As Americans gearing up for a year-end shopping spree, they are bombarded by flashy sales, markdowns and doorbusters. But if that Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Gaz Selman, a freelance web developer from Dearborn, Michigan, started tracking the price of a $299 monitor in October. In early November, the price went up to $379. This week, he got an email for an early Black Friday deal marked down to the original price of $299.
He had observed this phenomenon before. Small kitchen appliances like air fryers priced at $99 throughout the year until November when the list price suddenly leaps to $149 just to advertise a "door buster" price of $99.
"Consumers think they’ve saved $50 but they’re actually paying the market rate," Selman said.
His advice? Don't get fooled by "price anchoring," a common retail strategy to set a high “anchor” price that makes the regular retail price look like a bargain, he said.
