Whether you watch the sales in your local supermarket or department store, or wait for the sales listed in a special section in the Sunday papers, someone will always be having a sale. Also, depending upon where you live, there are packs of circulars announcing upcoming sales as well.

However, its important to pay particular attention to the type of sales offered. Grocery sales notwithstanding, if you are searching for deals on furniture or bedding, appliances or TVs, its always a good idea to read the fine print.

Heres an example: One famous mattress outlet is currently offering a 50% sale on selected mattresses. This is basically a gimmick to get you to the store. Once you arrive, you may find that the mattress on sale is not a brand name. Additionally, the salesperson may begin showing you high quality mattresses which, in essence, would wipe out the amount paid for the former brand.

Also be careful of bait and switch sales. There are unscrupulous store owners who advertise sales for electronics. Upon arrival at the store, they may tell you that the item is either not available or you may have to settle for the floor model.

Another problem with sales is that the item in question may be sub-standard. For example, lets assume you want to buy a computer. You go to a store that is having a sale and as you proceed to the item, the salesperson is right behind you. Here is where the pedal meets the metal. The computer may be on sale, but it does not include an operating system, nor does it include any peripherals such as a printer (in some cases, not even a modem).

One other way to find sales is via the internet. Now here you have to be especially careful as you are not able to inspect the item (unless the store has an outlet near you). The sale item may carry a hefty shipping rate, or the website might not have a telephone number so that you can call them if the item is damaged upon arrival or is not exactly what you ordered.

Finally, there are famous discount stores that offer daily sales for almost anything you need, including clothes, household items, furniture, TVs, and the like. Take note of this scenario: A woman went to one of these national wholesale outlets to purchase bedroom furniture. She was looking for an armoire and two bookshelves as well as a TV stand. To make a long story short, all the items at this wholesale outlet had to be assembled at home. Well, the woman didnt have the ability to do this, so the outlet charged $50.00 for each piece of furniture that had to be assembled. The total for two bookshelves, an armoire, and a TV stand came to around $700.00, not including assembly.

But while she may have saved on the furniture, it was literally highway robbery since the assembly charge was per item. You would think that since the deliverymen had to assemble one item in the same room in the same house, a single flat rate charge of $50.00 would have sufficed. Buyers beware!

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