No, Argos is not selling unclaimed parcels for £3

A post on Facebook claims that the retailer Argos is selling “unclaimed parcels” that may contain “various household appliances” or “kitchen utensils” for “only £3”. 

However, this is not a genuine offer, a spokesperson for Argos confirmed to Full Fact. 

The Facebook post, which has hundreds of interactions, contains an image of what appear to be piles of boxes wrapped in cellophane. Labels on these boxes feature the Argos logo, along with text saying “Electronic pallet” and “£3” in a large font. 

The caption accompanying the image says: “Every year, warehouses accumulate a lot of unclaimed parcels. According to current rules, Argos must throw these goods away, but offers to get these parcels for you for only £3. The parcel may contain various household appliances, kitchen utensils and other useful goods.” 

Viewers are then encouraged to follow a link to a website that appears to have made an attempt at resembling the real Argos website. What appears to be the Argos logo appears in the header of the page, alongside menu links that mirror those on the real Argos website. The text on the website resembles that of the Facebook caption, but tells people that they must take a survey before being able to gain the offer. 

We’ve also seen other Facebook posts with similar captions posted in recent weeks, including another using the same image. 

Posts offering fake deals are very common on Facebook. We have fact checked them many times before, with examples including supposed offers for products such as iPhones, MacBooks, laptops, airfryers, mattresses, vacuum cleaners and PlayStations which, despite claims to the contrary, were nothing to do with Argos. 

It is always worth checking posts sharing offers that seem too good to be true. One way to verify this is to see whether the offer has been shared by the company’s official page—this will often have more followers, a verified blue tick on platforms like Facebook or Instagram and a longer post history.