Online stores are legally allowed to hide or lower prices until the cart primarily due to Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) agreements, along with privacy strategies, data collection, and system functions. [1, 2, 3]
Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Agreements: Manufacturers set rules prohibiting retailers from publicly advertising prices below a certain threshold. Because a public product page is considered an advertisement, retailers use a loophole by making you add the item to your digital cart, which is treated as a private point-of-sale interaction rather than a public ad.
Evading Web Crawlers: Manufacturers use automated web crawlers to scan the internet and penalize retailers who violate MAP rules. Bots cannot add items to a shopping cart to see the hidden discounts, allowing retailers to bypass automated enforcement.
Customer Engagement: Hiding prices acts as a psychological hook, encouraging the user to take an active step (putting the item in the cart) to reveal the price, which psychologically increases the likelihood of completing the purchase.
Real-Time Data Collection: Tracking items in carts allows retailers to better profile user interest and measure conversion funnels, even if the item is eventually abandoned.
To me, just looking at the sale, the biggest problem is per generation coupons where each generation requires a buy in from a blob of expensive new items that don't interest me.
It's not that I'm serious about shopping, but a really good deal could have opened my wallet. These are not the deals I'm looking for.
Just because they can do a thing is not a reason they should do a thing. Hidden pricing says to customer, "Just give me your money. I don't care about you at all."
The minimum price is noted, this isn't a rule that gets revealed only on reaching the cart. II can certainly appreciate that it is frustrating to add an item only to find that it increases in price in cart, and we have certainly pointed it out to Daz, but it is not a sleight of hand.
Online stores are legally allowed to hide or lower prices until the cart primarily due to Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) agreements, along with privacy strategies, data collection, and system functions. [1, 2, 3]
Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Agreements: Manufacturers set rules prohibiting retailers from publicly advertising prices below a certain threshold. Because a public product page is considered an advertisement, retailers use a loophole by making you add the item to your digital cart, which is treated as a private point-of-sale interaction rather than a public ad.
Evading Web Crawlers: Manufacturers use automated web crawlers to scan the internet and penalize retailers who violate MAP rules. Bots cannot add items to a shopping cart to see the hidden discounts, allowing retailers to bypass automated enforcement.
Customer Engagement: Hiding prices acts as a psychological hook, encouraging the user to take an active step (putting the item in the cart) to reveal the price, which psychologically increases the likelihood of completing the purchase.
Real-Time Data Collection: Tracking items in carts allows retailers to better profile user interest and measure conversion funnels, even if the item is eventually abandoned.
Shocked, shocked I am, the world has changed
They've always been allowed to lower prices once you're in the cart. DAZ is raising them. Not cool.
I can't imagine anyone appreciates advertised prices being raised once the decision is made to add the item to the cart. Daz must be making money on that scheme or they'd probably stop doing it. I wonder how many people don't notice that the price goes up and just assume they are paying what the product page said. Maybe that percentage is high enough to counteract all of us complainers who just dump the products or empty the cart and go away angry.
The minimum price is noted, this isn't a rule that gets revealed only on reaching the cart. II can certainly appreciate that it is frustrating to add an item only to find that it increases in price in cart, and we have certainly pointed it out to Daz, but it is not a sleight of hand.
If people just shop the store or their wishlist and don't go searching through other Daz web pages, they do not see any fine print about minimum prices. The higher price IS only revealed in the cart It should not be necessary to be suspicious of prices advertised on the product pages. Are you aware of any other online store that actually raises product prices once they are added to the shopping cart? I've never experienced that myself, that I am aware of.
Well, on a more positive note, I ignored today's sales and instead built a cart of 13 Outlet Store and Quick Grab items. All the prices were really nice and they didn't go up in the cart. A win!
And while I picked and chose what I wanted to not overspend, if Daz does any late-in-the-month "10 OS items for half price," I'll likely be back in!
The minimum price is noted, this isn't a rule that gets revealed only on reaching the cart. II can certainly appreciate that it is frustrating to add an item only to find that it increases in price in cart, and we have certainly pointed it out to Daz, but it is not a sleight of hand.
If people just shop the store or their wishlist and don't go searching through other Daz web pages, they do not see any fine print about minimum prices. The higher price IS only revealed in the cart It should not be necessary to be suspicious of prices advertised on the product pages. Are you aware of any other online store that actually raises product prices once they are added to the shopping cart? I've never experienced that myself, that I am aware of.
