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Business is business, and this week the country’s largest online retailer is going to pull out all the stops to encourage you to blow December’s budget before the month has even begun.

Takealot will host its first-ever 24-hour marathon live shopping event on Black Friday, with discounts offered on Instagram, for example.

In years gone by, the retailer has been accused of dubious pricing policies in the lead-up to a big sale and 2022 is no different.

Over the past few days, numerous social media users have pointed out suspicious pricing changes ahead of Black Friday.

Whatever you’ve paid for a pair of Crocs, I would consider it a rip-off. This is really pushing the boat out:

Wait. From how much? @TAKEALOT @Crocs 😳 pic.twitter.com/U3VPubTUyg

— 🖤 (@miss_molebo) November 21, 2022

Exhibit B:

Sneaky, @TAKEALOT – this item has been R499 for the past month. This isn’t 35% off YOUR price.

This is why South Africans don’t truly benefit from “black Friday”. pic.twitter.com/qlDuATeg83

— Barefoot Megz (@Doc_Megz) November 21, 2022

Takealot replied to that tweet which was probably a bad idea because @stripper_oprah (great username) wasn’t having it:

Oh pleeeease. I catch you doing this every single Black Friday without fail. I’ve monitored prices for months before on multiple products and as it comes to BF, suddenly they’re much more expensive, and the ‘discount’ simply brings it down to the price it was before 😂😂

— Fillip Sklodowska’s Cat (@stripper_oprah) November 22, 2022

I’m in need of a smart TV but I’m also not keen on being taken for a ride:

There’s a twist!

They’ve just pushed the “previous” price to R11,999 (from R9,999) so now the discount looks even bigger. pic.twitter.com/VIzyWJM2Y5

— Shaun Oakes (@shaunoakes) November 22, 2022

The above tweet set off a flurry of angry replies:

@Takealot Scammers those one, I bought that speaker with R3299 notice how thy say it was R9999 and now R4199….😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/W4lF32LGMH

— The dusky Tecknokamza🇿🇦💯👻 (@KamoheloOlifant) November 22, 2022

Just @TAKEALOT takealotting. For those looking for great deals this Black Friday, remember, it might not be such a great deal. 👇🏽 👇🏽 https://t.co/b2buLlj8fK

— UtianⒼ (@UtianG) November 22, 2022

At this point, it’s worth pointing out that Takealot also operates as a ‘storefront’ for countless third-party sellers.

In other words, it doesn’t set the price for everything you can buy:

Remember Takealot is similar to Bidorbuy now they have a lot of 3rd party sellers always scroll down to check, you’ll see the 55″ sold by takealot is 7999 while the 3rd party marked up their price pic.twitter.com/hGtZa9WU6i

— That who shall not be named (@warrenfer1) November 22, 2022

From what I recall the “Fulfilled by Takealot” items prices are set by the suppliers and the discount is dependant on what they set VS where it doesn’t say “fulfilled”, then that is takealot themselves adjusting the price pic.twitter.com/rfNCFLYLPS

— Theblackcat (@theblackcatza) November 22, 2022

However you look at it and whoever you want to hold responsible, the fact remains that the deals you see on Takealot (and other retailers) don’t always represent the savings they may appear to.

Last year, we told you about the Serval price tracker and it’s proving popular again this time around:

If you’re looking at black Friday deals on Takealot make sure they’re really a deal with this price tracking websitehttps://t.co/RTjwao7fdb

— JustOneLap (@JustOneLap) November 22, 2022

The tool makes it easy for Takealot shoppers to see whether they are scoring a good deal on a discounted product or whether the saving shown to them has been overstated.

All you need to do to check is to copy and paste the Takealot product URL into the top right corner of Servaltracker.com.

I used two televisions (here and here) and Serval showed that over the past two weeks, neither had been listed at the full selling price (the crossed-out price in grey) that is often used to illustrate the saving you’re getting.

That’s a far from scientific approach to a more complicated issue but it’s easy to understand why so many shoppers raise concerns about the authenticity of Black Friday deals.