Black Friday is all about making deals and getting bargains—but it seems like not all stores have gotten the memo. In a video amassing 1.7 million views, Alicia (@aliciared00) shows viewers a poinsettia plant from Home Depot priced at $7.98 with a Black Friday-themed label.
In the clip, a man peeled the label off on camera, revealing the original sticker underneath that prices the plant at $5.98. With a $2 price increase instead of a decrease, he ended the video by saying ruefully: “Happy Black Friday everyone.”
Commenters were disappointed—but not surprised. “This is why I refuse to shop on Black Friday,” one user wrote.
“I never buy anything on Black Friday the price hikes are insane,” another added.
“Then they have the cheek to claim it’s on sale,” one said.
While a third claimed, “This is the standard black Friday in Norway. Stores raise the price of products for a month before then when Black Friday comes, the stores have ‘sooo good prices.’”
Based on the comments, Home Depot isn’t the only store that is taking advantage of Black Friday deals.
“I am currently looking at my cart in Amazon and notice the prices are all up and marked Black Friday,” one claimed.
Another added, “I noticed some items on Amazon, too. I bought some last week, and they were cheaper.”
It seems the commenters were onto something. Previously, the Daily Dot covered several stories from folks claiming Amazon was allegedly pulling a scam this Black Friday as well as for their Prime Day Deals.
The TikToker didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via TikTok comment.
@aliciared00 #blackfridaydeals #blackfriday #fyp ♬ original sound – mamabear4.0
Is Black Friday a scam?
Data suggests that Black Friday might not be as money-saving as we think it is. According to tech company Itmagination, only a third of products were priced at their lowest level compared to the last three months prior to Black Friday.
Meanwhile, the average prices of their best-selling electronics and homeware were over 8% higher on Black Friday.
Web hosting provider KnownHost analyzed 65 products expected to be Black Friday bestsellers last year. They found that 78% of them participated in Black Friday sales. Of these products, 30% received price hikes prior to Black Friday to make it look like the item had a significant discount.
Home Depot didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via email.
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