10-30% off Storewide. Starts Monday. Photo taken from store
As reported in The Age:
Masters fire sale to start Monday
items that rarely went on special like power tools would move the fastest and the company would track items "scientifically, on a day-by-day basis" to decide when prices needed to be dropped as the closing date approached.
They are not.
Interesting. Even after its scanned?
Hmmm that sign that says 10-30% off highly inaccurate then
So who else is placing a call to Fair Trading over these dodgy 'discounts'?
Disclaimer, i am not affiliated… no idea why Ozbargain wont let me change this.
Disclaimer, i am not affiliated… no idea why Ozbargain wont let me change this.
I've fixed it (you click the associated checkbox when commenting). In future, if you contact us (e.g. hit the report link) we can fix this up quickly.
Top stuff thanks
You might want to explain what you are talking about.
They said 10 to 30% off. They have 10 to 30% off (and more). What exactly are you complaining about?
Have been looking at something online all week. Checked the price this morning and it INCREASED 10%….nice work Masters!
What was it?
Nothing exciting just this
It was $4 yesterday, $4.44 this morning and is now $5! Was hoping it would drop to something stupid today but now i am not going to waste my time with Masters
What's the problem? It says that you're saving $2.99! Massive bargain!
This must be Great America's idea of the scientific pricing tracked day by day. It will be few and far bargains here
It seems the people that have taken over clearing the stock have decided it is easiest to reset to regular price and start with a certain percentage off whole categories. Getting the staff to reticket every single item is the shop would have been a nightmare. They don't really care if you buy it now or later as it will all be sold eventually.
I am with you on this, I believe the pricing is being inflated (RRP) then discounted to look like a huge discount when in fact it may not be the case.
This Dyson Vaccum is apparently a massive $204 discount https://www.masters.com.au/product/101596894/dyson-cordless-… yet is very similar pricing at other retailers Good Guys, David Jones
http://shop.davidjones.com.au/djs/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10051&productId=5555006&langId=-1&storeId=10051&cm_mmc=googlesem--PLA--Home+and+Garden+-+Household+Appliances-_-Dyson+Dc45+Handstick&CAWELAID=620017140002778595&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=18484470856&CATCI=pla-79310661622&gclid=COa8soue6s4CFQwlvQod_bgCFQ&gclsrc=aw.ds
Lol same item today $150 more go GA you are great at what you do clearly.
https://www.masters.com.au/product/101596894/dyson-cordless-…
Saw a couple of tradie tool bags (30% off). Went back a day later and it was only 10% off. Price went up!
Looks like the website has been updated with current pricing, eg. 10% off.
Most items were 10% off at Masters Morayfield. Appliances 6%. Webers 10%.
Some cheap light bulbs.
No more price matching/beating either.
Really no more price beat?? those 10% price beat signs were still up on each isle this morning
Yep, there was still some in the garden section too, however the staff member said they had been pulling them down since yesterday.
Masters Fire Sale.
Heehee.
Woolies is going to burn the place down for insurance.
Fire sale delayed. LOWES has lodged injunction in high court alleging something dodgy about the stock transfer / sale agreement. Colour me surprised… where is that guy swearing black and blue this was all above boarf because 'surely' the lawyers wouldnt 'lie'…
From todays after market announcement
Woolworths Group confirms that today it became aware of an ex parte application filed by Lowe's in relation to
the home improvement joint venture company, Hydrox Holdings Pty Ltd. Woolworths is yet to be served with
documents relating to this application. The transactions relating to the Home Timber and Hardware sale and
Masters inventory clearance by GA Australia are proceeding as announced.
No this is nonsenee there are no US forces in the capital and the air strikes have been repelled!
Can join others in noting that many prices have INCREASED.
Was price checking for bamboo flooring during the week.
Price of Vantage 10mm Bamboo flooring INCREASED from $38 per m2 to $55.47 per m2.
Price of Sens 12mm bamboo increased from $65 per m2 to $89.62 per m2.
On a 130m2 job that's an extra $3,200 for the product from Sunday to Monday…
(Ironically I held off for the sale and will now purchase elsewhere!)
