The Prixette Journal
“Was $1,290, now $645.” A strike-through price and a bold red number are among the most persuasive things a retailer can put on a screen — and among the least verifiable. Sometimes that markdown is exactly what it appears to be: a genuine end-of-season cut on a piece the store paid real money for. Sometimes the “was” price is doing more work than the “now” price. Here is how to tell the difference.
Why the strike-through works on you
Behavioral economists call it anchoring: the first number you see becomes the reference point against which everything else is judged. A bag priced at $645 reads as expensive on its own; the same bag shown as “$1,290 $645” reads as a bargain, even though the thing in the box is identical. Retailers know this, which is why the reference price is displayed so prominently. The question a careful shopper asks is not “how big is the discount?” but “was the reference price ever real?”
The three kinds of “was” price
The honest markdown. The retailer sold the item at the reference price for a meaningful period and has now reduced it, usually because the season ended or stock is not moving. This is common at reputable department stores and boutiques, especially during the two big annual sale windows — early summer and after the winter holidays.
The inflated anchor. The reference price is technically a “suggested retail price” that the item rarely or never actually sold at — at this retailer or anywhere else. This pattern is most common at outlet stores and discount sites, where some merchandise is made specifically for that channel and the “compare at” price refers to a hypothetical full-price version that never sat on a shelf.
The permanent sale. The item has been “on sale” for months, at roughly the same discounted price, and the sale price is in practice the real price. Nothing about the product is wrong; the urgency is what is manufactured.
Five checks before you trust a discount
- Compare the reference price across retailers. The single fastest check. If a shoe’s “original” price is $1,290 at one store but every other retailer carries the same style at $980 full price, the anchor is inflated. If multiple independent retailers show the same original price, it is probably the brand’s genuine retail price.
- Look for price history. Where a price-tracking service covers the item, check how long the current price has been in effect and what the item actually sold at over recent months. A real markdown shows a clear step down from a stable, higher price. A permanent sale shows a flat line at the “discounted” number.
- Mind the outlet-specific product. With luxury outlet and off-price channels, ask whether this exact style was ever sold in mainline stores. Style codes help: an item made for the outlet channel is not a marked-down version of the mainline product, and its “compare at” price is a construct.
- Check the timing. A deep cut during a recognized sale season, on seasonal colors and materials, from a full-price retailer, is behaving the way genuine markdowns behave. A “70% off, today only” banner in the middle of the season, on core permanent styles that brands almost never discount, deserves skepticism — and if the seller is unfamiliar, that skepticism should extend to authenticity, not just pricing.
- Judge the “now” price on its own. The most reliable question is the simplest: is this a good price for this item, compared with what every other retailer currently charges? A 50%-off flag against an inflated anchor can still leave you paying more than another store’s everyday price for the identical piece.
The habit that protects you
Notice that almost every check above reduces to one discipline: ignore the theater around the number and compare the number itself — against other retailers today, and against the same retailer over time. Discounts are a story; prices are a fact. Anchors, countdown timers, and “only 2 left” flags all exist to make you decide quickly. A price compared across the whole market cannot be dressed up.
This is the core of what we are building at Prixette: every current price for the same designer item, side by side and time-stamped, so that when a sale is real you can see it — and when it is theater, you can see that too.