Agreed. That's like going into the grocery store, filling up your cart, and then having the price be diffrent at checkout and having the cashier say "well, but it was clearly noted in this week's circular, didn't you take that with you while you were shopping?"
Agreed. That's like going into the grocery store, filling up your cart, and then having the price be diffrent at checkout and having the cashier say "well, but it was clearly noted in this week's circular, didn't you take that with you while you were shopping?"
...a couple grocery markets where I live do the same in a another way.
For example, the shelf tag will show the discount (like 1.99 USD) in big eye catching typeface but then it tiny print at the bottom (difficult to see for us older folks even with glasses on) it will say "must buy 3, 4 or even 6" of the product. I've been stung by this before to the point I may start taking a magnifying glass on my shopping trips..
It is amazing how little of my 1471 count wishlist is on any kind of discount.
I've only managed about 55 at the best of times.
Given the frequency of sales here, I will add anything to my wishlist if I can imagine I might possibly someday perhaps have a chance it could be useful for me. There's stuff on it I actually won't buy now. I should purge stuff I know I've outgrown.
Well, on a more positive note, I ignored today's sales and instead built a cart of 13 Outlet Store and Quick Grab items. All the prices were really nice and they didn't go up in the cart. A win!
And while I picked and chose what I wanted to not overspend, if Daz does any late-in-the-month "10 OS items for half price," I'll likely be back in!
This is the way.
******
On another note, I see the Memorial Day sale is still up & running. Given the unhappy reactions, i am surprised.
Compromise - instead of complaining about the sales here at DAZ, I will not post when they suck. So if I don't post here, the sale of the day just sucks, in my opinion. Except today, as I've already posted with this, but they not so good today. Going forward, silence means things not good for sales that day. Hope everyone be so happy with my new stance. Your mileage may vary.
Once again a gift card sale with a high buyin and a low discount
I really need a good gift card sale with little or no buyin.
If your buying the buyin anyway and you have the money to lay out, even if it only works out to 2-3% savings, it's still a savings. But, yeah, that's a lot of IF.
Maybe i'm tired from the heat and lack of sleep, but this one isn't clear to me.
The first bit makes sense, use the code and get 1 for free, the last bit seems standard if not good, i.e buy a new thing to get things for $1, but how do you get 3 for a total of $0.99? (I did try putting 3 in my cart and the code but it still just takes off item fully)
Use code: ALL-FOR-1-FOR-ALL to get:
1 for FREE
OR get 3 for a total of $0.99
Get up to 3 for $1 each* with a "Decisive" New Release
Maybe i'm tired from the heat and lack of sleep, but this one isn't clear to me.
The first bit makes sense, use the code and get 1 for free, the last bit seems standard if not good, i.e buy a new thing to get things for $1, but how do you get 3 for a total of $0.99? (I did try putting 3 in my cart and the code but it still just takes off item fully)
Use code: ALL-FOR-1-FOR-ALL to get:
1 for FREE
OR get 3 for a total of $0.99
Get up to 3 for $1 each* with a "Decisive" New Release
I think the intent is that you use the code and either get 1 free or 3 for $0.99 (As in: 1 item in cart = free, 2 items in cart = 1 free, one full price, 3 items in cart = 33-cents each). This morning right after changeover the 3/0.99 part didn't seem to be tied to the code, although the 1 free was. They turned the 3/0.99 with no code part off, but might not have fixed it to work with the code yet. (I already used mine, so can't check.) I'd give it a bit, maybe till after Daz folk are in the office.
Comments
AI Overview
Online stores are legally allowed to hide or lower prices until the cart primarily due to Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) agreements, along with privacy strategies, data collection, and system functions. [1, 2, 3]
Shocked, shocked I am, the world has changed
To be honest its probably in line with recent sales over all. The Soup sale just came out of nowhere and was pretty sweet.
To me, just looking at the sale, the biggest problem is per generation coupons where each generation requires a buy in from a blob of expensive new items that don't interest me.
It's not that I'm serious about shopping, but a really good deal could have opened my wallet. These are not the deals I'm looking for.
Just because they can do a thing is not a reason they should do a thing. Hidden pricing says to customer, "Just give me your money. I don't care about you at all."
