Originally Posted by
OhDoctor
i have read and re-read this sentence a dozen times, and each time i understand it less.
I apologize and will try to do better.
There were a number of posts asserting that the offer couldn't have been financially viable simply because the price was too low. But they were assuming that the prices listed on the site were what Kate Spade actually expected to sell the goods for.
An offer of a $500 handbag for $70 only appears to be too cheap to be true if $500 is really what the bag sells for most of the time. But if only a few customers actually pay the posted price whereas most buy at a discount then the true price is a lot less. The listed price is just a made up number to convince the customer of the good's supposed quality.
Suddenly an impossible price of $70 for a $500 bag doesn't look so impossible. It's might just be a half off sale of the kind of merchandise that sells for cost or even at a loss all the time when its time to clear out the warehouse of stuff that isn't moving.