Consumer Board offers advice on how to shop in the summer sales

THE Balearic Board of Consumer Affairs has set in motion an informative campaign in aid of the forthcoming summer sales in the Balearic Islands.
The campaign is to provide residents with advice and recommendations before the summer sale season starts on Friday 8 July.
All this advice can be found on their website (www.dgconsum.caib.es) or by calling 900 166 000.
The department wants to ensure that no residents on the islands loses their consumer rights this summer.
Amongst these recommendations, the Consumer Affairs team state that consumers must keep their receipt, which is necessary if residents want to return a purchased item. In addition, all shops must allow consumers to pay for goods using a credit or debit card without any additional charges during the sales (as long as the shop usually accepts cards). The goods featured in a sale must have been on display in the past for a minimum of one month, at a normal price and without any offers.
The ticket on the sale item must clearly state the former price as well as the sale price.
Furthermore, the ticket must give information about the characteristics of the product, technical descriptions and instructions for use.
The sales season can coincide with other types of sale offers, such as when shops sell goods at a lower price if they are damaged or out of date (known in Spanish as saldos). In similar terms, the sale season can also co-exist with liquidations, which is when all products are sold at a discounted price due to exceptional reasons, such as a shop closing down or changing business activity (Liquidación in Spanish. However, each type of sale method must be clearly differentiated so that consumers are not deceived in any way.
by Monitor
SUMMER has barely started and in Majorca it has at least three months to go, but already the shops are preparing for their sales. It's no wonder traders have been complaining about poor takings - why buy summer clothes in March, when you can get them in July for a fraction of the price, and still be able to wear them for months? Traders should wake up to the fact that if they are not selling, it is because their prices are too high or they are not offering consumers what they want.