Sales Are Shams but Deals Are Real: Here’s How to Know the Difference

When a retailer presents a product as being discounted, shoppers often trust that the discount is legitimate, and it alters their shopping behaviors. Some evidence: When major chain stores that offer perpetually discounted items or coupons (JC Penney, most notably) have experimented with ending a “sale” and presenting the same item at an everyday low price, purchase numbers have fallen, even though the previously promoted “sale” price and the everyday low price are exactly the same. Discounts also create a sense of urgency, as shoppers experience anticipatory regret at the thought of missing a deal (effectively, FOMO).

The ways in which sellers present discounts also put shoppers at a disadvantage. Sale items under $100 are often presented with a percentage off, while sale items over $100 are presented with a dollar amount off. Why? The answer is in the framing, which makes discounts seem larger, according to Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the Wharton School and author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On. In the world of sales and discounts, shoppers’ inability to really do the math is preyed upon near constantly, as buyers often respond more to promos like “buy one, get one 50% off” than to a 33% flat discount—even though the latter would save them more. Even the prices themselves are manipulated, both in-store and online, to end in 9, .99, or .95 rather than a round number. (Wirecutter rounds such numbers, which can be found even in legitimate sales, for maximum transparency.)

The Wirecutter Deals team bases our deal-vetting rubric on in-depth price research and tens of thousands of hours of deal scanning, across major deal events like Black Friday as well as random weekend mornings. We’ve researched and dismissed millions of deals over the years. We’ve barely found 22,000 worth sharing with our readers.

We objectively report price drops and price trends. We have no interest in making a sale seem better than it actually is. Our aim is to serve readers, and oftentimes that means urging readers not to buy something that we think is a lousy deal. Wirecutter does often make money on the affiliate links our readers click to make a purchase, and we appreciate the clicks, but we intentionally and carefully ensure that the Deals team is never aware of the revenue Wirecutter generates, and we don’t factor any affiliate considerations into our deal-vetting rubric.

We’ve scanned thousands of online sales. Nearly every advertised “sale” item online offers something that, through the right lens, could be considered a discount, whether it’s a discount versus the manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing, a price drop versus the initial retailer sale price, or a price reduction by a minuscule percentage. Our philosophy holds that negligible discounts are simply not good enough. The Wirecutter Deals page regularly highlights the best, truly notable recent discounts on Wirecutter picks and recommendations from our expert editorial staff, and during deal events like Black Friday, we take exactly the same approach. Ultimately, we’re reader-focused journalists and researchers, here to answer questions, cut through the clamorous, often ear-splitting promotional noise, and identify the real deals among the overhyped sales.

For great everyday deals, visit the Wirecutter Deals page and follow us on Twitter @WirecutterDeals.