What to Know:

• Some retailers advertise big discounts using inflated or misleading original prices.
• Federal guidelines address deceptive price comparisons, including fictitious former prices.
• Checking price histories and comparing actual selling prices can help shoppers determine whether a sale is a genuine bargain. 

ORLANDO, Fla. – For anyone who shops, there’s a certain satisfaction in finding a great bargain. Fifty percent off, sixty percent off, sometimes even seventy percent off. Who doesn’t like getting something they want for a fraction of what it normally costs? And of course, the bigger the discount, the more tempting the deal.

But what if that big discount isn’t nearly as big as the store wants you to believe? What if there was never a “deal” at all?

Consider a jacket advertised at $100. With an original price tag of $200, that’s a 50% discount. And that sounds like a great deal – if that jacket ever actually sold for $200. What if it rarely, if ever, sold at that price, and $100 is what customers have been paying for it all along?

Suddenly, that “$100 savings” doesn’t feel like much of a savings.

If this sounds even vaguely familiar, you’re not alone. It’s a practice consumer advocates have been warning about for years.

There’s a name for this

It’s a marketing practice known as deceptive reference pricing. A retailer advertises a product at a substantial discount from its supposed original price, but that original price may have been artificially inflated, rarely charged, or never actually charged at all.

And this isn’t just a hypothetical example.

Researchers at the nonprofit consumer organization Consumers’ Checkbook spent months examining advertised discounts at major national retailers. What they discovered raises serious questions about just how genuine those bargains really are.

Beginning in February 2025, the team spent six months tracking prices on more than two dozen products at each of 25 major national retailers. The team checked prices each week to determine whether advertised discounts represented genuine savings or simply prices customers were routinely being charged.

The results suggest many of those seemingly big discounts aren’t nearly as generous as shoppers might believe.

At 21 of the 25 retailers, products were advertised as being on sale more than half the time. And at 12 retailers, more than half the products tracked were offered at what researchers classified as false discounts every week or almost every week. Consumers’ Checkbook identified ten retailers where many of the products researchers tracked were almost always advertised as being on sale:

• Bass Pro Shops 
• Bed Bath & Beyond 
• Dick’s 
• Foot Locker 
• Gap 
• JCPenney 
• Michaels 
• Nordstrom 
• Old Navy 
• Wayfair 

Only three retailers consistently offered what Consumers’ Checkbook considered legitimate discounts:

• Apple 
• Costco 
• Dell

Researchers placed the remaining retailers into two categories: those with often misleading discounts (nine retailers) and those with sometimes misleading discounts (three more).

And this wasn’t the organization’s first investigation – Consumers’ Checkbook compared its findings with earlier research dating back to 2015. The conclusion: the practice has become considerably more widespread over the past decade.

Isn’t this illegal?

Sometimes.

Sorry – not a great answer, but the rules for this aren’t quite as straightforward as you might expect.

The Federal Trade Commission’s Guides Against Deceptive Pricing address exactly this kind of advertising: artificially inflating a former price to make a subsequent discount appear more substantial than it really is. Under the FTC’s guidance, a retailer can legitimately advertise a discount from its former price if the product was genuinely offered at that higher price for a reasonably substantial period.

There is, however, an important caveat: a retailer doesn’t necessarily have to have sold a product at its original advertised price for the comparison to be legitimate. What matters is whether that higher price was genuinely offered to consumers, in good faith, rather than simply invented to create the appearance of a bargain.

If we go back to our hypothetical jacket: the retailer might not have sold a single jacket at $200 and still have a legitimate basis for advertising a discount to $100. But only if the higher price was genuinely offered to shoppers for a reasonably substantial period, in good faith, and not simply to manufacture a discount.

And to further muddy the waters, there’s a manufacturer’s suggested retail price, or MSRP. The FTC considers that different from a retailer’s own former selling price. Another set of guidelines applies to those comparisons.

So, while a questionable sale tag isn’t automatically illegal, retailers can’t simply manufacture a fictitious former price and present the resulting markdown as genuine savings.

