You aren’t going crazy. You’ve been tracking the price of your favorite detergent for weeks, knowing it’s always $12.99. Suddenly, on Monday, you notice the price has jumped to $15.99. You’re annoyed, but you pass. Then, on Friday, the new sales ad drops: “This Week Only: Buy One, Get One 50% Off!” You feel a rush of excitement, thinking your patience paid off. But you shouldn’t. You’ve just witnessed a deceptive (but common) retail trick where stores intentionally inflate a price before they put it on “sale.”
The “Anchor Price”: A Deliberate Deception
To understand this tactic, you have to understand “price anchoring.” This is a core psychological principle of retail. A shopper doesn’t inherently know what a “good” price is; they only know a good price in comparison to something else. That “something else” is the “anchor.” Stores know that to make a “sale” look incredible, they must first establish a high “regular” price to compare it against. That $15.99 isn’t the real price; it’s the new, artificial anchor, and its only job is to make the upcoming “discount” look far more impressive than it actually is.
Step One: The “Price Creep”
Weeks or even just days before a big, planned promotion, the store will quietly raise the “regular” price of that item. They aren’t trying to sell many units at this new, inflated price. They are just trying to “prove”—for both legal and marketing purposes—that this is the new, “regular” price. This “price creep” is a strategic move that recalibrates your brain to a new, higher number, making you forget that just last week, this item was three dollars cheaper.
Step Two: How the Deceptive Math Works
This is where the trick costs you real money. The “Buy One, Get One 50% Off” sale seems great, but the store runs it on the new $15.99 price, not the old $12.99 price. This means you end up paying $23.99 ($15.99 + $8.00) for two bottles. You think you’re getting a deal, but you are paying $4.50 more than if they had run the same discount on the true regular price, which would have only cost $19.49 ($12.99 + $6.50). The “sale” is real, but the value of that sale has been silently eroded before you ever saw the ad.
Why This Trick Is So Common
This tactic preys on shoppers who don’t have a long-term, detailed memory for prices. The store is betting that you won’t remember the $12.99 price from three weeks ago. You will only see the “Sale” sign and the “Original Price” listed right next to it. You’re comparing the sale price to the fake anchor, not the true one, which is exactly what the store wants. It allows them to create the excitement and urgency of a sale while protecting their profit margin.
Is This Tactic Even Legal?
This is the most frustrating part: in many places, it’s a legal gray area. Laws (like those enforced by the FTC) often state that a “regular” price must be the price an item was “openly and actively” offered for sale for a “reasonable period of time.” But what is a “reasonable period”? A month? A week? Three days? Stores exploit this vagueness by raising the price for just long enough to “legally” call it the regular price before dropping the “sale” on top of it.
Your Defense: Become a Price-Watcher
The only defense against this tactic is to stop trusting the signs and start trusting your own data. You must become a “price-watcher.” You must know the true, long-term regular price of your favorite items. For your top 10-15 most-purchased items, keep a small price book or a note on your phone. Be especially wary of “BOGO 50% Off” or “30% Off” sales, as these are the most common culprits for this trick. “BOGO Free” is almost always a good deal, but percentage-off sales require a calculator.
Trust the Math, Not the Marketing
When you see a sale, the only number that matters is the final unit price. Ignore the bright red “Savings!” tag. Ignore the “Was $15.99!” anchor. Do the simple math. Is the final unit price of the item on “sale” cheaper than the regular unit price of the store brand? Is it the lowest price you’ve seen in the last six weeks? If the answer is no, it’s not a deal. It’s just marketing.
The Savvy Shopper’s Final Takeaway
Don’t trust the bright yellow sign. Trust your calculator. The store is telling you what they want you to believe you’re saving. Only your own math can tell you the truth. By becoming an informed shopper who remembers the real regular price, you take the power away from the “anchor” and put it back in your wallet. You are no longer just a consumer; you are an auditor, and you are the only one who can verify that a “sale” is truly a deal.
What to Read Next
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- 5 Everyday Discounts Seniors Qualify For—But Hardly Anyone Knows About
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