A TikTok video calling out craft retailer Michaels for what the user believes is a major Black Friday pricing scam has gone completely viral, racking up over 6.1 million views. Crafter AJ, known as @isitgay on the platform, claimed Michaels was doubling the original price of items promoted for the Black Friday sale before applying the supposed 50% discount.
This practice effectively meant customers were buying items “on sale” for their original full price, or sometimes even more. AJ admitted, “We all hear about items being marked up on Black Friday.” However, she pointed out that the item she was trying to purchase would actually cost more with the 50% off than it would have the week before at the regular price. This kind of deceptive pricing is absolutely awful for consumers hoping to score real deals.
To back up her claims, AJ held up a small wooden house she wanted to purchase. The price tag on the item read $12.99. AJ said she knew the regular price of that specific wooden house was typically $6.49. “I know the price,” she stated. “It is $6.49… Now these are 50% off today. So I thought I was gonna come in here and get it for $3.20. No, $12.99.” She noted that the item cost more that day than it usually does.
We need laws about deceptive pricing, and they need to be enforced as well
This means the 50% off discount on the $12.99 price still resulted in a $6.49 price tag, which was the item’s standard cost anyway. As one TikTok user, @tootalon, cleverly wrote, “So the 50% off is actually 100% on.” AJ also noted that she saw regular price tags removed from promotional items. Even worse, she showed that the in-store price check terminals had been strategically removed, making it really difficult for shoppers to verify the original cost.
Michaels, however, has strongly pushed back against the accusation. A representative for the store issued a statement to the Daily Dot addressing the claims. The representative insisted, “At Michaels, we take pricing integrity seriously and are not removing original price tags from any of our merchandise.” The company stated that their standard practice is listing prices on the shelf and individually tagging seasonal items.
Regarding the specific wooden house AJ showed, Michaels offered a different perspective. They clarified that the regular price for the DIY Villages Bakery has always been $12.99. The $6.49 price AJ saw previously was actually a sale price at that time. This is a crucial detail, but it still makes the process incredibly confusing for shoppers who don’t track every price fluctuation.
Even after the store’s response, AJ did not remove her viral video. While she admitted in a follow-up post that the “scam might have not been what I thought,” she still felt strongly that the store was deceiving the average consumer. She wrote in onscreen text, “I DO BELIEVE they are still scamming & deceiving the average consumer.”
This unofficial “MichaelsGate” resonated deeply with shoppers who are fed up with deceptive pricing across the retail landscape. Many commenters connected Michaels’ practices to other mega retailers like Amazon and Walmart, which came under scrutiny for other dodgy shenanigans. They blamed the rise of AI-driven “dynamic pricing” for maximizing corporate profit at the expense of the consumer. Talking about AI, the new kind of toys this Black Friday got flak from actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Published: Dec 3, 2025 04:00 pm