The minimum price is noted, this isn't a rule that gets revealed only on reaching the cart. II can certainly appreciate that it is frustrating to add an item only to find that it increases in price in cart, and we have certainly pointed it out to Daz, but it is not a sleight of hand.
They've always been allowed to lower prices once you're in the cart. DAZ is raising them. Not cool.
I can't imagine anyone appreciates advertised prices being raised once the decision is made to add the item to the cart. Daz must be making money on that scheme or they'd probably stop doing it. I wonder how many people don't notice that the price goes up and just assume they are paying what the product page said. Maybe that percentage is high enough to counteract all of us complainers who just dump the products or empty the cart and go away angry.
If people just shop the store or their wishlist and don't go searching through other Daz web pages, they do not see any fine print about minimum prices. The higher price IS only revealed in the cart It should not be necessary to be suspicious of prices advertised on the product pages. Are you aware of any other online store that actually raises product prices once they are added to the shopping cart? I've never experienced that myself, that I am aware of.
Well, on a more positive note, I ignored today's sales and instead built a cart of 13 Outlet Store and Quick Grab items. All the prices were really nice and they didn't go up in the cart. A win!
And while I picked and chose what I wanted to not overspend, if Daz does any late-in-the-month "10 OS items for half price," I'll likely be back in!
@jmucchiello I saw your perfect reply to "These are not the deals I'm looking for." The Force is strong with you. Cheers to that.
Agreed. That's like going into the grocery store, filling up your cart, and then having the price be diffrent at checkout and having the cashier say "well, but it was clearly noted in this week's circular, didn't you take that with you while you were shopping?"
You're welcome.
It is amazing how little of my 1471 count wishlist is on any kind of discount.
...a couple grocery markets where I live do the same in a another way.
For example, the shelf tag will show the discount (like 1.99 USD) in big eye catching typeface but then it tiny print at the bottom (difficult to see for us older folks even with glasses on) it will say "must buy 3, 4 or even 6" of the product. I've been stung by this before to the point I may start taking a magnifying glass on my shopping trips..
now they are 80c in cart but I guess I better wait until they fix the prices
waited a couple hours then bought 5 outfits for 80c each, I still use V4 sometimes but also autofit to later generations, so definitely useful
I really don't understand DAZ marketing at all
I've only managed about 55 at the best of times.
Given the frequency of sales here, I will add anything to my wishlist if I can imagine I might possibly someday perhaps have a chance it could be useful for me. There's stuff on it I actually won't buy now. I should purge stuff I know I've outgrown.
This is the way.
******
On another note, I see the Memorial Day sale is still up & running. Given the unhappy reactions, i am surprised.
Once again a gift card sale with a high buyin and a low discount

I really need a good gift card sale with little or no buyin.
That's sensible @daveso !
Of course, the day I instantly put two new releases in my cart, there's no sale where having two in my cart has any value.
If your buying the buyin anyway and you have the money to lay out, even if it only works out to 2-3% savings, it's still a savings. But, yeah, that's a lot of IF.
Maybe i'm tired from the heat and lack of sleep, but this one isn't clear to me.
The first bit makes sense, use the code and get 1 for free, the last bit seems standard if not good, i.e buy a new thing to get things for $1, but how do you get 3 for a total of $0.99? (I did try putting 3 in my cart and the code but it still just takes off item fully)
Use code: ALL-FOR-1-FOR-ALL to get:
1 for FREE
OR get 3 for a total of $0.99
Get up to 3 for $1 each* with a "Decisive" New Release
It's just broken. As usual. Hopefully when I get up later it will actually work properly.
I think the intent is that you use the code and either get 1 free or 3 for $0.99 (As in: 1 item in cart = free, 2 items in cart = 1 free, one full price, 3 items in cart = 33-cents each). This morning right after changeover the 3/0.99 part didn't seem to be tied to the code, although the 1 free was. They turned the 3/0.99 with no code part off, but might not have fixed it to work with the code yet. (I already used mine, so can't check.) I'd give it a bit, maybe till after Daz folk are in the office.
Well I took the one item for free.
I have no money today.... DAZ made my day!
+ 1 _ Thanx Kindly
OK. They fixed the problem. 3 items for a buck. Good call, SilverGirl. Now I have extra free stuff!
3/99 cents was a a good deal. Thanks, Daz!