Almost always, when I hear an ad for a “Blowout Sale” or the like on the radio, They say at the end “Interim mark-downs may have been taken”. What exactly does this mean?
Peace,
mangeorge
Work like you don’t need the money…
Love like you’ve never been hurt…
Dance like nobody’s watching! …(Paraphrased)
Probably means that the sale items have been marked down from the original price one or more times before the sale. Thus when they say “75% off” or “$100.00 off” they mean that amount off of the original price not off of the current price. Makes it seem like you’re saving more money than you really are.
Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99.
“We are here! You are saved!” --R. & F.
Kat sounds on the beam. I know that items at Montgomery Ward have (or had, my work with them was over a decade ago) several prices. The change charged at the end of the price would clue you in to what the current price was.
For example: Prices that ended in 99 cents would be full retail…79 cents would be marked 10% off…69 cents were hot ticket sales items.
Kat’s right. From my old retail advertising days (where we had to be very careful or else the attorney general would get on us for false and misleading ads) every item had to be offered at full or original price for a majority of the time. Sometimes the majority of the time turned out to be Monday thorugh Thursday, so it could be marked down on the weekend. But if the item was ever marked at X% off, the add had to indicate off what. Naturally we wanted to compare it to the highest price ever sold at, so the law made us say that it had been offered at other prices (“intermediate markedowns.”)
SOmetimes they say half off ‘Compare At’ price.
Note: Compare At has no price. Its just a stupid phrase they use to make people think the products sell for that somewhere [usually the stores retail outlets]
So, just another marketing gimmick (LIE).
Shudda known. Thanks. 
Peace,
mangeorge
Mangeorge, marketers would never lie. Have trust in merketers. Marketers are looking out for your best interests.
Repeat after me…
You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.
–Lyndon B. Johnson