Retailers can realistically charge whatever they want for an item, regardless of what they originally paid for it, outside of engaging in price gouging. However, that does not preclude customers from shopping around for their items to see who is offering the best price.
One Altar’d State customer says she was shopping in-store when a certain jacket caught her eye. The sherpa-lined coat, which she described as being made entirely of polyester, was priced at $109.
TikTok user Hannah (@hannahgiardino) urged viewers to look up items they want before buying them, just to check if a more affordable option is out there.
“Y’all better be Googling what stuff costs, the brands, and reverse image searching everything that you buy, because prices on things do not make sense anymore,” she says in the video. “I saw this fun little jacket at Altar’d State. Don’t judge me, I saw it, I liked it, I went up to it, and I looked at the price. $109 for a polyester piece of sh*t.”
Hannah ended up using the information on the label to see if it was available elsewhere. It ended up being available from a different retailer at a much lower price point.
“Then I noticed it was some weird brand name and not just like, white labeled for Altard State,” she says. “So I googled it, and I found it online for half the cost. Country Outfitters had it for $59.99 and they had a $20 off coupon off your first purchase.”
She did not purchase the jacket but said that if she had bought it at Altar’d State and then found the jacket at a less costly price she would have been upset.
“I didn’t end up buying it because I didn’t think it was worth it in the end, but if I hadn’t googled it and I had just spent $109 on that piece of garbage, I would be really mad about that,” she says. “I mean, maybe I would have never known. But just google what you’re going to buy.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Hannah via TikTok direct message regarding the video.
@hannahgiardino Literally reverse image search, google labels, etc on everything you buy. These boutique-style chain stores are especially bad about mark ip #greenscreen #shopping #pricetag #fastfashion ♬ original sound – hannah
Several viewers shared that they had seen other instances of items available for lower prices from a variety of retailers, noting that stores like Altar’d State and Francesca’s tended to have higher markups.
“A girl on here found one of their rompers at altard state was also being sold at Walmart,” one commenter wrote.
“I bought Levi overalls from aritzia for $100 just for Kohl’s to have them for $30,” another said.
“I work at a hotel with a ’boutique,'” a further user commented. “All of the items you can find at Target. I once sold a winter BEANIE for $115.”
Pricing schemes like these have driven some consumers to write off buying anything at full price at all.
“if they can reduce everything at Ross from $100 to 15.99 ….is it really worth $100in the first place,” one commented. “NO. it’s ridiculous.”
“I just saw a tiktok of people finding items marked up again at tjmaxx, literally peeled off the price sticker revealing the cheaper old one,” another said.
“That’s insane! I bought that same jacket and returned it bc I didn’t love it enough to justify $120 after tax for it,” a further user shared.