How to Avoid Fake Discounts and Inflated "Was" Prices
The five shapes a fake discount takes, how Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy define their reference prices, what courts and regulators have done about it, and how to check a crossed-out price in two minutes.
A fake discount is a real price with an invented comparison next to it. The crossed-out number is where the trick lives: a price raised just before the sale, a list price nobody pays, a "compare at" price for a different product. You can't always tell from the page, but you can almost always tell in two minutes with the store's own definitions and a price history.
Checking a crossed-out price
- Find the label "Was", "List", "Typical", "Compare at" and "Comp. Value" mean different things. The store's help pages define them.
- Ask whose price it is A price the store charged itself says more than a list price, a competitor's price or a "comparable" item's price.
- Check the history A price tracker shows whether the "sale" price is simply the usual price.
- Be wary of outlets Outlet goods are often made for the outlet. Their "compare at" price may belong to a different product.
- Ignore the deadline Countdown clocks and "ends tonight" banners are the tactic regulators challenge most. Wait a day and look again.
The five shapes of a fake discount
1. The price that went up before it came down
The oldest trick is to raise a price for a short time, then "cut" it back to where it was. Europe decided to close that door by law, and in September 2024 the EU Court of Justice spelled out how far the rule goes. In a case against the German discounter Aldi Süd, the court held that a reduction announced as a percentage, or as a statement stressing a bargain, "must be determined on the basis of the lowest price applied by the trader during a period not shorter than 30 days" before the reduction (CJEU press release, Case C-330/23). In the example before the court, the discount had to be calculated from 1.29 euros, the lowest price of the previous 30 days, not from the 1.69 euros charged just before the offer. The aim, in the court's words, is to stop traders "increasing the price charged before announcing a price reduction and thus displaying false price reductions."
US law has no 30-day rule, so the same trick is harder to spot on American sites. A price chart is your defense.
2. The list price nobody pays
A list price, or MSRP, is usually set by the manufacturer, and stores are free to sell below it all year. Even Amazon says so on its own help page: "many retailers use List Prices (or MSRP) these values may not necessarily reflect the prevailing market price of a product." A discount measured from a list price tells you how far the store is below the manufacturer's suggestion, not below what people usually pay.
3. "Compare at" on outlet goods
Outlet stores are the most confusing case, because the product itself may be different. California's Attorney General warns that "modern-day outlet stores primarily sell different, lower-quality products than the regular retail stores, made specifically for the outlet", and that a "compare at" tag may show a price the item "might have never actually been sold" at, or the price "for a higher-quality version of the product."
A 2026 investigation by Consumers' Checkbook reached the same conclusion across 40 major brands: more than half of the goods sold at outlet and factory stores were manufactured specifically for those locations, and "Compare At" and "MSRP" tags pointed to different, higher-quality mainline products. Its advice was blunt: ignore those tags.
4. The "comparable value"
Some reference prices are defined so loosely that almost anything qualifies. Best Buy's pricing help page says its "Comparable Value" prices are based on prices at which the product, "or a comparable item, was (or in the future will be) offered for sale" by Best Buy or other sellers, and that after a promotion its price "may be the same as, or even lower than, the reference price" (Best Buy, archived Sep 22, 2026). That is a disclosure, not a secret, but few shoppers read it.
5. The fake deadline
A discount that "ends tonight" and is back tomorrow isn't a discount with a deadline. The UK has gone furthest here. In May 2026, the UK High Court confirmed that the mattress seller Emma Sleep had broken consumer law by using "misleading countdown timers, and false 'high demand' messages and 'discount' claims", and the company agreed to stop running "limited time" sales when substantially similar deals continue after the deadline (UK Competition and Markets Authority). The regulator has since opened investigations into whether other retailers' time-limited sales ended when they said they would.
Read the store's own definitions
Big retailers publish what their labels mean, and the differences matter. Amazon, for example, uses two different references. Its List Price appears only if customers bought the product on Amazon, or other retailers offered it, at or above that price in the past 90 days (180 for seasonal products). Its Typical Price is "the 90-day median price paid by customers for the product on Amazon", leaving out short promotions. When both are available, the typical price is the more honest yardstick, because it describes what people actually paid.
