Today marks the final day of Amazon Prime Day. Customers are scouring the e-commerce website for the best deals. So far, there have been hefty discounts on certain appliances and electronics. However, some Twitter users have raised concerns about potential 'misleading advertising' strategies by vendors.
Twitter user Chad|Money Matters has brought to our attention possible deceptive marketing tactics by an Amazon vendor. The item in focus is an Ottman footstool sold by the Amazon Basics Store. He posted a screenshot of the item selling for $69.08 on Monday, one day before Prime Day. On Tuesday, the first day of Prime Day, the item was listed for the same price but had a red label reading "37% off ... Prime Day Deal" and was marked down from a typical price of $110.40.
Everyone hurry to grab those "Prime Day Deals" 🙄🙄🙄 pic.twitter.com/n3JHKdJiXk
— Chad | Money Matters (@Chadmoneymatter) July 11, 2023
Amazon price tracking website Camelcamelcamel shows prices for the Ottman footstool were around the $69 mark throughout June, then days before Prime Day rocketed to $109.80.
Twitter users weren't thrilled by this development.
"Wait, are you suggesting it's all just a marketing scheme and it's not really about great savings," one person said.
Someone else said, "Amazon prime day just tried to scam me. They showed me an item that I bought before, but raised up the price artificially then told me that they lowered the price making it the same, but tricking that it's cheaper."
"I did some research here. I have software tools that can verify price. This was 78.00 and more a while ago. But the true recent price was 69.00 and today its $65.63. $3.00 off which is really nothing. Its been Prime exclusive 69.00 for a while," another Twitter user said.
The folks at the Federal Trade Commission should take a look at this.
