I personally find these annoying but so many businesses use this technique because it works. Essentially a lot of sites have these sales timers where it could indicate that you have say three hours left to buy something at a sale price. Afterwards you pay the full price should you still want tit. The thing is these timers are often as fake as many stores that put an “everything must go” sign as if they are going out of business when in reality they aren’t.
I am surprised how much it works on people online though as usually just a simple refresh of the browser will show you that the timer will reset whenever you do that. It’s a little trickier when people hide it through methods such as an email list where in those instances it seems like it is a personal offer. In reality everyone get the same sales pitch and deal. I noticed a common use of this same technique nowadays are people who advertise that they are going to have an exclusive live conference of sort at a specific date. In reality it is all recorded and the offers again will be the same for everyone regardless of the actual day.
What can I say? It obviously works for business to do this. I guess as the consumer you just have to be aware that the offer you are getting isn’t that unique if you feel the need to get it now or you will miss out as they say.