Other item price checked..
8mm Wild Ash laminate was $14.90, now $25.41… thats even worse….
Flooboards online in my experience is the best place to deal with
I think the flooring still had a residual sale on it and now since the stock has transferred to 'Great America' has reverted to RRP
On the weekend I debated about purchasing a BBQ - the red centre house brand for $199 down from $249 and a cover which was 20% off then ABN discount. I bought it total purchase for $219 and if I had waited to today's 'fire sale' it would have been $254. I know its not mega dollars however it once again shows the model of these administrators
My favourite today was one of the staff members being totally honest with customers his words 'don't buy now the deals are no good - wait. I have been here since day one and the team at WOW management can go get F*** excuse the language.' I couldn't help but feel sorry for him and can tell the sentiment there must be shocking.
At masters at the moment. All I see is sale signs but no sales. Best I've seen so far is 10% off
Based on the update here indicating that Masters return policy would work as normal https://www.masters.com.au/diy-projects-ideas/support-help/m…
Can a Masters staff member or someone in the know comment on the following approach? If we buy some goods now at 10% off and find out in a few weeks that the prices have dropped to 20% or 30% in the next few weeks, can we buy them again and return the original purchase at the previous price? I know this is opportunistic however the Masters return policy states one can return purchased items based on change of mind if packaging is unopened and you have proof of purchase.
I only ask because if Masters allows returns based on change of mind, then this will likely create an administrative nightmare for your staff upto December when you close.
Masters Morayfield had signs up today stating that all sales are final, except when covered under Australian Consumer Law.
Same at Hawthorn. My guess is that shortly that page will be removed from their website and it will be the 'all sales are final'
Nope Saturday was the last day for change of mind refunds.
All sales are final
Thanks for the update. Makes perfect sense. Masters should update the FAQ at the top of their website, however won't be surprised if they don't bother as this is listed clearly instore and that's the only place we can now purchase.
Btw can anyone confirm if egift cards are still being accepted instore? Using this one can get a further 5% off through cashrewards.
worked for me y'day.
Masters sale is a joke only 10% off and i asked about their display stock as they had none left and they said they couldnt sell it yet.
Also asked about a produxt that had a damaged box looked like a return and couldnt do a better price
Called bunnings and they said they would beat masters by 10%
looks like masters are reading this thread. They have closed their online website. Now we can't even compare price.
I'm sure you are right and will be reinstated removing the reference to returns policy
Strange. It still works for me.
back on guys, they must have changed something
no problemo
works for me too
there was a strange 10 minutes when it said under maintenance. its all back now. Wonder what was the maintenance for.
I assume it was to update prices. I can see now that everything on the website is essentially 10% off, which wasn't there this morning.
I believe this is a perfect time to buy from Masters using a price protection card.
Credit card you mean?
Some CCs have price protection e.g. 28 Degrees & Coles Platinum.
The Coles card won't allow that
9,1 Things not covered under Price Protection:
Items offered during a ‘closing down’, ‘limited quantity’, ‘going out of business’ or similar sale
Pretty sure the 28 Degrees card has the same policy too.
I for one am advising everyone to hold out upon purchases until at least late October.
The less that sells, the greater the discounts.
We have the power, if we can resist these paltry false offerings and educate the masses.
Link this thread into your social media profiles and lets saturate the market with the message that this is not good enough, so we will wait until it is :)
Great idea in theory however judging by the full carparks and trolley load after trolley load leaving the stores it appears that the masses believe the hype and that they are getting the deal of the century.
Went to landsdale store today and never seen it so busy, but noticed more people browsing than purchasing.
Went to look at a worx drill which I missed back in June when it was $79.20 then changed to $99 and no stock.
Then they had heaps of stock when price went to $199 and has been since until today when after the discount it is now $206.10 !
Looks like I will be hanging back on this closing sale until the last couple weeks.
Holy crap what model?
Just checked again… my bad i left out a number in my search DOH!
Worx 20V hammer drill W373.2 model (now $179.10), i bloody looked at the W372 model.
