nah, too expensive. But then I caught  a 50% off sale or something and went ahead with a few prints.

Since then, I’ve noticed that a few of these companies appear to just always be on sale, by HUGE amounts. So in other words, they’re inflating their so-called “List Price” to make it look like you’re getting a great deal. Fine, they hardly invented that concept, but today I noticed an especially egregious example. I know it’s just “marketing” but this is misleading, dishonest, and confusing at the very best.  

I got a flyer in the mail because I’ve ordered from EasyCanvasPrints in the past. Mother’s Day Sale, they said. “88% OFF!” They said. I went to their website, and sure enough, they’re promoting “85% OFF” for Mother’s day, and I’m thinking, oh hey, neat - I’ll get an extra few bucks with my promo code.

The 11 x 14 print I wanted was $16.28 - 85% off an alleged $108.55 list price (lol). Fine.

So I upload an image, go to checkout and enter my stupid promo code because it’ll get me another ~$3.20 so why not? Oh, no. Think again.

The price went UP! The LIST price went up by so much, in fact, that my “return customer discount” netted me a savings of negative $6.61.

No thank you I’ll find a place that’s the same price but less scammy. Or in this case, I’ll print 5x7 and buy a frame at CVS for $10 and call it a day.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > functionoverfashion 05/06/2019 at 11:44

1

Does the ford have the battery under the passenger footwell?

TheRealBicycleBuck > functionoverfashion 05/06/2019 at 11:47

3

It’s fairly common practice in the world of internet sales. Amazon was doing that to their Prime members for a while. Free shipping was offset by a higher price. There are also places that create outlandish   shipping and handling fees to make up for their below-market item price. That’s been going on since infomercials became a thing.

There aren’t many places where joining the club means you aren’t getting screwed somehow.

functionoverfashion > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/06/2019 at 11:49

1

It’s true. I feel like always having ludicrously inflated prices cut back to 80% off or more is so obvious, though. And this was just too bait-and-switch for me. 

functionoverfashion > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 05/06/2019 at 11:49

1

Yes, and the cover doesn’t really latch so it’s bungee-corded from below.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > functionoverfashion 05/06/2019 at 12:06

0

So very close to the truck I learned to drive in, our ford was a 3/4 ton 4x4, 1965 vintage with the 8' bed. It had wood slats for the bed and styled fenders not the step side fenders. Four speed manual with a separate stick for the 4L, 4H, N, 2H selection. It actually worked really well in 4L I mucked it through some gnarly stuff.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > functionoverfashion 05/06/2019 at 12:14

1

I’ve seen this with multiple different wesbites for various products. One I recently ran into was flower delivery services. They jack up the “price” so that the “sale price” looks great. Then since its a delivery service, the delivery fees end up all over the place to account for this as well. I’ve seen the same “discount code” became negative as well. 

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > functionoverfashion 05/06/2019 at 12:37

0

I think this was part of the class action  harbor freight lawsuit

functionoverfashion > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 05/06/2019 at 16:37

0

Yeah, I have a separate transfer case shifter in this too. ‘65 was a little different I guess, but I think the bigger change was in ‘67-72. This thing feels much, much older than my ‘72 did. It is definitely 50's technology.

And yeah, I haven’t been off road much but it does work great. Old School Four Wheel Drive! 

swaptastic > functionoverfashion 05/06/2019 at 16:59

1

Is there a company/website you recommend ? I looked into canvas prints but there are so many companies and options.

functionoverfashion > swaptastic 05/07/2019 at 07:03

0

Honestly, aside from the questionable pricing structure, they provide pretty good products at competitive prices. I’ve ordered from them several times before. In this instance, I didn’t leave myself enough time for Mother’s Day anyway, it takes them something like 10 days to delivery.