Deal Smarts
Fake Discounts: 7 Tricks Retailers Use
A red tag is not a discount. These are the seven tricks we see most often while checking deals — and how to spot each one in about ten seconds.
1. The list price nobody ever paid
The oldest trick in retail: print a “list price” or “compare at” price that the product never genuinely sold for, then discount from fiction. A $59.99 item “was $129.99” sounds like 54% off — unless it has been $59.99 since the day it launched. Spot it: if the same “sale” price shows up at three different stores, that is just the price.
2. The permanent sale
Some products are “40% off” 365 days a year. That is not a sale; that is the price wearing a costume. Spot it: check the item again in two weeks. If the discount never leaves, it never existed.
3. The pre-sale price hike
Before a big sale event, the price quietly rises for a week or two — so the “event price” can be advertised as a huge drop while landing right back at the normal price. Spot it: the deal only looks dramatic if you compare it to last Tuesday. Compare it to last month instead.
4. The coupon-gated price
The big number on the page assumes a coupon code, a rebate, a membership, or all three. The shelf price is higher. Spot it: read the small print under the price. If the headline number needs homework, it is not the price. (On mogdeals, gated prices have to be disclosed in the listing — see how we verify deals.)
5. “Up to 70% off”
“Up to” is doing heavy lifting. One unpopular item is 70% off; the things you actually want are 10–15%. Spot it: sort the sale by discount and look at what is really at the top. If it is all odd sizes and discontinued colors, you have your answer.
6. The wrong-variant bait
The photo shows the top model; the price belongs to the base model. Or the price is for the smallest size, the oldest generation, or a refurbished unit presented as new. Spot it: match the exact model number, size and condition in the photo to the one in the price box.
7. The resetting countdown
“Sale ends in 04:59:58!” — refresh the page tomorrow and the same timer is still counting. Manufactured urgency exists to stop you doing the one thing that defeats every trick on this list: comparing. Spot it: a deal that is real today will usually still be real after you check one other store.
The ten-second checklist
- Is the “was” price one this item actually sold at?
- Is the discount still there next week?
- Does the headline price need a code, rebate or membership?
- Does the photo match the exact variant being priced?
- What does one other store charge right now?
Run those five checks and you will catch nearly every fake discount on the internet. Or skip the homework — we already run them daily.