A big red "was" price is the oldest trick in retail. Here is how to check whether a sale is real, using the rules stores are supposed to follow, the free price history tools anyone can use, and a quick model comparison before you pay.
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Short answer. A sale is a real deal when the price is lower than what the item has actually sold for recently, not just lower than the crossed-out number. The FTC's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing say a "was" price should be a bona fide price offered regularly for a reasonably substantial time, and California law requires a former price to have prevailed within the past three months unless the ad dates it. To check, look up 90 days or more of price history in Keepa or CamelCamelCamel (Amazon) or Google's price insights (US, across sellers), compare the same model number at other stores, and weigh it against last year's model or a refurbished unit. Buy when the price is at or near its historical low and the store offers price protection, as Target does on its own prices through 24 December 2026.
This is a research-based guide. We did not run a price-tracking study or buy anything for it. The rules come from the primary texts: the Federal Trade Commission's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing (16 CFR Part 233) on the eCFR, California's Business and Professions Code section 17501, and a published Ninth Circuit decision. Tool features come from each tool's own home or help page, and retailer rules from the retailer's own policy page, all read on 11 November 2026. Where a page is a company describing its own product, we say so.
We judged a "deal" on three questions: is the comparison price real, is this the lowest price you can reasonably expect, and is this the right product at all.
The federal benchmark is old but still in force. The FTC's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing date from 1967, and the eCFR shows no changes to them since at least 3 January 2017 (eCFR, checked 11 November 2026). They are guides, which explain how the FTC reads the general ban on deceptive practices, not a separate statute with its own penalties.
Section 233.1 says a former price is legitimate only if it is "the actual, bona fide price at which the article was offered to the public on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period of time." Its own example is a retailer who raises a $7.50 pen to $10 for a few days, then advertises "Were $10, Now Only $7.50." The FTC calls that "obviously a false claim." The same section warns that a tiny cut, such as "Reduced to $9.99" from $10, is misleading.
Section 233.2 says a "price elsewhere" or "comparable value" claim should not appreciably exceed the price at which substantial sales are being made in the area. Quoting a handful of small stores that charge more does not count.
Section 233.3 is blunt: "only in the rare case are all sales of an article at the manufacturer's suggested retail price." A list price is fair to cite only where principal retailers actually sell at it in substantial volume. In practice, that means a discount "off MSRP" tells you little until you know what stores really charge.
Section 233.4 says a seller should not raise the regular price, or cut quantity or quality, on the item you must buy to get the "free" one. Section 233.5 adds that a "limited" offer should actually be limited.
California Business and Professions Code section 17501 says no price may be advertised as a former price unless it was the prevailing market price within the three months before the ad, or the ad clearly states when that price applied (California Legislative Information, checked 11 November 2026). In Hinojos v. Kohl's Corp. (9th Cir., 21 May 2013), the court held that a shopper who bought items advertised as marked down from a fictitious "original" price, and who would not have bought them otherwise, has standing to sue under California law, according to Willamette Law Online's summary. That ruling was about the right to sue; it was not a finding that Kohl's broke the law.
What this means for you: the law expects a "was" price to be a real, recent, regular price. It does not guarantee every crossed-out number meets that standard, and you usually cannot check it from the product page alone. A price history chart can.
The crossed-out number next to a sale price is called a reference price. Different labels mean different things, and some are far more useful than others.
| Label | What it usually means | How much to trust it |
|---|---|---|
| "Was", "Reg.", "Original" | The seller's own earlier price | Only if it was charged regularly and recently; check the history |
| "List price", "MSRP" | A maker's suggested price | Low; the FTC notes few items sell at list |
| "Compare at", "Value" | A price elsewhere or for a similar item | Low unless you can find stores charging it |
| Amazon "Typical Price" | 90-day median price customers paid on Amazon | Higher; it is based on actual sales |
Amazon's Reference pricing and promotions FAQ for sellers, read on 11 November 2026, says reference prices appear as a List Price or a Typical Price (called Was Price in some stores). It defines Typical Price as "the 90-day median price customers have paid for a product." Promotional prices are usually left out, but since 18 May 2026, if an item sat below its normal price for more than half of the 90 days, all sales are counted, so the Typical Price drops to what people actually paid. Sales during peak events, including Prime Day, are always excluded. Amazon also says deals, coupons and peak-event discounts must clear a minimum percentage off the reference price.
That makes Amazon's Typical Price one of the more grounded reference numbers on a shopping page. It still covers only Amazon, only 90 days, and the List Price can be the maker's figure. A price history chart is still the better check.
