Hot take: those $9 'was $80' knife sets on flash sale sites were never $80

I used to fall for this stuff all the time back around 2019. I would see a chef's knife listed at $79.99 crossed out to $8.99 and think I was beating the system. Then my uncle, who ran a restaurant supply place in Sacramento for 20 years, pulled up the same knife on a wholesale site for $6 flat. That is when it clicked for me. The 'original' price is fake. A lot of these flash sale sites just make up the high number so the discount looks huge. I started checking the wholesale cost on a few items after that and almost none of them were ever sold anywhere near that crossed out tag. Now when I see a deal I ask myself one thing, would I pay this price if there was no red slash next to it. What is the worst fake discount you have caught on one of these sites?

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gracethomas10d ago

The "would I pay this price with no red slash" test is honestly the only one that matters. I got burned on one of those sites with a cast iron skillet marked down from 120 to 25, then found the same pan at a restaurant supply store for 18 bucks regular price. What really gets me is the countdown timers, because they reset the second you leave the page, so the "deal" never actually ends. My move now is to copy the item name, paste it into a search, and see what places like Walmart or a restaurant supply site sell it for. If the flash sale price is even close to normal retail, I just close the tab and move on with my day.

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