One day sale websites are pretty popular. People like to think they're getting a good deal, and they often are, even if it's a good deal on something they wouldn't have otherwise purchased. I've gotten some great deals from some sites, especially on weekends away in nice hotels.
This morning I saw a claimed 50% discount from Groupy on a 16GB Kingston DataTraveler G3 USB drive. I thought that sounded like something i'd use, so I checked it out. They claim a retail price of $60, on sale for $30 plus $4 delivery.
Of course I checked other sources, and found on pricespy that the same product can be be had for as little as $27.32 inc GST, or $35 delivered. You can see it on Aquila here, or Ascent here. Aquila say the RRP is $35.
When I asked them about it Amanda replied "Retailers sell different products at different prices. The product that we are selling is correct with the value of $59.99.".
My take on it is they use an inflated price so they can claim to be giving everyone a great deal, whereas they're really just selling it at the same price as most other places. They're only $1 cheaper than Ascent when delivery is taken into account. I'd like to see them held to account for what's either dishonesty or lack of fact checking.
The moral of the story is Caveat Emptor - let the buyer beware. Don't take a marketers word for the value of a product.