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November 23, 2022

“Up To Your Old Tricks Again” – Social Media Calls Out Takealot For Black Friday Pricing

In years gone by, the country's largest retailer has been accused of dubious pricing policies in the lead-up to a big sale and 2022 is no different.

[imagesource: Google Play]

Business is business, and this week the country’s largest online retailer is going to pull out all the stops to encourage you to blow December’s budget before the month has even begun.

Takealot will host its first-ever 24-hour marathon live shopping event on Black Friday, with discounts offered on Instagram, for example.

In years gone by, the retailer has been accused of dubious pricing policies in the lead-up to a big sale and 2022 is no different.

Over the past few days, numerous social media users have pointed out suspicious pricing changes ahead of Black Friday.

Whatever you’ve paid for a pair of Crocs, I would consider it a rip-off. This is really pushing the boat out:

Exhibit B:

Takealot replied to that tweet which was probably a bad idea because @stripper_oprah (great username) wasn’t having it:

I’m in need of a smart TV but I’m also not keen on being taken for a ride:

The above tweet set off a flurry of angry replies:

At this point, it’s worth pointing out that Takealot also operates as a ‘storefront’ for countless third-party sellers.

In other words, it doesn’t set the price for everything you can buy:

However you look at it and whoever you want to hold responsible, the fact remains that the deals you see on Takealot (and other retailers) don’t always represent the savings they may appear to.

Last year, we told you about the Serval price tracker and it’s proving popular again this time around:

The tool makes it easy for Takealot shoppers to see whether they are scoring a good deal on a discounted product or whether the saving shown to them has been overstated.

All you need to do to check is to copy and paste the Takealot product URL into the top right corner of Servaltracker.com.

I used two televisions (here and here) and Serval showed that over the past two weeks, neither had been listed at the full selling price (the crossed-out price in grey) that is often used to illustrate the saving you’re getting.

That’s a far from scientific approach to a more complicated issue but it’s easy to understand why so many shoppers raise concerns about the authenticity of Black Friday deals.