Sale badges are designed to feel urgent. A higher figure with a line through it, a bright percentage or a clock that appears to be running out can make the lower figure feel like a victory before you have asked what is being compared.
This guide explains how to read those claims as claims. It does not list current discounts or suggest a typical markdown. If you want to know what a shop is charging today, open that shop's page.
This is educational information, not legal advice.
A discount is always a comparison
Every sale claim has two parts, even when only one number is large on the screen:
- The price you would pay now.
- The figure the seller wants you to compare it with: a former price, a recommended price, a "was" price, a competitor's price or a percentage off something.
The second figure is doing a lot of work. If it is not a price that meant something in real life, the "saving" is a story rather than a measurement.
You do not need to become a lawyer to use that idea. You need to ask, "Compared with what, and for how long was that true?"
What official U.S. guidance says about former prices
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing (16 CFR Part 233) describe common ways bargain advertising can mislead people. The Guides are written for advertisers, but they are useful for shoppers because they spell out the comparisons sellers are tempted to make.
On former-price comparisons, the Guides say that when a seller advertises a reduction from its own earlier price, that earlier price should be the genuine, bona fide price at which the item was offered to the public on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period of time. A price that was not used in the regular course of business, or that was used only long enough to set up the later "sale," is not a solid foundation for a bargain claim.
The Guides also discuss comparisons with prices charged by others, and with list or suggested retail prices. In plain language, the higher figure should reflect a price at which the product is actually sold in a meaningful way, not an isolated or unrealistic number used to decorate the discount.
We are not going to repeat the Guides' sample dollar amounts here. They are labelled illustrations in the official text, not current shop prices. If you want the examples, read the Guides themselves through the link in the sources.
The practical habit for a shopper is simpler than the legal vocabulary: if the only reason the deal looks huge is a "was" price you have never seen this seller use, treat the badge as a question, not as proof.
What UK guidance says about discount claims
The Competition and Markets Authority's tips for shopping online include a plain warning about discount claims. If a discount appears too good to be true, that might be the case. Some sites, the CMA says, may show discounts that are misleading, for example by setting the non-discount price unrealistically high so the cut looks bigger than it really is.
The same CMA note warns about pressure selling: some sites may give a false impression of availability or popularity, such as by highlighting that other customers are looking at the same product. Urgency can be real (a size is genuinely running out) or it can be a design choice. You cannot always tell from the badge alone, which is a reason not to let the badge set the pace of the decision.
None of this means every sale is fake. It means a sale is a claim you are allowed to inspect.
Questions that slow a badge down
When you see a markdown, pause for four questions:
- What exactly is on sale? Is it the same model, size and condition you meant to buy, or a different version sitting next to the one you searched for?
- What is the higher figure? Is it described as a former price, a recommended price, a comparison with other shops, or is it unexplained?
- Have I seen that higher figure used as a real selling price? If you follow the product, check whether the higher number appeared as the ordinary price for a while, or only as decoration for the sale.
- What is the price after extras? Delivery and fees can erase a markdown that looked dramatic on the product tile.
If you cannot answer those questions from the page, you do not yet have a deal you can measure. You have an advertisement.
Percentages without a base are not information
A claim such as "up to" a certain percentage off can be true of one item in a range and irrelevant to the item in your basket. The habit is what matters: find the actual price of the specific thing you would buy and compare that price, not the most exciting number in the banner.
If several items in a sale share one headline percentage, open the product you want and see what you would be charged. Then compare that figure with at least one other seller, as described in our guide to comparing prices. The CMA's 2025 shopping advice still applies during sales: prices can vary from shop to shop, so it is worth checking more than one place.
Limited time and limited stock
Countdown clocks and "selling fast" labels may describe a real promotional window, or they may be a pattern that reappears every week. Official guidance does not give you a home test that always separates the two. It does give you permission to be unimpressed.
If the same item is still "ending tonight" the next time you look, the urgency was not a fact about the product. If stock really is limited, shopping around first is still useful, because another seller may have the same item without the theatre.
Do not let a timer stop you from reading the returns policy or checking how you will pay. Those details survive after the badge disappears.
What to write down before you buy
A short note next to a sale item might look like this:
- The specific item, including size or condition.
- The price you would pay now, copied from the page at checkout if you can reach it.
- The comparison figure, and how the page describes it ("was", "RRP", "compare at" or nothing).
- Delivery and extras.
- One other seller's current total for the same item, if you can find one.
If the note still looks like a good decision after you have filled it in, the badge has done its job as a prompt. If the note falls apart, the badge was doing a different job.
What this guide is not saying
We are not accusing any particular retailer of writing fake sales. We are not quoting anyone's current markdown. We are not offering legal advice about whether a specific advert breaks a rule.
We are saying that sale claims are comparisons, that official guides in the U.S. and the UK treat invented or unrealistic reference prices as a problem, and that you can read a badge more calmly by asking what the higher number really was. For ranking tools that repeat those badges, see our guide to comparison sites. For listings that pair a dramatic cut with a too-good price on an expensive item, see our guides to marketplace checks and shopping scams.
