topic Re: Fluctuating prices! in Q Talk

Fluctuating prices!

2zbeach — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 22:43:10 GMT

If there's one thing I hate,it's companies that have one price one day,and a different,higher price the next. Case in point.....I was looking at a Ripka multi-gemstone ring. Yesterday it was clearanced at $99. Today it is no longer clearanced,but priced at a whopping $216. From clearance to a 218% increase in price? How does that happen? Shame on you,Q,for engaging in these games! You don't even have a full selection of sizes and it isn't new merchandise. This discourages me from shopping here. Very sad to see this.

Re: Fluctuating prices!

Brooklynny — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 00:21:29 GMT

All retailers do this, not just QVC. They can call a sale whatever they like and then pull it whenever they like.

Re: Fluctuating prices!

MacDUFF — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 01:17:18 GMT

Surprise!

Re: Fluctuating prices!

Q4u — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 01:36:47 GMT

@2zbeach wrote:
If there's one thing I hate,it's companies that have one price one day,and a different,higher price the next. Case in point.....I was looking at a Ripka multi-gemstone ring. Yesterday it was clearanced at $99. Today it is no longer clearanced,but priced at a whopping $216. From clearance to a 218% increase in price? How does that happen? Shame on you,Q,for engaging in these games! You don't even have a full selection of sizes and it isn't new merchandise. This discourages me from shopping here. Very sad to see this.

Usually retailers call it a Sale rather than a Clearance. Typically a clearance is just that, a reduction in price to "clear out inventory". That isn't what Q seems to do. They may have been trying to clear out the ring because they were told there would not be more inventory coming in. And in comes more inventory so the price goes back up to what it was initially.

I think that QVC does this more often than not in order to get customers to make that flash decision to buy because they don't know what will come..... but instead I believe what that does is turn off the customer completely....

Re: Fluctuating prices!

handygal2 — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 02:30:41 GMT

At B&M stores, l've never seen a "clearance" price go back up again. Strange...

Re: Fluctuating prices!

KYToby — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 03:41:26 GMT

Prices fluctuate with all retailers -- shopping channels, B&M stores, supermarkets, Amazon, etc. The lesson to take from this is to purchase an item when you want it rather than wait around.

Re: Fluctuating prices!

Nataliesgramma — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 10:49:29 GMT

@Q4u wrote:
@2zbeach wrote:
If there's one thing I hate,it's companies that have one price one day,and a different,higher price the next. Case in point.....I was looking at a Ripka multi-gemstone ring. Yesterday it was clearanced at $99. Today it is no longer clearanced,but priced at a whopping $216. From clearance to a 218% increase in price? How does that happen? Shame on you,Q,for engaging in these games! You don't even have a full selection of sizes and it isn't new merchandise. This discourages me from shopping here. Very sad to see this.
Usually retailers call it a Sale rather than a Clearance. Typically a clearance is just that, a reduction in price to "clear out inventory". That isn't what Q seems to do. They may have been trying to clear out the ring because they were told there would not be more inventory coming in. And in comes more inventory so the price goes back up to what it was initially.

I think that QVC does this more often than not in order to get customers to make that flash decision to buy because they don't know what will come..... but instead I believe what that does is turn off the customer completely....

I agree with you......It happened with a purse I bought over the weekend....

Re: Fluctuating prices!

MadameQueen — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 17:05:27 GMT

I thought if it was on clearance the price couldn't go back up. I've seen the prices go up with One TIme Onlys. Even worse, recently I have seen two different items presented as last day at the featured price. I assumed the price was going up but instead, the next day day, one was a lunch time special and one went on clearance, I didn't purchase either item.

Re: Fluctuating prices!

ChynnaBlue — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 17:15:25 GMT

@MadameQueen wrote:
I thought if it was on clearance the price couldn't go back up. I've seen the prices go up with One TIme Onlys. Even worse, recently I have seen two different items presented as last day at the featured price. I assumed the price was going up but instead, the next day day, one was a lunch time special and one went on clearance, I didn't purchase either item.

There's nothing in the pricing policy that says the price on a clearance item can't go back up. It reads: "We need to make room for brand-new merchandise, so we're offering low clearance prices on this first-quality merchandise." It's usually the case that clearance items don't go back up in price, but "usually" isn't policy.

Source: http://www.qvc.com/PricingRetailOffersOtherInfo.content.html#clearance

Prices get raised and lowered at everywhere without warning. What you described about the featured price happens everywhere. You buy something one day and the next day it goes on sale. Many times I've bought things on sale or clearance at other stores and have then seen the price even further reduced afterward. That's just what happens in retail and QVC isn't different here.

Re: Fluctuating prices!

MacDUFF — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 03:11:06 GMT

@handygal2 wrote:
At B&M stores, l've never seen a "clearance" price go back up again. Strange...

Ditto...never.

Re: Fluctuating prices!

skuggles — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 06:29:27 GMT

I hate it too. Unfortunately, big companies are huge data miners and they closely follow both human behavior and the psychology behind customers and their purchasing habits, and the bottom line, their profit margins. Then they come up with algorithms that play with prices and the customers when it translates into more profit. Amazon does it, Macy's, shoebuy, supermarkets, drug stores,for example, and many others if not most. The greater the capacity for data storage, the more precise these algorithms are becoming. It's not going away any time soon. Just when you think you've figured out what they are doing, something in the algorithm changes up because they are one step if not many ahead of the consumers. You can't win if you play chess with a computer with a robust program.