By Bryan Eneas and Taylor MacPherson

P.A. Sears criticized for liquidation markups

Sep 7, 2017 | 12:00 PM

Liquidation sales can be a great place to find a bargain, but some are warning shoppers to keep an eye out for deceptive pricing.

Like many Prince Albert residents, Evona Surgenor stopped by the Sears location at the Gateway Mall during their ongoing liquidation sales, hoping to find some great deals. What she found instead, she said, were prices which had been raised just before the markdowns to give the illusion of a sale.

“I noticed that one of the stickers was kind of awkwardly placed over the original one,” Surgenor told paNOW. “I could see through to see that they raised the price.”

Surgenor said the price on one item had been raised from $59.97 to $79.97 before it was put on sale, which she said meant the advertised savings were largely nonexistent.

“I was kind of appalled,” she said. “You’re just paying their original price.”

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The experience left Surgenor with enough of a bad taste in her mouth that she decided against buying the wall decorations she was looking at, she said. Instead, she snapped photos of the price stickers and shared them on social media to bring awareness to the price changes.

The Government of Saskatchewan issued a public advisory earlier this week warning of the potential for retailers to take advantage of customers by marking up prices immediately prior to a liquidation sale. Shoppers were advised to use their phones to price-check similar items listed by other retailers and to be wary of markups intended to make discounts seem larger.

Matthew Barton, with the Saskatchewan Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority, said their offices often see an increase in complaints during major liquidation sales. Barton said retailers raising prices prior to liquidation sales is often viewed as intentionally misleading or taking advantage of customers hoping to find a bargain.

A wide range of responses are available to customers affected by price increases pre-liquidation sales, Barton said, up to and including legal action if enough evidence can be produced. But despite the frustration the price changes may cause for shoppers, he said the practice is not always malicious.

“Sometimes it’s an honest mistake on the part of a retailer,” Barton said.

Sears Canada spokesperson Vincent Power responded to the allegations of deceptive pricing at the Prince Albert location. Power said the items in question were marked up as part of a network-wide price increase, and the changes had nothing to do with liquidation sale at the local Sears store.

“Our practice in these cases is to remove the old ticket and apply a new price ticket,” Power said in an email to paNOW. “It appears in this case that did not happen and the store simply applied the price sticker over top of the old one.”

The Prince Albert Sears location is scheduled to be vacated before Oct. 12.

Bryan.eneas@jpbg.ca, Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas, @TMacPhersonNews