Interesting...my gf and I picked up a very nice spice rack from LnT during this liquidation for $20. We saw the same spice rack last week at BBB for $58 so I guess we got a good deal.

Is this the same company that is doing CC and did CompUSA?

With Linens N Things it's a double whammy, too -- they don't accept the 20% off coupons during the liquidation. So the pre-liquidation price minus the everpresent 20% off was much lower than the no-coupon "liquidation" price. This is practically fraudulent, and it's sad that people think they're getting deals.

soooo GMA did an exposé on something most of us already knew? and nothing will change?

wait! That company will start taking the tags off before putting the new ones on and then there will be no evidence.

I've been telling friends who are looking for deals at LnT to recalculate the 20% because it never matches the sign that tells you the price, as if they were so nice to do the math for you. And now I'll tell them to peel back the sticker.

Nothing new. Happens all the time. Grocery stores, for example, make you *think* you're saving a bundle by using your free savings card. Shoe stores make you believe that you're saving *50%* on the second pair of shoes of equal or lesser value (but in actuality, you're only saving 25% of your total). Really. What's so shocking about this?

You'd think the liquidators would have sense enough to remove the old price tag if they're going to be scammy douches. I mean, if you're going to be deceptive, try to put a little effort into disguising it. Show some initiative.

As for the deals in Circuit City, they are just as bad. I thought I found a really sweet deal on a Nikon D70, but after some reading realized it was for the display model that everyone and their kid had manhandled and jerked around.

Is this any surprise? No. I understand it's not CC that is running the liquidation, BUT they must know what's going on. Heck it was probably part of the liquidation company's sales pitch. This is low and is yet another example of why these companies are going out of business.

Question, though. Isn't it illegal to raise prices right before a sale only to take the discount off those new, higher prices?

In Canada, the sales have been a joke. 10% off? That does not even cover PST and GST in Ontario (15%).

@startertan: No, Great American Group LLC is doing this liquidation, along with Steve and Barry's-which also has prices going up. I think the same liquidation company (not Great American Group LLC ) did both CC and Comp USA's though.

And yet, the morons still crowd the stores and buy things. If they would just buy a BRAIN, first, these lowlife liquidation companies would be forced to provide actual GOOD deals because nobody would be buying at the inflated prices. But then again, this country DID vote for Bush twice, and many voted for McPalin

it's shocking that they're going out of business

I went into a LnT during the closeout sale and they had an employment table set up for people to fill out job applications. That's when I knew things were fishy.

@dieselman8: Who ever said it was shocking? People already know that stores do whatever they can to get people to buy more. What the average person doesn't know is in what ways or how much they are being taken advantage of.

I actually appreciate it when these morning shows have practical information. I turn them on largely for the noise, but I get sick of the filler segments/human interest stories that have nothing to do with anything.

I wrote Consumerist about this over the weekend. Guess my email wasn't confirmation enough :/

@craptastico: The liquidators are doing quite well actually. I imagine they'll have more and more buisness as time goes on.

A sale must be a meaningful reduction in price, and raising prices in anticipation of a sale is a deceptive practice. Both the FTC and the state attorneys general could pursue such a practice.

@dieselman8: I actually do save a bundle at grocery stores with my card. But not for the reason you think. I dated girls that worked at the two major grocery stores around here (Kroger and Albertsons). Both of those stores give the employee discount through the rewards/loyalty card. So I asked them for one of their keychain cards and I now pay 10% less on all my groceries.

On a related note, I am a terrible person because I dumped them both soon after I got their cards.

I thought it was illegal to put a higher price over the lower price on an item, without removing the original.

I mean, the store can charge as much as it wants to in my opinion, I already know better than to pay the prices they want for those "Things" as it is, but I could have sworn certain states banned this practice years ago.

I saw this the first time I went to the LnT liquidation sale.

There was an older iPod dock that I wanted that was on "clearance" at one point for $69.99 but for the closeout price it went back to $99.99 with 30% off that brought it back to 'bout the same price.

Guess I didn't think much of it. Made sense to me actually. You put something on clearance because you want to clear it out of inventory. Here they want to clear everything out of inventory, why wouldn't they go back to the original price.

