How to Tell If a Discount Is Real (And When It's Not)

Every shopping site — including this one — shows you a percentage off. But that number is only as honest as the 'original' price it's measured against, and that price is often set by the seller, not by what anyone actually paid.

Here's a quick way to sanity-check any discount:

• Look at price history, not just the badge. If a product has genuinely never sold for less than today's price, that's a real signal. If the 'discount' price shows up every few weeks, it was never really 40% off — it's just the regular rotating price.
• Compare against similar products, not just the same item's own history. A discount looks less impressive when three other brands sell the same category of product for less, undiscounted.
• Be suspicious of round, oddly specific discounts. '73% off' sounds precise and trustworthy. It's usually just $X off a made-up original price, worked backward to look exact.
• Check how long the 'limited time' has been running. If a deal has been 'ending soon' for two months, it isn't ending soon.

This is exactly why we started tracking real price history on every product on this site — so instead of trusting a badge, you can look at the actual trend and decide for yourself.

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