No deposit, no interest

We sometimes talk with friends about language and culture misunderstandings for 'foreigners' in Australia and this couple, in Australia for more than 30 years now, told us a classic. They walked in a white-goods and electrical shop to buy let's say a television  After they saw a big sign saying '"No deposit, no interest"'. They spoke amongst each other and walked out without buying anything. The couple did not want to put a deposit down and had understood that if a customer doesn't want to pay a sum up front, that the shop would not be interested in selling the product!

For overseas readers: the sign implies that you can buy whatever you like without paying a deposit and, miraculously,  you will not have to pay interest over the amount that you owe for your purchase (small print: for a while...)

So basically you can walk out the shop with your new plasma screen TV without paying for it at all. At first. Some shops advertise that you don't have to pay interest for 24 months...

Tricky advertising. Firstly they 'mark up'  the actual item to cover for not paid interest and written off debts no doubt. Then there is the credit company (mainly GE Capital) that will start hitting you with astronomical interest rates if you don't keep up with the repayments, which will end up being like three times the price of the item in the end. "Buy now,  pay later"...

So, the going thing to do here in Australia in those shops is to pay for your item in full at the time of purchase, but only after you have bargained at least 10%, if not more, off the marked price. "Less for Cash"...