In the case of Circuit City, much of their lost sales are due to customers knowledgable enough to shop online for their electronics. The people who will fall for this sort of ploy are those who don't do research in the first place (the existing CC customers). So they are just unloading product on the same people who had been shopping there in the first place.

Not that it is justified, but if they are customers who fall for 500% mark up on AV cables at CC, they are the same to fall for this type of "sale". Luckly, there isn't as many of these types of customers as there used to be (thus why CC is closing stores).

Well, not everyone is an informed consumer. They see 20% off and assume that it's cheaper than before. I saw the same things at Burdines for a sale on Fiestaware(dishes) 10 years ago. It's nothing new.

I went into to check into getting some new discounted sheets at the a Linens and Things liquidation and walked over to the shower curtains and they had huge signs that said clearance items prices were not valid. I looked at their clearance items and i saw a marked out $7 clearance price with a new 20% off price of $18. I was shocked.

My roommate went to our local Linens' N' Things, where they were advertising a 50% off liquidation, only to find that a handful of items were actually marked at 50%.

This company can't go out of business quick enough.

@zentex: Most people don't read Consumerist. I bet a hell of a lot more people watch GMA. It's good that web sites aren't the only ones looking into things like this.

I'm a bit confused by why there's such a furor over this.

Can someone point to me where the definition of "liquidation," as it relates to the retail world, includes any mention of a dramatic price decrease? The point is for the new owners of all the crap L-n-T or CC used to own/sell to turn said crap into cash. If they feel justified in raising the price, so be it.

I could buy a toaster today, keep the original packaging and mfr warranty intact, and try to sell it at a yard sale this weekend at a 10% mark-up. And I could hang a sign on it that advertises the store I got it from. And if someone buys it, then great. If they don't, then shitty for me.

I dunno. I'm bored of people relying on anyone else to do their price shopping for them. Either pay for the instant gratification, or do a little work to get a good deal. Remember the maxim: If it's too good to be true...

@Chris H: This implies that Linens-n-Things is the retailer in both instances. In the case of a liquidation, the goods change hands from the original retailer to the liquidator, who can now charge their own prices. It's also why they don't accept the discount coupons. That the goods are still sold in a store with a Linens-n-Things sign on the front is of minor--if any--consequence.

I noticed something similar (though not *quite* as shady) at K-Mart recently. They have a whole ton of earrings, rings, necklaces, and other accessories with red tags that say something like "Special! $4.99". You THINK it's some type of a discount, but then you turn the package over and you see the retail price, and it's the exact same price as it is on the "Special!" tag.

@startertan: It is the same company doing Circuit City. Dunno about CompUSA

At my local LnT I swear they've even brought in some new mechaandise thT i'd never seen this retailer sell before. Like Pink Floyd-branded shot glasses (classy). I swear the liquidator is bringing in additional non LnT merchandise to try to make even more $$ from this liquidation.

Not surprised at all. Both Linens N Things and Bed Bath and Beyond, IMO, charge top dollar all the time, and their sales are farcical because of the high prices they use as baseline. I've done much better over the years at the TJX stores: Homegoods, TJ Maxx, Marshall's. The linens and home stuff are usually high quality and the discounts are genuine.

@BrianDaBrain: Ah, but therein lies the beauty.

Circut city is out. They "sell" the whole shebang to the liquidation company, take the cash, and wave goodbye.

The liquidation company then raises the prices (which is perfectly legal- they just assumed ownership and can price as they see fit) and then offer their "sale".

@CountryJustice: Amen brother!

@summerbee: Our supermarket chain, Stop and Shop, competes for New England customers with the Shaw's chain. In the past half-year, S&S has been putting little colored tabs on the shelves that look like "special price" or sale announcements for various items. But they are really just price comparisons; the top price is what Shaw's allegedly charges, and the larger bottom price is the deal you get (not sale, just regular pricing) from S&S. They are very seductive and I have to stop and remind myself, These are not discounts, just the normal prices here. It's not dishonest, strictly speaking, but certainly intentionally misleading.

They had to make money to pay for all the human sign-spinners they employed to stand at intersections all over town.

