I bought a “60% off” espresso machine on Cyber Monday two years ago. Felt like a genius. Then I checked the price history — it had been the exact same price for the previous three months. The “original” price was inflated to make the discount look bigger.

I still use the machine. It’s fine. But I didn’t save 60%. Maybe 10%. The rush of getting a deal made me skip the checking.

How fake discounts work

Retailers raise prices a few weeks before the sales, then “slash” them back to normal. It’s legal in most places as long as the item was listed at the higher price at some point. The discount isn’t a lie — it’s a time-shifted truth.

What’s actually worth buying

Name-brand TVs, laptops, and major appliances do get genuine discounts — retailers use them as loss leaders to get you on the site. Amazon devices (Kindle, Echo, Fire) are almost always at their lowest price of the year.

Clothing and fashion: skip it. The best clothing deals are in January. Holiday gift sets and beauty bundles are mostly repackaged old stock.

The single most useful thing: make a list before you browse. Decide what you want and what you’ll pay for it. If it hits that price, buy. If not, don’t. The site is designed to make you buy things you didn’t know you wanted.