'Reverse psychology?' Coles shoppers divided over confusing sale item

2 for $11 might seem like a good deal - until you find out how much the product actually costs.

Sale stickers can be an absolute saviour when grocery shopping.

In this cost of living crisis, you’d be hard pressed to find something I’ve bought recently that wasn’t on sale.

But, shoppers are warning others to stay vigilant, as those little yellow stickers might not be giving you the best deal afterwards.

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Image: Reddit.

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“Buy 2 pay 96% more!”

An Aussie Reddit user has taken to the platform to expose a strange ‘special’ tag on a block of chocolate at Coles.

While it would be hard to resist some discount chocolate - especially since global cocoa shortages have made it soooo much more expensive - the user was rather warning fellow Coles shoppers to steer clear, as the bargain might not have been as good as it seemed.

“Buy 2 pay 96% more!” the user wrote in the post, accompanied by a photo of the deal.

The ‘deal’ said that shoppers could get any two included products for $11 - except one block alone costs just $2.80.

“I bought one just to see and I can confirm 1 is $2.80,” the poster said.

“All the other Cadbury chocolate blocks cost $4 and the Nestle ones were 2 for $10, so idk what ‘any’ 2 they are talking about.”

“Did you notify a team member of the error?”

Some commenters on the post thought the sale was hilarious, with one in particular saying it made them ‘crackle a little’ - pun intended, I’m sure.

However, others were outraged.

“Prices [are] getting out of hand !!” said one person.

“I saw this sales tactic when I played world of tanks. Use a bad discount as reverse psychology so people buy individual items (instead of buying nothing) thinking they got a good deal…” another suggested.

Many wondered if the shopper contacted a staff member - which they ultimately said they did.

“Did you notify a team member of the error? The markdown, price change and ticketing software/algorithm is shit and often blurts out weird prices,” said one person.

“I wonder how that conversation would have gone with a team member,” another said.

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“Nobody is walking away paying any more than they expected to”

However, just as many commenters said that it wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as it was being made out to be, with the deal ultimately to be corrected at the register.

“If you buy 2, you get them for the cheaper price, no need to notify TM,” said one person.

“The register will always give you the lowest price in situations like this,” another agreed.

“The range has a ‘2 for $11’ promotion, if you buy two qualifying items and the total is more than $11 a discount is added. This particular item is being discontinued so it's only $2.80 each, two of them would cost you $5.60. Nobody is walking away paying any more than they expected to,” a third stated, suggesting that there was no issue with the promotion.

So... what's the deal?

Coles confirmed in a statement to Kidspot that the Cadbury Dairy Milk Slices Crackle Chocolate Block (165g) actually has a regular price of $8, encouraging shoppers to come forward with any issues they spot in stores.

"At Coles we take clear and accurate pricing information on tickets very seriously," the spokesperson said.

"We work hard to ensure our specials represent value for our customers and are easy to identify. We always strive to ensure accuracy across the thousands of lines we offer, however, from time to time if an error occurs, we work urgently to resolve it including identifying any root cause.

"In this case, our team is urgently investigating this."

Originally published as 'Reverse psychology?' Coles shoppers divided over confusing sale item