Normally we don’t judge, but we believe in doing the right things so that no one gets ripped off. Our readers would know that I recently bought a Xiaomi Redmi and am very happy with it.
This morning we saw an advertisement on well-known deal site, DEAL.com.sg, touting the Redmi at an “offer” price of S$228, down from the “normal” price of S$299.
Wait a minute, who are they kidding? A normal price of $299?! Let us head over to the original Xiaomi page to see how much it really costs.
The site might well claim that their normal prices are in-line with dishonest sellers who mark-up prices significantly in some dingy shopping centre. Sure. But no one will dispute the original price of the Redmi is $169.
Here at Ridz.sg, we believe in the power of the internet and the democratisation of information. We are writing about this because we do not believe that anyone should fall prey to dishonest marketing. This is not the first time this has happened from such deal sites, but we should spread the word to make sure that people are well-informed. If you want to do business, you jolly well be clean about it. It’s not just about the markup for this product only to claim a discount, but a matter of principle when a company does this.
We have reached out to DEAL.com.sg for comments and they have not replied at publication.
IVAN GN
*The author blogs at http://ridz.sg/