ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — If you’re about to buy something on Amazon, you may want to hold off for a little bit as experts say this is the worst time of year to shop.

It’s a retail trick as old as shopping itself. And if you’re not paying close attention, if you buy something before these summer shopping holidays, you may be paying the highest price of the year.

Some retailers fudge their prices to get impressive Amazon listings. Like this: 80% off this office chair? The list price is $1000 but in a limited-time deal, it’s just $200.

Let’s take a closer look. I use the website CamelCamelCamel.com. Copy and paste the listing’s URL and hit search. The camel website shows a history of prices on the item and…it’s never been $1000. The most it’s ever been is $360 in April. In fact the average price on the chair is just $23 more than the limited-time deal. A discount of….10%.

Another sales tactic is jacking up prices just before it goes on sale. This Bose TV speaker was $200 a couple of weeks ago. The price jumped to $280 just before Prime Day.

It did the same thing just before Black Friday, before plunging to $200. It’s been $200 six times since November.

Also good to know is that many items for sale at Amazon.com are from third party companies with their return policies. If you try to return it and buy it at the sales price, you may not get a full refund.

Before the sales, put items you’re interested in getting in your shopping cart. And if the price goes down you’ll likely get a notification of the new price.

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