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Can a shop refuse to sell you an item at checkout?


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Old 06-12-2016, 08:48
Miss XYZ
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I was in Toys R Us recently with my son, and while I was waiting for him to pay I started reading the signs that were dotted around the place. One of them said something like they reserve the right to limit the quantity of an item that can be purchased by each customer. It's understandable I guess, though Smyths not letting you buy 3 of the same item is a bit OTT!
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Old 06-12-2016, 08:49
Maxatoria
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In the summer I wanted to buy some Pokemon cards from a well known store that sells them and they didn't have any because someone had apparently come in and bought them all for his birthday. I didn't believe that story and I suspect they bought them to resell.
If this was the original pokemon release of the card game then it literally was impossible to get stock once the TV series came out and everyone and their dog wanted them and people were ram raiding comic book shops just for the cards and after the two boxes we had sold out we would on a saurday morning have loads of dads come in with the kids hunting and telling us they've been to every place within miles and no one had any for sale.

By the time they did get stock in from wherever printed them the fashion was on its way out so they didn't really sell.

But some other less popular card games it wasn't unusual for the dad to come in and buy the entire stock as it was popular at the kids school and they needed loads to put into the party bags for the kids birthday party.
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Old 06-12-2016, 17:40
cnbcwatcher
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If this was the original pokemon release of the card game then it literally was impossible to get stock once the TV series came out and everyone and their dog wanted them and people were ram raiding comic book shops just for the cards and after the two boxes we had sold out we would on a saurday morning have loads of dads come in with the kids hunting and telling us they've been to every place within miles and no one had any for sale.

By the time they did get stock in from wherever printed them the fashion was on its way out so they didn't really sell.

But some other less popular card games it wasn't unusual for the dad to come in and buy the entire stock as it was popular at the kids school and they needed loads to put into the party bags for the kids birthday party.
No it was a recent release from summer 2016, not the original one. There are many different expansion sets for the card game and I'm am original fan so I remember the initial craze for the things. It was madness. I remember my parents telling me whenever I bought any cards to keep them hidden in public so they wouldn't be stolen from me.
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Old 07-12-2016, 18:29
Straker
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Now my question is. Was that managers actions illegal and have any of you experienced something like this before?
Some (not all) of the staff in Fopp are Little Hitlers when it comes to this, ironically over items that are in their sales more often than not which begs the question if you're going to have a sale in order to encourage people to buy more why stop them doing so when they get to the till?

It's just till-jockeys on some kind of power-trip for the most part and is clearly not store-policy otherwise it'd be the same throughout the whole store but as I've found - It isn't.
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Old 08-12-2016, 07:25
CravenHaven
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But would they really care if 30 people are buying 1 each or 1 person buys 30 as long as they are all sold.
yes, because if you sell 30 to one customer then you could have to turn away 29 other customers making enquiries after it, a very tiresome day and not good customer relations.
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Old 08-12-2016, 10:28
Monkey_Moo
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yes, because if you sell 30 to one customer then you could have to turn away 29 other customers making enquiries after it, a very tiresome day and not good customer relations.
Yeah, nothing worse for customer relations you advertise something at a good price, then people travel to the store to find there is nothing for them (take note Aldi). At the end of the day sales are really to get people in the store who might buy other items too.
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Old 08-12-2016, 12:40
Paul_DNAP
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Yeah, nothing worse for customer relations you advertise something at a good price, then people travel to the store to find there is nothing for them (take note Aldi). At the end of the day sales are really to get people in the store who might buy other items too.
Known in our house as "doing a woolies" - having trapsed over to woolworths to buy the toys they were featuring on TV/press adverts for their sales to find they had none. I forget what the toy was but I do remember the lady saying "oh, we only had one of those and it was sold as soon we opened this morning"
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Old 08-12-2016, 13:28
Funk You
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I dont see a problem in you buying 3 action figures, what business is it of the manager what your doing?. Sometimes when bored in some shopping centres I look in HMV, I eye up some CD's that look like something I'd like, remember what they are for later and then buy them as MP3's off the internet. HMV cant stop me! & Smyth shouldnt have stopped you from paying for 3 of the same items. Just proves that if you got them down the road it's not a massive rare figure so it doesnt matter how many you buy.
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Old 09-12-2016, 10:01
Concretepigsy
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Even if you are selling them on, it's nothing to do with him. Once you've paid for them at the agreed price, they're your property.

