When is a sale not a sale?

Everybody loves a bargain so much so, we might beblinded into thinking we're saving more money than is actually the case.

As Canadians gear up for what some retailers promise will be Boxing Day blowouts,CBC News examined a variety of offers liquidations, mattress deals,so-called deep discounts to explore some of the waysa sale might not really be a sale.

Are liquidation sales a deal?

Some bargain shoppersare convinced liquidation sales aren't the real deal after they peeledback sticker pricesat recent Searssales and discovered cheaper priceshiddenunderneath.

Canada's Competition Bureau is nowinvestigatingthe matter.

Sears Canada has denied any wrongdoing and says any price hikes were actually seasonal price changes made long before liquidation sales began.

But even ifeverything is done by the book, a liquidation sale might still let customers down. Retail consultant Doug Stephens says that's because third-party liquidators hold the event, soprevious dealsoffered by the retailer may no longer apply.

"Unfortunately, this is why consumers are often disappointed when they descend upon these liquidations," says Stephens, with Retail Prophet in Toronto.

"They're sort of expecting that whatever [the retailer]might have been selling the product for prior to liquidation, they can expect a huge discount off that."

Steve Bellamy, ofKitchener, Ont., wasn't impressedby the discounts offered at a Sears liquidation salein October.

He complained on Facebook that right before the sales started, Sears was selling pots and pansat a 40 to 70 per cent reduction.

But when hereturned for the liquidation sale two days later, anticipatingan even better deal, he discovered that the same itemswere only discounted by20 per cent.

"It's even a scam nowadays when a store goes out of business," Bellamysaid in his post.

Sears Canada told CBC News that its originaldeal ended one day before theliquidation sale began, andthatliquidation discounts are applied to an item's original selling price.

'Compare at'quandary

Shoppers may be enticed into buying aproduct when it's priced at a discount compared to a higher "regular" retail price also indicated on the price tag.

But New York-based bargain-hunter and author Mark Ellwoodwarns peoplenot to confuse a "compare at" price with a sale price.

"They are simply what that store thinks this is worth according to their estimate. It doesn't mean they ever sold it at that price," says Ellwood.

"People have to be very aware of the phrasing on those price tags."

Questions have been raised about the accuracy of some "compare at" prices.

In 2016, CBC News' Marketplace bought a number of products from Winners, which is well known for including "compare at" prices on its tags.In many cases,Marketplacecouldn't find the items at other Canadian stores onlinefor the higher "compare at" price listed on the products.

Winnerstold Marketplace that its "compare at" prices are accurate and fair, but says its stores receive thousands of items each week and sometimes errors can occur.

Amazonrecently agreed to pay $1.1 million in fines following a Competition Bureau investigation involving price comparisons on its Canadian website from May 2014 to May 2016.

The bureau said Amazon often compared product prices to a "list" price, "signalling attractive savings for consumers." However, the bureau determined that the online retailernever verified whether those list prices, provided by suppliers, were accurate.

Is that really a discount?

Along with a "compare at" price, shoppers should be on guard when scoping out sales advertising deep discounts.

According to Canada's Competition Act, when an item is advertised as being discounted, the retailer must have first "validated" the regular price. Often this is done by selling the product at the original price for a substantial amount of time.

In 2015, craft retail chain Michaels paid a $3.5-million penalty following a Competition Bureau investigation concerning saleclaims onpicture frames.

The investigation looked at theperiod fromJanuary 2011 toDecember 2014, and concluded that Michaels didn'tensure the frames were sold"in good faith prior to promoting them at substantial discounts."

Following another investigation, the bureauallegedthat Hudson's Bay Company misled the public about the regular selling price of mattresses when they were advertised at deep discountsbetween March 2013 and January 2015.

Hudson's Bay denies the allegation. The case is now before the Competition Tribunal.

Ellwood is not familiar with theHBC casebut claims mattress sales can besuspect. "My rules with mattresses is don't trust anything," he said.

He says thatmay have to do with the fact that people buy few mattresses in their lives, so they don't keep tabs on what the itemshould regularly cost.

"If the supermarket changes the price on a pint of milk, everyone notices it straight away," he said."If you have long-purchase-cycle items, people are more vulnerable to being hoodwinked."

To avoid pitfalls, Ellwood recommends shoppers askthemselves whether, if a product's sale price was presentedasthe regular price with no discount, they would still think it was a deal.

'You should always cover up the higher price and say to yourself, 'Would I have paid this [sale price] if it was the original price?'"