Telling the truth means a good deal

'Tis the season to find bargains but buyers should make sure the sales are living up to their hype, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs warns.

In its A Word of Advice, circulated yesterday, the ministry offers tips on those endless post-Christmas, post-New Year and pre-School Year sales.

Mostly the danger lies in misleading and deceptive advertising. If a sale is billed "everything 50 per cent off" then every item in the shop must be half price.

If the sale is advertised as "up to 50 per cent off" or "10-50 per cent off" then the ministry says "a reasonable number of items" must be half-priced, not just one or two.

"This practice can be viewed as enticing you into the store by the use of misleading advertising."

The amount of sale stock on offer can also fall foul of the Fair Trading Act. Shops must have a "reasonable" supply of the items.

"You shouldn't arrive one hour after the doors open on the first day of a sale, only to find that the store has only a few items reduced and these have already sold out."

In a Farmers Red Dot Sale, a shopper at the Riccarton branch in Christchurch was faced with that problem yesterday, although it is the middle of the sale, not the start.

"How can you be sold out already?" the flustered man was asking the young saleswoman in the furniture department, who could only reply that she thought the lounge suites in question were "probably very popular".

Briscoes is in the throes of its "Unmissable January Sale": half-price duvets, 40 per cent off certain bath towels and "at least 30 per cent off" some porcelain gift sets.

Shoppers in one Christchurch branch yesterday were not complaining.

"I looked at these towels before Christmas and they really were almost double this price," said Margarette Jamieson.

"I often shop here during the sales and I never have a problem getting the things I want. But I'm a bit precious and I like to make sure things really were the old price and that it's not a pretend mark-down."

That makes the warning list too: "When it comes to stating prices, the store must not mislead you about the true price relative to the sale price. It can't raise its prices before the sale and then quickly lower them again, making you think that you're getting a special when really the goods are the normal price."

YOUR RIGHTS - The Rules under the Fair Trading Act

* If a store advertises "Everything 50 per cent off", then all its stock must be half-price.

* If a store advertises up to 50 per cent off or 10-50 per cent off, a reasonable number of items must be 50 per cent off, not just one or two.

* The store must not mislead you about the old price. If goods are advertised as "was $100, now $75", the normal price must be $100.