Why do stores say "Add to cart" to see price?

I mean really, what is the gimmick with this? Is it so that search engines can't cache the price? Does it really entice people to buy it just because it's now in the cart? Do they think they can just slip it by unnoticed when the customer does go to checkout?

It's usually on big ticket items that they do this (meaning several hundred or more). These aren't the kind of items people just buy accidently or on impulse.

It's just a weird practice that I have never understood what the advantage is to the retailer. It used to be they would say "too low to advertise" so you had to go through additional steps to see it (the worst is having it emailed to you). But even this doesn't make sense because it's like "wait you're saying the manufacturer won't let you advertise below a certain price, but has no problem with you actually selling it for that price?"

westrock2000 said:

But even this doesn't make sense because it's like "wait you're saying the manufacturer won't let you advertise below a certain price, but has no problem with you actually selling it for that price?"

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Probably have a contractual obligation to the manufacturer to not advertise below a certain price. Manufacturer can't tell you how much you can sell something for, though.

I think it has something to do with an agreement with manufacturers to advertise at a certain price so they probably aren't allowed to show a sale price on the storefront below a certain threshold but can in the cart.

Yeah, it's a weird distinction, but it's forced on them by manufacturers not allowing advertised or publicly visible prices below a certain point.

How come I can see an item on sale for $50 at one store, and another has it "too low to advertise" for $90? The manufacturer sets different minimums for each store ???

It's called MAP - Minimum Advertised Price and is a contract which bounds the retailer in advertising. As stated above the Mfg cannot dictate selling price.

iirc, some online camera shops will only email the sale price with a link to buy at the sale price. They must be crazy scared of Canon / Nikon.

As stated MAP. I don't think that web crawlers will pick up the cart price, which is likely what manufacturers worry about.

I was at Best Buy earlier and they want your name and email before showing the price, wtf...

Add to cart to see the price is annoying but not nearly as annoying as Micro Centers, email for the price. That's just stupid. I just shop elsewhere when they pull the crap. At that point I don't care what their price was.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2008/06/15/nvidia_dictates_advertised_video_card_pricing

NVIDIA Dictates Advertised Video Card Pricing

Did you wonder why your GeForce purchasing experience may have changed? Have you wondered why you might have seen all cards priced the same or not priced at all? We have some answers for you on that front and it is called "UMAP."

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