‘Do they want to go out of business’: Woman tries to investigate Michaels for ‘dynamic pricing.’ Then she takes a closer look at the shelves
For the last few days leading up to Thanksgiving, shoppers across the U.S. began reporting a strange issue at craft store Michaels: products no longer had prices attached to them.
Customers say entire sections of shelves were missing price tags, leaving them unsure of what they were actually being charged at checkout.
One shopper decided to investigate the situation at a Michaels near her and document what was happening herself. She posted the results on TikTok in two parts after spotting multiple aisles with no visible pricing at all.
Does Michaels Price Its Items?
In the first video, which got over 467,000 views, TikTok creator Kastaleia (@darkestnightofoctober) begins filming inside her car before walking into the store.
“I’m at Michaels now to find out if they actually have dynamic pricing,” she says at the start. “If they do, it’ll break my heart, and I’m never coming here again. I can’t support a business that does that.”
For context, dynamic pricing is a strategy where companies change prices based on demand, availability, and other market conditions.
She adds that she still has store credit. “I do have a Michaels gift card though, so let’s get to the bottom of it,” she says.
She explains what she expects before going in. “I was prepared for nothing to have a price tag on it, but that’s not what happened,” she says.
At first, everything seems normal. “Everything had a price tag, or so I thought,” she adds.
The Issue Eventually Appears
Then she reaches the holiday section. “When I got to floral, everything had a price tag until I got to the Christmas stuff. Suddenly, there were no price tags on the shelf anymore,” she says.
She then points out a confusing sale sign. “Things get really shady when you see this buy one, get three free sign that’s supposed to be for the ribbons and bows,” she says.
But the ribbons themselves don’t show prices. “When you go to the ribbons and bows, none of them have prices on them, and allegedly they’re like $25 a pop,” she adds.
She questions whether this is normal. “I don’t really come here for seasonal things, so if you do, let me know if this is normal,” she adds.
Back in her car, she gives an update. “So I just got back, and I don’t know if my store just hasn’t implemented full dynamic pricing yet,” she says. “As of right now, it looks like it’s just the seasonal items they’re not putting price tags on,” she adds.
Even that still bothers her. “That’s still bad, I think they should have prices on everything,” she says.
She admits it wasn’t as extreme as she expected. “It’s not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I thought I was going to go in there and nothing would have a price tag,” she says.
She ends with a warning to the company. “Michaels, if you’re watching, listen to the people, because I will be shopping at Hobby Lobby if you do this to every single item in the store,” she adds.
She Visits A Different Michaels Locations
“I’m at a different Michaels today, guys, let’s go see if this one has prices,” she says in the second part of the investigation.
She describes how she enters the store. “Not me being messy; I be-lined it straight to the seasonal section,” she says.
This time, the result is different. “To my surprise, everything had a price tag on it, either on the shelf or on the tag itself,” she says.
She reacts with relief. “I was like, this is amazing. This is great,” she adds. “I still had a balance on my gift card, so I went to go get some painting supplies.”
That’s when a new issue appears. “That’s when the plot thickens again when we’re talking about dynamic pricing,” she adds.
She compares shelf prices to the register totals. “Everything rang up wrong on the receipt,” she says.
She provides a clear example. “Everything from this brand said it was $6.99, but they all rang up $7.49,” she explains. “It’s not a huge amount or anything, it’s 50 cents more, but it still rang up higher,” she says.
She also points out a discount that never applied. “There was a sign in front of all the paints saying buy one, get one half off,” she says. “That never happened; the only discount I got was the coupon I used,” she adds.
She ends up uncertain about what’s happening. “So I really don’t know what’s going on with Michaels,” she concludes.
What’s Going On With Michaels Prices?
According to recent reports, some Michaels employees claim seasonal items were ordered before tariffs tied to the Trump administration took effect. Once those tariffs hit, workers were reportedly told to black out old prices, apply new ones, then add discounts on top of that.
With pricing becoming harder to track and staff already stretched thin, some locations may have decided to stop displaying prices altogether.
However, shoppers online believe Michaels is testing dynamic pricing instead, though there’s no clear proof that’s happening right now.
Shoppers Share Similar Experiences
In the comments, several viewers said they noticed the same thing at their own local Michaels stores.
“Same with the Michaels I went to – pricing in a lot of sections but not florals or some Christmas stuff,” one commenter shared. “I also had no idea there was only self checkout, so when I went up and saw the employee behind the counter, she just stood there silent and I stood there waiting to be checked out,” she added. “Only when she told the next customer to start scanning did I ask if it was all self checkout. It was all kinda funny – not complaining about it,” she wrote.
Another person who says they previously worked at the chain chimed in with context from behind the scenes. “So I worked at Michael’s and honestly it’s really normal for the seasonal items to not have a price tag on the shelf because the displays constantly get moved around,” one said. “But the packaging of the seasonal items almost always has the price on the item itself, so it’s really odd seeing that the stems didn’t have prices on their tags,” they added.
@darkestnightofoctober Going to Michaels and investigating if they have dynamic pricing! Everyone was saying nothing had a price tag so I had to find out if that’s true. #michaelscraftstore #michaels #dynamicpricing #walmart #craftstores ♬ original sound – Kastaleia ✨?✨
Another suggested timing and tariffs could explain what shoppers are seeing. “You won’t see the prices gone on everything for about eight more months,” one person claimed. “Everything was printed with a price on it a year to a year and a half ago. The seasonal stuff was assembled eight months ago, after the tariff mess started — that’s why it’s the first round to not have pricing.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to Kastaleia via TikTok messages for more information, and to Michaels via email for official comment.
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