Don’t get taken at liquidation sales

Raleigh News & Observer

Liquidation sales are not supposed to save you money.

Their sole purpose is to squeeze every possible penny of profit from the inventory of a dying retailer.

And that’s something you ought to know, with an ever-growing list of bankrupt retailers plastering going-out-of business banners on shopping centers.

“It may say ‘Everything must go,’ but that doesn’t mean you have to go,” said Anthony Giorgianni, associate finance editor for Consumer Reports.

Deals at liquidation sales, especially at the start of the sale, are typically not very good.

At the Circuit City liquidation, which started last weekend, discounts range from 10 percent to 30 percent — about typical for the beginning stages of a liquidation.

“People see ‘going out of business,’ and they just think that it automatically means great deals,” Giorgianni said. “Generally the deals aren’t great, and by the time they’re good, a lot of the stuff is gone.”

Shoppers should comparison shop before making any purchase at a liquidation sale, Giorgianni advised.

For instance, Circuit City now has DVDs at 20 percent off. The first season of “The Sopranos” on DVD retails for $59.99 but is $47.99 with the discount. But you can buy a copy with free shipping from Amazon.com for $40.49.

Likewise, most of the flat-screen TVs at Circuit City are discounted 10 percent. A Panasonic 42-inch plasma TV that retails for $1,299.99 is selling for $1,169.99. But Sears.com lists that same TV for a sale price of $899.99.

However, that’s not to say there aren’t deals to be had.

Giorgianni said he visited a New York Circuit City and found a Wii Guitar Hero game that was $30 cheaper than any other price he had found.

Jay Hann went shopping in Raleigh, N.C., with his girlfriend and bought surround-sound speakers for his TV, some DVDs and some accessories for his Xbox 360 video game system.

The video game accessories were 30 percent off, a discount rarely seen for those types of items, Hann said.

“In all, we spent $240 and saved $60 or $70,” he said. “Thirty percent off [accessories] doesn’t happen. ... They say this sale will go on through March. We’ll be back.”

And a word to the wise for those of you who think that waiting till the end of the sale is the best strategy: “At the very end, [liquidators will] bring in their own goods, and for electronics it’s usually reconditioned goods,” said Britt Beemer of America’s Research Group in Charleston, S.C. “The customer thinks that they’re getting a great deal, but the fact is that they’re getting a re-manufactured item.”

The bottom line for all shoppers at a liquidation sale is buyer beware, Giorgianni said. All sales — the good deals and the bad — are final.