@Jory: The same company doing CC is the same that did CompUSA so then its the same company for all three. They did this with CompUSA and now CC and now this. Welcome to the club of not seeing bargins Good Morning America.

Yep, I cruised through the local Circuit City to see how great its GOING OUT OF BUSINESS DEALS were. For one hard drive, I had purchased an identical one a few weeks before for about $20-$30 less than the "sale" price. And the DTV converter boxes that are going for $50 at Kmart? $55, AFTER GOB discount.

Bastards.

@CountryJustice: I guess the "furor" stems from the advertising that claims these are "sales" in which buyers have the ability to save big. 10%, 20%, 30% off signs hang from every square inch of the ceiling ... even though it's a complete lie.

@William T: I saw the GMA report. When they went to Circuit City they did find that the old prices were physically cut off of the items and one of the employees admitted to the reason on a hidden camera. GMA then simply went to other CC stores that weren't being liquidated to compare prices and found much the same as the other places.

@zentex: Most of *here*...GMA reaches many more people, so it's a good thing

I keep trying to hammer home this point when it comes to liquidations, but the Consumerist is unfairly waggling its finger at the liquidation process.

The FIRST step in liquidation is to REDUCE LOSS. This means you put prices BACK to their list price - a level they're rarely at during normal operation, THEN start to do discounts.

It does a liquidation company no good to start at an already discounted price and discount that further. It's just not smart business when the idea is to completely eliminate stock while attempting to finish above the cost of the total inventory. I don't know what everyone expects - to just watch these companies die and then swoop in and be allowed to pick at the bones until there's nothing left - salaries need to be paid, employee wages need to be covered, and most importantly, the cost of inventory needs to be at least broken even so the country as a whole does not suck up EVEN MORE DEBT.

@captadam: If a liquidator advertises 30% off his prices--not the original retailer's--and a customer doesn't understand how the liquidation process/business works, that doesn't make it a lie, it makes the customer uninformed.

The point I'm making though is that a little bit of research would reveal that competitors will probably have the same or comparable item at a better price. If you pay too much simply because you don't do a little price shopping, you can't very well get mad at the person that sold the item to you.

@Chris H: The liquidators readily admit that they follow the letter of the law. There's nothing for the FTC, AG's, etc. to investigate. As others have pointed out here, the liquidator is a totally separate entity from LnT, Circuit City, etc. and all they do is buy all the merchandise from those companies then turn around and re-sell it. They simply raise the prices back up to the suggested retail price, which is perfectly legal for them to do, then offer rebates from that price. In the vast majority of cases those prices are well above the discounted prices that LnT, CC, etc. were offering. The liquidators are well within their rights to do this.

@CountryJustice: I agree. I'll take it a step further by saying that they aren't really rasing the price in the first place (at least in these cases) so there is even less to get bent out of shape over.

Why would you expect them to honor a clearance price now? The whole store is on clearance. The crap you were trying to get rid of when you were a solvent retailer is now no different then all the other crap in the store.

Lets continue with your yard sale parallel. Say I've got a book I'm selling that got wet. All the other books are in fine shape so I'm going to charge $3 less for the wet book then the dry books. Then it rains during my yard sale and all the books get wet so I mark them all down $3. I'm not going to mark the one that was wet before down another $3 I'm just going to bring the rest of the wet books to the same price of the first wet book. The first book isn't more wet. Its the same here. I don't really need to move the stuff that was originally on clearance any more or any less then the other stuff so when the price of everything else gets lowered its just going to bring it in line with the clearance that it was at in the first place.

@Killians1978: Win.

@William T: Man that ticks me off at work, when my employees wont take the 2 seconds to take off an old tag.

There are good deals to be found. You just have to check the prices as you see them. I picked up a Aerogarden for about $40 cheaper the other day as a christmas present.

Folks, The price is the price, and it is either a good deal or a bad deal. Take it or leave it.

I've been suspicious at various times over the years of stores hiking prices up before lowering them. "Oh whoops, did we say '10-20% off' because we really meant '10-20% up.'

@MajellaAntinous: Ouch. You're only dating-a-plumber-to-get-a-wholesale-whirlpool-tub-installed away from being a "Kids in the Hall" sketch comedy short.