A price tracker records a product's price over time so you can see its usual price, its lowest price and how often it goes on sale. These are the features each tool describes on its own page, checked on 11 November 2026.
| Tool | Stores covered | Price history | Alerts | Cost for shoppers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keepa | 11 Amazon marketplaces | Yes, on every Amazon product page via extension | Email, web push, Telegram, RSS, app | Free; Pro tier for sellers at €29 a month |
| CamelCamelCamel | Amazon, several countries | Yes, charts plus The Camelizer extension | Email price-drop alerts | Free |
| Google price insights | Sellers across the web (US only) | Recent months, labeled low, typical or high | Not described on the help page we read | Free |
| Honey | 30,000+ sites for coupons | Not described on its home page | Droplist price-drop notices | Free |
Keepa promises "Price history for every product, and an alert the moment the price drops," free and without an account. Its browser extension puts the chart on Amazon product pages in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera, and its iOS and Android apps can scan a barcode in a store. Keepa says it tracks more than 8 billion products across 11 Amazon marketplaces, with data going back to 2011 in its API. Its page frames this as a way to "spot a fake discount": the chart shows the usual price and how long any higher price lasted.
CamelCamelCamel calls itself "a free Amazon price tracker." It offers price history charts, price watches with email alerts, and The Camelizer browser extension. Its highlighted deals list each item's current price next to its average, which is a useful habit to copy when you judge any deal.
Google's Get price insights help page says the feature shows "if a product's price is low, typical, or high, and how its price changed in recent months," and that its typical price is "based on info from sellers across the web, not just from options available on Google Shopping." It is available to US shoppers. Google also flags prices at a 30-day low, based on the total price including shipping, and warns that this "doesn't predict how a price may change in the future."
Honey's home page describes a coupon tool that tests codes at checkout on more than 30,000 sites, a rewards program called Honey Gold, and Droplist, which notifies you if it detects a price drop on a saved item. Its home page does not describe price history charts, so treat it as a coupon and alert tool, not as a way to check whether a reference price is real.
Amazon-only trackers cannot see Walmart, Best Buy or a brand's own store. Google's view covers more sellers but in less detail. None of them knows whether a better model is about to replace the one you are looking at. Use them to judge the price, then do the product comparison separately.
A deal can be real and still be the wrong buy. Three checks catch most problems.
Before comparing prices across stores, make sure you are comparing the same product: same model number, storage, size, color and bundle. Target's own price match rules, for example, require an item to be "identical in brand, size, weight, color, quantity and model number." Use that standard for your own comparisons too. Our guide to reading a product spec sheet shows which specs to line up.
The FTC's consumer advice on outlet shopping warns that many stores sell items "made exclusively for those outlets" that "may be of lower quality than what's sold in the regular stores," such as a jacket that is not fully lined. If a model number or description differs from the main-line product, compare its specs, not just its price.
Line the sale item up against last year's version, a refurbished unit and its nearest competitor at their own current prices. A 30 percent cut on a new model may still cost more than last year's model at its normal price, with little real difference. See our breakdown of newest model vs last year's model and refurbished vs new electronics. Reviews matter too, and some of those are fake as well.
Black Friday falls on 27 November 2026, the day after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday on 30 November. Many retailers now start "Black Friday" pricing in early November, which makes price history more useful, not less: you can see whether this month's price has already been beaten.
Price protection lowers the risk of buying early. Target's holiday Price Match Guarantee, checked on 11 November 2026, says that if you buy an item from 1 November 2026 and its price goes lower at Target on or before 24 December 2026, you can request a price match with proof of purchase. Outside that window the lookback is 14 days. The lower price must be at Target.com or a local Target store, not a competitor or a comparison-shopping site, and screenshots are not accepted. Clearance, closeout, refurbished items and price errors are excluded.
Other retailers have their own rules. We could not load Best Buy's price match page on 11 November 2026, so we do not describe its terms here; check the policy page of any store you buy from before you pay.
Run through these eight steps for anything expensive enough that you would be annoyed to see it cheaper next week.
The same logic applies beyond gadgets. Annual plans and "first year" prices need the same scrutiny; see how to compare subscription services.
Compare it with the item's price history, not the crossed-out price. If the sale price is at or near the lowest price of the past few months, and other stores are not cheaper for the same model number, it is likely a genuine deal.
The FTC's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing say a former price should be a real price offered regularly for a reasonably substantial period, and an inflated price set up just to advertise a big cut is a false bargain. Some states go further: California requires a former price to have been the prevailing market price within the past three months unless the ad states when it applied.
For Amazon, Keepa and CamelCamelCamel both offer free price history charts and price-drop alerts. For other stores, Google's price insights show whether a price is low, typical or high based on sellers across the web, for US shoppers. Honey is mainly a coupon tool with Droplist price-drop notices.
Amazon's seller help says Typical Price is the 90-day median price customers paid. Promotions are usually excluded, but since 18 May 2026 they are included if the item was below its normal price for more than half the period. Sales during peak events such as Prime Day are always excluded.
Check the price history. If the current price already matches the item's lowest recent price and the store will refund a later drop, buying early carries little risk. Target, for example, will match its own lower price through 24 December 2026 for items bought from 1 November 2026. Black Friday 2026 is 27 November.
Usually not. The FTC's guides note that only in the rare case are all sales of an item made at the manufacturer's suggested retail price, so a percentage off MSRP often overstates the saving. Compare against what stores actually charge.
Match the exact model number, storage, size and bundle first, then compare the sale item against last year's model, a refurbished unit and the closest competitor at their current prices. Watch for outlet or made-for-sale versions, which the FTC says may be lower quality.