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Of all the ways retailers push you to buy—'free' trials, countdown clocks, 'only two left!'—nothing works quite like a sale. And the tactic that makes it so effective? The crossed-out price.
This number represents the pre-discount cost. It appears to be the 'regular' price, and we use it to judge if we're getting a good deal. You've seen it a million times.
And you'll certainly see it everywhere right now. With Black Friday just days away, and Cyber Week hot on its tail, discounts seem like they're everywhere.
The problem is, many retailers play fast and loose with this number. They know that a high pre-sale price increases your willingness to pay, because you feel you're getting a great bargain.
It all comes down to how that crossed-out price is defined—or not.
The price that never was
Some retailers define that pre-sale value as the price suggested by the manufacturer. If this is the case, you'll likely see the words List Price, MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) or RRP (Regular Retail Price) before the crossed-out number.
But this can be a tricky move, because products don't have to be sold at that price for long. Or ever.
Here's a PlayStation controller advertised as part of Amazon's Black Friday sale. The price is a 34% discount from the RRP.
But look at Amazon's price of this controller since 2022.
The controller hit its RRP only twice in nearly four years. So that 34% discount? It's from a price the item almost never sold for.
'Was' what, exactly?
Another way to think about the crossed-out number is as the item's prior price—whatever that means. This is a fair assumption if the value is preceded by the words was, typical or no words at all. But there's no universal standard for what 'was' actually means, and retailers can exploit that ambiguity to inflate discounts.
Earlier this year, a UK consumer non-profit analyzed the cost of 1,617 TVs and found over half gave a false impression of savings by not using the most recent price as the comparison.
Europe has tried to set clearer rules. There, the 'was' value is defined as the lowest price charged in the previous 30 days. However, a 2022 EU analysis found that promotions for about one in four Black Friday sale items were still inconsistent with the law.
And then there's Amazon. Their 'was' price indicates the median price paid over the past 90 days. That means half of people bought the item at a higher price and half at a lower price.
These headphones from Amazon's Black Friday sale have a 'was' price of ÂŁ289.00.
When Amazon calculates the 'was' price, however, they don't include purchases made during limited time promotions. This means the 'was' price can sometimes skew high.
Here's what the six-month Amazon price history looks like for those same headphones .
For the last three months, the headphones were mostly priced below the median. Perhaps purchases clustered at higher prices, or promotions were excluded; we can't tell. Yet, the 'was' price nearly matches the item's highest price during the same 90 days, and the mean price was £247—cheaper than the Black Friday offer.
The permanent sale
Oftentimes, the crossed-out number allows retailers to rake in as much as they can, while duping us shoppers into feeling we got a great deal. We're particularly susceptible to this during periods of elevated discount hype, like during Black Friday sales.
Sure, not all retailers aim to mislead. And you've probably come across genuinely good markdowns. But consider this: A 2023 investigation of 227 Black Friday deals advertised by the UK's biggest retailers found that every single 'deal' was available for the same price, or less, at other times of the year. A full 40% were actually cheaper not during Black Friday.
In fact, at some stores the sale price is the norm. Consumers' Checkbook tracked major US retailers over six months and found most items were discounted more often than sold at the 'regular' price. In other words, the 'discount' is the real price, and the 'regular' price is just there to make you feel good about paying it.
Percentage of times tracked items were on sale at major US retailers
For each store, the prices of 20 to 30 items were tracked for at least five weeks
Outsmart the sale
From now until the end of the year, we're in peak Sale Season. If you're like me, you'd like to avoid it altogether. But Christmas is around the corner, so shopping is probably on the agenda. While you may have to engage in the retail game, you don't have to get caught by dubious discounts, or tricked into believing you got a deal.
The easiest way to ensure you're happy with a sale is to compare costs across stores, and check the item's price history. There are a handful of websites that can help with this, such as Pricerunner, PriceSpy and Pricegrabber. For Amazon specifically? My favourite is CamelCamelCamel.
This holiday season, don't make your purchases based on a crossed-out number. Do it with data.
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FROM ELSEWHERE
Here's what I found interesting, important or delightful this week:
Slop ain't chic. Anxiety.eco takes on the fashion industry for its use of AI in advertisements. These big brands are great at mental gymnastics, claiming the tool both increases diversity and is a way to reduce carbon emissions.
Get your wriggle on. The algorithm blessed me with a funky new musician this week. Cosmo Sheldrake got me through creating this edition of Not-Ship. Who knows. Maybe he will get you through something, too.
"We think of data as something cutting-edge and precise. The reality, though, can be very different." Stats collected by the UK government are in a precarious position. And basically no-one is doing anything much about it, writes James Ball. He's also the author of a book I highly recommend — The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World.
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Amanda Shendruk
Amanda Shendruk
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