Store Charges $5 “Just Looking Fee”, Are They Nuts? [POLL]

Do you go to a store, see a product then find it online cheaper? Some stores want to stop us from looking at products in their store. Well, wait a minute, not exactly. They want to charge us a fee for looking at a product!That is what is happening at a health food store in Australia.

specialty food store in Brisbane, Australia, is so fed up with the practice that it’s enacted an ill-advised policy sure to lose it some customers: The store is charging people for browsing. Last month, the store posted a petulant sign on its front door saying it would be charging $5 for "just looking," because it was tired of the"“high volume of people" who use to the store to showroom.

 

 

Here is a picture of the sign in the store window!

Crazy right? Even crazier is a Vera Wang shop in Shanghai, China where you have to pay $500 just to try on a dress! Ouch!

The Daily Finance stated this about the "Just Looking Fee"

this store and other retailers considering a similar scheme might instead want to explore a more consumer-friendly approach. Target and Best Buy were likewise stung by shoppers who came in, tried out their products and then went home to buy on Amazon. But instead of banning phones or trying to charge an entrance fee, they instead extended their price-matching policy to Amazon and other online retailers.

Obviously doing so might cut into those retailers' profit margins, and that will also be true for this small business owner. But if, as the sign claims, the store's prices "are almost the same as the other stores," it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Would you pay a fee to just look at a product?

via Just looking fee charged by Australian store.