TRADING standards officers are urging consumers to be alert when attending one-day sale events that offer unbelievable bargains on items such as electrical and electronic goods.

The warning comes after North Yorkshire officers were made aware of a sale which took place in the Scarborough area.

They said these sales are usually advertised by leaflet, the day before the sale.

Consumers who attend are then subject to a two-hour sales pitch and emerge afterwards clutching goods they hadn't intended to buy and could have bought a great deal cheaper elsewhere.

The nature of the one-day sale is that people do not have time to shop around and compare prices or even get to examine the goods that are on offer. They get carried away by the apparent bargains and dig deep into their pockets. Usually the first opportunity to examine their purchases is when they get them home and find the bargain certainly was unbelievable - though not in their favour. Having parted with the money it is incredibly difficult to get it back and many consumers end up writing it off.

Updated: 11:52 Saturday, August 06, 2005