How to tell whether a sale is real

Let’s get down to brass tacks: how can you tell whether that 50% discount is really worth celebrating? You kind of won’t always be able to on a casual glance. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what retailers are banking on: you see something, it looks like a good price, and you grab it because you’re afraid you’ll miss out on a sale and regret it later.

The best advice I can give you is this: do your research. Our $100 jacket looks like a bargain down from $200, until you find out you can get it for $79.99 at another retailer.

With that: before reaching for your wallet, consider a few simple steps.

• Check the price history: Don’t assume an advertised sale price represents genuine savings. Knowing a product’s price history or tracking a price is the ideal scenario. I looked at half a dozen of these websites, and in my testing, the only two that worked consistently were Price Tracker and PriceWatchPro (with an honorable mention to Google Shopping for straight up price comparisons).

In fact, when I went looking for a Greenworks 80V blower, Walmart advertised it for $119.99, marked down from $199.99, but PriceWatchPro listed the MSRP for what appeared to be the same blower as $156.39. Shenanigans on Walmart’s part? Not necessarily. The difference could reflect a price change over time, outdated tracking information, or different ways the two websites report the reference price. The point: spotting those price differences can be valuable for savvy shoppers.

And by the way, Consumers’ Checkbook reports prices on individual products sometimes fluctuated by as much as 100% over several months.

• Amazon is special: Since Amazon is so popular, companies have devoted entire websites just to track the prices of their products. Two price-tracking tools, CamelCamelCamel and Keepa, specifically track prices for one of the world’s largest online retailers. 

And speaking of Amazon, the retailer has introduced its own price-history feature, allowing shoppers to review up to a year’s worth of prices on eligible products. Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping assistant can also monitor prices and, for eligible purchases, automatically buy an item when it reaches a price you specify.

• Online reviews can reveal past prices: One other hack – if you don’t see a price history, read the online reviews. Customers like to brag about deals, as well as throw shade when they paid more than the product is currently selling for. 
• Shop around: A 60% discount doesn’t mean much if another retailer sells the identical product for less. Compare actual selling prices, not advertised percentages. And if you find a better price elsewhere, ask whether the store will match it. Some retailers will even match prices offered by online competitors. Some of my favorite sites for online shopping are Dealnews, DealWiki, Slickdeals, and The Inventory. That’s a little off topic, but they’re good sites to have in your shopping arsenal. 
• Don’t let the clock pressure you: Limited-time offers and countdown timers are designed to create urgency. But if a product regularly goes on sale, there’s a good chance another discount will come along. 

Maybe.

Exceptions are low-stock or one-day inventory websites like Meh, Woot, and blipshift. Marshalls and HomeGoods also fall into this category. Basically, if you see something you want at one of these stores or websites, waiting could mean missing out. Just make sure the price is right before making the purchase.

• Beware of the savings trap: Saving $100 on something you planned to buy is one thing. Spending another $100 because you feel like you’ve already saved money is something else entirely. A discount only saves you money if you’re buying something you actually need or intended to purchase. Those are wise words from Mrs. Myrie (both the mom and the wife). 
• Ask for a better price. When shopping for big-ticket items such as appliances or electronics, don’t assume the advertised price is the lowest available. Some manufacturers have minimum advertised price policies that restrict the discounts retailers can publicly promote. Some stores may be willing to offer a better deal (perhaps a better warranty, free delivery, or free haul away) if you ask directly, either in person, by phone, or by email. Also, don’t be afraid to leave your info and walk away – you’d be surprised at how many times that leads to a phone call in the following days to try to entice you back into the store. 

Where does this all leave us?

Research is the key. When you have a good idea of what something normally sells for, it’s easier to recognize a genuine bargain – and avoid being fooled by a questionable one.

But when you see a big red sale sign promising 50%, 60%, or even 70% off, remember: the percentage on the tag doesn’t necessarily tell you how much you’re saving. Sometimes, the best way to recognize a genuine bargain is to ignore the advertised discount altogether and ask a much simpler question: Is this actually a good price?