So I received another marketing email from Macy’s today, and finally I have had enough. The subject of the email is listed in the title of this post. So I’m thinking, Free Shipping, and 10-50% off? Wow, that’s an amazing offer. So I opened the email and read this headline that jumps out from the top.

Hmm. Did you catch the fine print in lowercase type at least 5 times smaller than the UPPERCASE SALE MESSAGE that adds “with $100 purchase. enter promo code CHOICE. excludes mattresses, rugs & furniture. other exclusions apply”. Are you having any trouble reading that? Well in normal print size that starts with “with $100 purchase”.  That’s a pretty big gotcha and should definitely be included in the subject line of the email and in a font size equal to the offer in the headline. Please let me be clear. I’m not faulting Macy’s for making this minimum purchase requirement a part of the offer. It is totally within their rights to determine the qualifications for any promotion that they choose to run. But any retailer should be very, very clear about what the terms of any stated promotions and should go out of their way to avoid the appearance of impropriety, especially that which borders on fraudulent behavior. Should a consumer read this offer, visit Macy’s website, add a bunch of items to their cart, then attempt to checkout with this promo code in order to be warned that there was a $100 mininum purchase? Maybe enough buyers won’t care and will continue with their purchase. But how many will be upset that these details weren’t more up front and abandon the cart as swiftly as they arrived? I know I will be reading the fine print of all future marketing I receive from Macy’s (which will be much less now that I have unsubscribed from their mailing list). This type of behavior should not be tolerated.