Still peeved they had no stock when the better deal was on https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/253071
10% meh! Hold off for while guys unless you are chasing something very specific. This is just the beginning of things…
Just to clarify:
At store level, we have very little control over pricing. I'm sorry but I can't give you a better price because the box is damaged or it's the last one. Masters doesn't own the stock anymore we're just selling through for GA.
Also, we have no idea of when X is going to a higher discount. GA handles this and we get told only the day before. From speaking with our in store GA rep, there's a pretty strong confidence that some item categories won't need to go over a certain % off before achieving total sell through.
If you're really eyeing off a certain item send me a PM with the item number (or link to the item) and your closest masters store(s) and I'll give you stock counts.
(Please note the system is pretty average and might be out)
Any other questions feel free to reply here and I'll try and be as transparent as I can
When did the orders to INCREASE prices come in?
I'm in the store - nothing to do with pricing what so ever.
I'm happy to have a look at pricing history for you on certain items if you want mate? What item?
Exactly. I don't see why people are complaining about the pricing not being insanely discounted.
The point of this sale is to try and recover as many funds as possible before closing. Try and sell for the best price, then, over time, discount more and more until as much stock is sold as possible.
Why would Masters drop an item's price by 50% if they can still make sales dropping it by 10%? Not everyone is money smart.
I can see why people are complaining. Mass media coverage about Masters closing and a "fire sale". I don't know how much of the blame for that is on Masters/GA and how much was just the media making assumptions.
It's a good point. I blame the media as with articles such as 'if your ltrimmer breaks down wait until Monday' it can't help the situation.
I feel the most for the staff. The prices would have previously been set by their HQ and now by GA and must be a horrible atmosphere to work in
the media did the same with Dick Smith.
its a progressive sale, of course 10% is barely anything, as an item on special would be around 25% off.. easiest way is to wait until its 25% or greater, but good items probably be gone by then :(
Went to North Lakes last night - busiest I've ever seen the store.
Most things are 10% off - I did get some screws for 30% off though which was ok.
Fastners have been on sale for 50% off up until the liquidation announcement.
Yep I bought some when they were - ran out
Looks like we're not the only ones not impressed by the fire sale. https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/32476474/fail-sale-big-masters-s…
Typical media bollocks. The Lowes legal action does not affect the liquidation which is being run by GA Australia. As the rep posted earlier Woolies no longer owns the stock.
And where were the mainstream when Masters was a going concern and consistently had cheaper deals and prices than Bunnings? Getting ripped off of course.
This is what gets me. When the business was a going concern the media was always taking down its failures, and customers generally unsupportive.
We all know they made some mistakes initially however what business hasn't. It was a shame the media didn't compel as many people in store when it would help competition rather than now to pick over the carcass
Great, another bush lawyer. The legal action could absolutely halt or changenthe fire sale. You do notnunderstand fiduciary duties.
Guys I just rang the head office / customer service and was advised that TODAY (30th August 2016) is the LAST DAY to return anything as a change of mind.
I rang up about returning some sealed untinted paint that we bought in quantities advised by a Masters employee, knowing that we would be able to return any excess. Luckily I rang them today to check!
So, please take note!
Good advice I wish I saw this
Thanks for that. I went straight to Masters Chullora to return a few stuff after seeing your message last night.
Btw, DO NOT expect any customer service. I asked two workers a question about the location of a light fitting I was after, and they pointed me to a guy at the paint desk. Went to him and he looked at me and said "I'm in the paints department". He tried to help anyway and when I told him that those two pointed him to me, he said that many have given up or quit altogether. Masters was a very sad place, although only 2 days into the "sale". Reminded me of Dick Smith's last days.
How are they going to go staffwise by December?
Obviously they will all be looking for new jobs, is there going to be stores with no staff or managers left?
It's not like they can replace them with new staff….
If someone resigns, theyll be replaced with casuals
By December it'll probably be an open door gold coin donation tin event :-D
Would save them lots of money on staff and someone could try and recoup this year's losses at the pokies.
