How to Tell a Real Discount From a Fake One

"Was $199, now $79" only means something if somebody actually sold it for $199. A lot of online "discounts" fail that test — the was-price exists only to make the now-price look good. Here's how to tell the difference.

What a real compare-at price is

A legitimate reference price is one the product genuinely sells for elsewhere, recently, in meaningful volume. In the US, the FTC's rules on former-price comparisons say a fictitious original price — one invented to manufacture a discount — is deceptive pricing. Reputable stores treat that seriously; sketchy ones treat it as a design choice.

Five checks before you trust a strikethrough

• Search the product name. If the "retail" price never appears anywhere else, it may never have existed.
• Check the math. Real discounts are derived from two real numbers. If the percentage looks invented (a suspiciously round 70% on everything), it probably is.
• Look for the same deal running forever. A countdown that resets every visit is not a deadline — it's an animation.
• Watch for anchoring on unknown brands. A no-name product can claim any retail price it likes; there's nothing to compare it to.
• See if the seller shows their work. Stores that display retail price, sale price, and dollar savings side by side are inviting you to verify them.

How we handle it

At [ReelaDeal](/) the strikethrough price is the product's standing price — the number it sells at when it isn't the daily deal — and the discount percentage is calculated from those two numbers, never typed in by hand. When there's no genuine discount, we show one clean price with no theater.

Tomorrow: where all this cheap brand-new inventory actually comes from.