OG Slimes Is Facing Backlash From Customers for Raising Its Prices on Black Friday

For most businesses, Black Friday is a chance to make major sales and offload inventory that might not be selling anyway. Sometimes, though, you have to wonder if the Black Friday deal it seems like you're scoring is actually as good as it seems.

That was the case for customers of OG Slimes, a retailer that sells slime and other gooey tchotchkes to those who want them. Some customers noticed something fishy about the company's Black Friday apology, and the backlash has been so severe that the company actually issued an apology. Here's what we know about the controversy.

Essentially, OG Slimes raised its prices right before Black Friday and then offered products at a "discount" that reflected what the prices were before they had been raised. They seem to have hoped that customers wouldn't notice, and would think they were getting a deal when they were actually being charged full price. After making the change, they got reamed out on social media and actually issued a formal apology.

"Hi! We want to address your concerns and take accountability for the recent changes," the company wrote on Instagram. "The $1 price adjustment was made for this restock specifically to account for the expedited supply shipments for over 50 products, hiring additional staff to assist with production and packaging, extended work hours for all of November, and purchasing additional shipping supplies to accommodate the extra thousands of orders."

"These steps have been necessary to ensure we maintain the quality, consistency, and timeliness of our products," the company continued. "We recognize that we should have communicated this earlier and are very sorry for not being more transparent ahead of time. Your trust means everything to us, and we deeply regret any disappointment or frustration this may have caused."

"Please know that these decisions were not made lightly — they were essential to sustain our operations while continuing to deliver the products you love," the post concludes.

Most people were not satisfied with this explanation, though, noting that the timing of the price increase lined up perfectly with Black Friday. Some others sounding off on Reddit noted that the lack of transparency also made the whole thing difficult to buy.

"They need to realize that the issue isn’t a dollar — it’s the incredibly unethical way they went about it. And that just saying 'oops we didn’t communicate this' isn’t taking accountability," one person wrote on Reddit

Ultimately, the whole thing was a disaster for OG Slimes, who seems to have lost many customers over the price increase.

The entire saga is an important reminder that customers cannot be taken for granted. Even if you think you know exactly how to manipulate them, they're smarter than you think, and might notice if you jack prices up and don't tell anyone. In fact, that's the kind of behavior that could lose you customers in both the short and long-term, and do major harm to your reputation.