One of the best surprises one can have while shopping is encountering an unexpected discount. While some of these discounts are marked in the store, others only appear when one goes to check out—a phenomenon that shoppers call “hidden clearance.”
Shoppers have managed to score some pretty incredible deals thanks to hidden clearance. For example, one shopper said he was able to pick up a $259 tent for just $0.75, while a second alleged that they were able to buy a 50-inch television for just $50.
Some of these deals appear too good to be true, even to the employees who are tasked with ringing them up. As a result, shoppers can face difficulties actually trying to use these deals, as recently noted in a video with over 4.3 million views by TikTok user Julie Perea (@juliemorenoperea).
Can you really get an iPad from Target for $69?
In her video, Perea shows herself at a Target location. On sale is an Apple iPad from the 9th generation, which was released in 2021. The price is listed at $329.99, though customers can take “$130 off,” according to a promotional note attached to the item.
“Everyone is here for the iPad 9th generation at Target because of the discount,” she starts, “and they’re supposedly ringing up, like, $69.99, but the manager said we can’t use the Circle and the price match both at the same time.”
In this video, Perea is referring to a price hack that began going viral earlier this week. In short, internet users claimed that if one price matched to Amazon, then employed Target’s discount, they would be able to get the iPad for $69.99.
How did some Target shoppers score the iPad deal?
While Perea claims in the comments section that some were able to use this discount, and many internet users allege they were allowed to purchase the iPads at this price, discussions amongst Target employees show that this was likely an error rather than official policy.
One Target worker on Reddit noted that Target’s terms of service state that “Target Circle deals cannot be combined with competitor price matches,” while another voiced frustration about having to deal with the people who tried to buy an iPad because of this advice going viral on TikTok.
“No ma’am, sorry. i will not price match with amazon too just because you saw a tiktok live,” reads the title of one Reddit post. “It’s so frustrating, and it is always the most entitled people with their designer handbags/clothes that give me the most trouble,” the user wrote in the body of the post.
@juliemorenoperea Ipad 9th generation @ Target #fyp#foryoupage#fypviral#target#ipad#9thgeneration#apple#circle#amazonpricematch#retail ♬ original sound – Julie Perea
Commenters share their glitches
While some commenters claimed they were able to use the deal, others stated that they were unable to do so. Further users simply shared their experiences with such glitches and deals, as well as stores’ reactions to them.
“At my local target they had a big meeting about it this morning right before I went,” wrote a user. “They are not price matching Amazon.”
“I work at target and I was just told we’re not allowed to stack price match and target circle deal,” added another. “Not only that, we aren’t allowed to price match with any other store during Target Circle Week.”
“I used to work at target. This happened one time where people could buy one ipad and hey ANY iPad Free. So you could buy a $329 ipad and get the $800 iPad Pro free lol,” recounted a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to Target via email and Perea via TikTok DM and comment.
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