Most ‘discounts’ you see online are measured against a price nobody has paid in years. Here is how to check whether a drop is real before you buy.
Look at the selling price, not the MRP
MRP is a ceiling, not a market price. What matters is the range the product has actually been selling in over the last few months. If a phone has sat at ₹15,999 since March, a ‘sale price’ of ₹15,499 is a ₹500 saving, not the 40% the banner claims.
Check the price history
Browser extensions and price trackers plot this for you. Anything below the lowest point of the last 90 days is worth acting on. Anything above the median is a normal day dressed up as an event.
Watch for the sale-week bump
Some listings creep upward in the fortnight before a big sale so the discount looks steeper on day one. A tracker makes this obvious within seconds.
Bank offers are where the real money is
An instant ₹1,500 off on a specific card is a genuine, verifiable saving. A vague ‘up to 80% off’ across a category is not.