Are Bath and Body Works‘ prices completely out of whack?
One customer is scratching her head after finding nearly identical items at three different prices. The ingredients and amounts all seem to be the same, but the prices? All different.
Kaylee Dupsky (@kaylee.dupsky) posted her discovery to her TikTok account recently. So far the video has over one and a half million views. But are the prices just a scam?
Three different Bath and Body Works prices
In a video captioned, “Make it make sense,” Kaylee shows three bottles of the beauty chain’s signature Thousand Wishes-scented product.
The first two bottles are seemingly identical but the first is priced at $15.50 while the second is $16.95. A third Thousand Wishes bottle is similarly shaped but does have a different label. It retails for $18.95.
All three items appear to be bottles of the lines “Shimmer Mist” fragrance spray. Only the last bottle has the current label. The others use a label that is being phased out but is still available at stores and different outlets.
However, in the screen text, Dupsky claims the different prices are a “scam.”
“It’s all the same item,” she states.
What is fictitious pricing?
Sometimes, the difference in pricing between identical items can be attributed to “fictitious pricing.”
According to Forbes, this is “a practice where retailers list an original price on a product that does not truthfully reflect prior selling prices, to boost sales.”
Professor David Ngwe of Harvard University found in his study of a major retailer’s use of the practice that, “Many … products, particularly in its outlet stores, had ‘original prices’ that were never selling prices.”
Ngwe states, “These results imply that fake prices enhance demand by misleading consumers about true original prices.”
However, the Bath and Body work price differences may have a simpler explanation.
What is Bath and Body Works’ price policy?
According to Bath and Body Works, “Our product assortment and stock levels for items may differ between various stores and the website, the sale pricing and promotions may not always be the same.”
Some of Dupsky’s viewers, claiming to be B&BW employees offer further explanation.
Kimberlie Guel (@kimberlyyguel) wrote, “As an employee, it’s the packaging. One costs more to make which is the more expensive one.”
Another viewer states, “15.95 (old stock return) 16.96 (last packaging) 18.95 is the new packaging.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Bath and Body Works via email for a statement.
Viewers respond
“I never buy their stuff full price, only on sale,” one viewer admitted in the comments.
Other viewers were also annoyed at the chain’s pricing.
“I remember I bought just gorgeous flower $8 on 2018 I’m shocked there is high price $16 or 18,” one viewer noted.
Lins (@lj9212) wrote, “Haven’t bought anything there for a while because exactly that reason and plus I’m way too broke to buy a mist for those prices I got better things to spend my money on.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Dupsky via Instagram and TikTok messenger for a statement.
@kaylee.dupsky Make it make sense 😭 #foryoupage #foryou #bathandbodyworks #blackfriday ♬ how i love being a woman – editdiaary
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