I'm not excusing it however it looks like there are a number of casuals working there now on fixed contracts. The 'classic' Mastrre staff on the whole are pretty good
Closing down sale lol was looking at a dysom was reduced from $400+ to $299 thought this be nice when they start reducing it in price.
Back upto $400 plus again so when it does come down it will be no less that it just was,why the hell would you put up a price almost double when your closing down.
Greed i would say,cant believe these stores that close down here the squeeze every last dollar out of you,why not give some of the regular customers a bargain.
I commented on the same item a few days ago and now its $449. The receivers are clearly great at what they do, screwing people over.
I say BOYCOTT Masters/GA at all costs everyone and wait until they slash and burn.
Still $298 online at good guys lets buy it there instead.
https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/dyson-dc45-stick-vacuum-21024…
From a customer perspective it would have been better if Masters cleared the stock however GA now own it so not much control there
I would imagine many of the staff at Masters HQ are now out of a job/redeployed (i.e. Buyers, marketing) and this is basically GA trading as Masters.
I went in this arvo to see how the sale was going. Still plenty of stock on the shelves, although the tools section is looking a bit empty (why bloody bother at only 10%…)
What surprised/saddened me the most was the timber yard was dead. Lights off, nobody around. Shelves heaving with products, most of it without any discount tags.
What angers me the most is stuff like the Stor Pak containers, which cost peanuts to make (gotta love injection moulding), is still a rip-off at $5+ ea.
For the masses 10% off tools still seems cheap. Us astute shoppers knew that could get 40% off Triton, 10-20% off Hitachi and Bosch during their sales. It's intriguing to see how for many how ironic it is that they will buy at this level
Looks like they raised the prices of many items to the official "Retail price" - then took 10% off. This resulted in many products costing more than before…
What a joke…
Discount of 10% online back to rrp online. Strange. Hoping this is a precursor to an update to a bigger discount.
Just noticed this also.
Back to 10% off showing online :(
Was looking at an item online i take prices are same in store if so was 10% off first monday the was having this sale this week is another week and its not reduced.
How often and when they going to up the % on stuff i hope they keep the prices high and never sell there stock.
Greedy shits if you ask me was more deals tovbe had when it was just masters
I was just in the Northland Masters and signs now say 10% to 40%.
I did get 20% of some AGI pipe which saved a few dollars over Bunnings.
I got email saying upto yes word upto 40% off but whats 40% off?
There is certain things im after but dont wabt to waste my time going there to find its not then.
When you look online the items im looking at are still the 10% off.
Be interested to know what the 40% stuff is anyone know do they say in store or do we all just guess?
It'll most likely be the less popular categories.
I assume they're trying to maximise profits.
The only thing I have found sofar are some of the less useful sizes of bolts.
Local store had signs on the relevant sections (40% off fasteners, 25% off tiles, 20% off door hardware, etc)
The only 40% off that I saw was for fasteners.
Check the website for prices - it is up to date.
Be careful. Liquidator jacked up the price on some items above that of the shelf price.
True. A drill bit set that I was watching went from $36 to $39 after the clearance started.
Looks like drill bits have gone to 20% off, but drills are still 10% off. (Well, they Bosch stuff I was looking at anyway)
Be careful everyone. The liquidator has increased prices then slapped a 'discount' on. Proof here in my case; https://imgur.com/gallery/v5zPs
Other members have noted that veneer floorboards had the same thing done.
Stanley tool chests went from $549 to $699 and now have a 10% discount off the $699…
So the online prices don't match the in store ticketed prices? :S
I thought they had to go off the online prices?
Indeed. Shelf prices are lower than the online and register scanned prices where the staff have not changed the shelf displayed price. A 'manager' insisted the liquidator dictated the price hike amd had locked them out of the POS so they were unable to honor the shelf price and discount.
Some bargains for Sparkies (like me) 25% off all trade electrical. $80 for 2.5mm2 x 100m 2 core and earth. $149 for 4mm2 x 100m 2 core and earth.
All Australian made "Advance" brand cable.
Not yet a huge bargain but today I notice they have bigger discounts on their fridges and washers.
They should be 10% off