I'd fire off an email to head office.
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Old 09-12-2016, 10:05
tim59
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Even if you are selling them on, it's nothing to do with him. Once you've paid for them at the agreed price, they're your property.

I'd fire off an email to head office.
The OP had not paid for them, and a shop can refuse to sell you something, just the same as they can refuse you entry
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Old 09-12-2016, 10:24
qixvix
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I was refused anything larger than a teeny tiny packet of citric acid in Sainsburys last week - they wouldn't even sell us two packs of it - I wanted it to make bath bombs! Apparently drug addicts use it to cut with other drugs - so I researched this - apparently one small pack covers a few 'shots' of drugs so the pack they were willing to sell could be useful anyway to an addict!

I went on amazon, bought 1kg and of course as us usual with Amazon got the list of 'frequently bought with this item'

Rose petals, bath bomb molds, and perfume oils!

Yeah sainsburys, you're truly saving lives with your policy!

Maybe they'll start limiting the amount of cola customers purchase in case they using it to 'cut' with their vodka - which apparently you can buy in unlimited amounts - shame I'm straight edge and tee total just trying to copy Kirsty's homemade Christmas you fudge nuggets 😂
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Old 09-12-2016, 10:30
annette kurten
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I was refused anything larger than a teeny tiny packet of citric acid in Sainsburys last week - they wouldn't even sell us two packs of it - I wanted it to make bath bombs! Apparently drug addicts use it to cut with other drugs - so I researched this - apparently one small pack covers a few 'shots' of drugs so the pack they were willing to sell could be useful anyway to an addict!

I went on amazon, bought 1kg and of course as us usual with Amazon got the list of 'frequently bought with this item'

Rose petals, bath bomb molds, and perfume oils!

Yeah sainsburys, you're truly saving lives with your policy!

Maybe they'll start limiting the amount of cola customers purchase in case they using it to 'cut' with their vodka - which apparently you can buy in unlimited amounts - shame I'm straight edge and tee total just trying to copy Kirsty's homemade Christmas you fudge nuggets 😂
it`s not restricted to sainsbury`s, it`s a general policy, vit c is used when you cook up a smack hit, glucose is a popular cutting agent, that used to be restricted but i see it`s freely available in big boxes again.
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Old 09-12-2016, 10:44
dee123
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In the summer I wanted to buy some Pokemon cards from a well known store that sells them and they didn't have any because someone had apparently come in and bought them all for his birthday. I didn't believe that story and I suspect they bought them to resell.
Or if like my store they were too embarrassed to admit that since Pokemon Go was launched the amount of Pokemon cards being stolen has gone though the roof.

So much so that in my store they are now a behind the counter item. It's nuts.
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Old 09-12-2016, 10:48
Maxatoria
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Or if like my store they were too embarrassed to admit that since Pokemon Go was launched the amount of Pokemon cards being stolen has gone though the roof.

So much so that in my store they are now a behind the counter item. It's nuts.
They always were in our shop, not just the pokemon but all sorts of cards as they're so easy to pinch and the local druggies love something easy to be able to pass on.
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Old 09-12-2016, 11:03
dee123
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They always were in our shop, not just the pokemon but all sorts of cards as they're so easy to pinch and the local druggies love something easy to be able to pass on.
Hmm... Interesting. Apparently my store doesn't care about Yu-Gi-Oh or Magic: The Gathering being pinched!
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Old 09-12-2016, 17:59
cnbcwatcher
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Or if like my store they were too embarrassed to admit that since Pokemon Go was launched the amount of Pokemon cards being stolen has gone though the roof.

So much so that in my store they are now a behind the counter item. It's nuts.
I sometimes go to an independent store which keeps them behind the counter. They've always done that. It's crazy really.
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