Walmart's rules for its marketplace define a Was Price as either the 90-day median price paid on Walmart.com or the median price offered for at least 28 of the last 90 days (Walmart Marketplace).
| Retailer | Label | What it means, in the retailer's words |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | List Price | Shown only if customers bought it on Amazon or other retailers offered it at or above that price in the past 90 days (180 for seasonal items) |
| Amazon | Typical Price | The 90-day median price paid by customers on Amazon, excluding limited-time promotions |
| Walmart | Was Price | The 90-day median price paid on Walmart.com, or the median price offered for at least 28 of the last 90 days |
| Best Buy | Comp. Value | Prices at which the product, or a comparable item, was or will be offered by Best Buy or others |
Amazon and Walmart both add that a list price may not be the prevailing market price. Definitions paraphrased from each retailer's help or seller pages. Source: Amazon help page on strike-through pricing and Walmart Marketplace comparison price rules, read Sep 28, 2026; Best Buy pricing help as archived on Sep 22, 2026
The lesson isn't that these stores are dishonest. It's that "was", "list", "typical" and "comparable" are four different claims, and the badge next to them can't tell you which one you're looking at unless you check.
What courts and regulators have done
In the US, fake reference prices are mostly fought by local prosecutors and class actions, and the results are mixed.
- 2016, Los Angeles. The City Attorney sued J.C. Penney, Kohl's, Macy's and Sears, alleging they advertised "list" or "regular" prices on merchandise "that was never actually available at that price" (CBS Los Angeles). We couldn't find how the cases ended.
- 2021, California. District attorneys from Alameda, Santa Clara, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Cruz and Yolo counties settled with Amazon for $2 million in penalties, costs and restitution to the state's Consumer Protection Trust Fund. The judgment, entered on March 24, 2021, requires Amazon to explain how it determines its "Was" and "List" prices and to link each one to a clear definition.
- 2025, Arhaus. The furniture retailer agreed to pay up to $6 million to settle a class action alleging fake original prices online (ClassAction.org).
- 2025-2026, Amazon Prime Day. A class action alleged that Prime Day was "rife with fake sales", citing for example a kids' tablet shown at 40% off a $119.99 list price that had sold for a median of $72 in the previous 90 days (CBS News). The plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the case in April 2026, so no court ruled on the claims.
Fake discounts aren't limited to stores. In June 2026, Consumer Reports analyzed ride prices collected by 174 volunteers and found that 12.4% of the discounts advertised by Uber and Lyft appeared to be based on inflated original prices. Both companies deny using fictitious pricing.
How to check a "was" price in two minutes
- Hover or tap the reference price. Many stores link the label to its definition. If there's no definition, treat the number as decoration.
- Look up the price history. Google Shopping's price insights, or an Amazon price tracker, show whether today's price is really low for the item.
- Search the exact model number. If other stores sell it at the "sale" price every day, the discount is the store's usual price with a costume on.
- At outlets, compare the product, not the tag. Materials, stitching and model codes often differ from the mainline version.
- Wait out any clock. If the deal is back tomorrow, it wasn't a deadline.
On Deals Meridian we apply the same test to ourselves: a discount badge appears only when the seller publishes its reference, and the badge says what that reference is.
Questions shoppers ask
Is a fake "was" price illegal in the US?
It can be. Federal law bans deceptive advertising, and the FTC's pricing guides say a former price must be one the seller really charged for a reasonable time. States such as California have their own rules. In practice, most US cases are brought by state prosecutors or through class actions rather than by the FTC.
Why do European stores show the lowest price of the last 30 days?
Because EU law requires a price reduction to refer to the lowest price in the previous 30 days, and in 2024 the EU Court of Justice confirmed that the percentage itself must be calculated from that lowest price, not from a price raised just before the sale.
Is "compare at" at an outlet store a real discount?
Often not. California's Attorney General warns that outlet goods are frequently made specifically for outlets, and that the "compare at" price may never have been charged, or may belong to a higher-quality version of the product.
What's the difference between Amazon's List Price and Typical Price?
List Price is a price the item sold at, or was offered at by other retailers, in the recent past; Amazon itself notes it may not be the prevailing market price. Typical Price is the median price Amazon customers actually paid over 90 days, which is usually the more useful comparison.
Does Deals Meridian show crossed-out prices?
Only when the seller publishes the reference and says what it is, and our badge always names it, for example "below the seller's list price". A struck-through number without a label gets no badge.
