Bargain time is here! Don't miss the sales at your local shops, your favourite boutiques, the high street chains and department stores and on your favourite web sites, from Wednesday 27 June until Tuesday 31 July 2012. The seasonal sales (summer and winter sales) last five weeks in Paris and the rest of France.

However, people living in certain areas in the South-West and the Côte d'Azur will have to wait a week longer this summer. In the regions of Alpes-Maritimes (Nice), Alpes de Haute-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône (Marseille), Var (Toulon) and Vaucluse, they begin on 4 July and end on 7 August 2012. For the whole of Corsica, the start of the sales is on 11 July and the end on 14 August.

Residents in overseas areas and visitors passing through will have to wait a few more weeks. The summer sales are from 29 September to 2 November 2012 in Guadeloupe, from 4 October to 7 November in Martinique and Guyana and from 13 October to 16 November in Saint Barts and Saint-Martin. On the Reunion Island, the sales (winter) run from 1 September to 5 October 2012.

In addition, as in 2009, 2010 and 2011, shops can have two extra weeks of sales a year at other times, as well as clearance sales throughout the year. The two weeks chosen can be consecutive or not. The only condition is that the flexible sales periods must finish a month before the main sales.

For more information

• Dates of the 2012 winter and summer sales, on the general directorate for competition, consumption and fraud prevention (DGCCRF) web site
• Sales, on the general directorate for competition, consumption and fraud prevention (DGCCRF) web site
• The guide to on-line purchasing, on the “Forum des droits sur l'internet”