Are "Was" Prices Real? How Often Stores Charged Them
Short answer
It depends on the store. Among items advertised at 30% or more off that we had tracked for at least 30 days, Academy had charged the stated regular price on 81% of them, Best Buy and Nordstrom on about a third, Lowe's online on 18%, Walmart on 5% and Nordstrom Rack on almost none. At Walmart, the typical sale price was within 1% of the highest price we ever recorded for the item.
Data as of
Items advertised 30%+ off on Oct 25, 2026, tracked 30 days or more, prices recorded over the last 120 days.
A “was” price is only as real as the store’s history of charging it. On items advertised at 30% or more off, we had seen Academy charge the stated regular price 81% of the time, Walmart 5% of the time, and Nordstrom Rack almost never.
What we measured
On October 25, 2026 we took every item at these retailers advertised at least 30% below its stated regular (or “was”, “list” or “compare at”) price, kept the ones we had been recording prices for at least 30 days, and checked two things against the last 120 days of our price history:
- Did we ever record the item at its stated regular price? (within 2%)
- How far is today’s price below the highest price we recorded?
| Retailer | Items | Median days tracked | Ever charged the stated regular price | Median advertised discount | Median drop from highest price we recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy | 2,961 | 56 | 81% | 30% | 30% |
| Newegg | 447 | 77 | 48% | 40% | 28% |
| Nordstrom | 2,116 | 69 | 36% | 40% | 25% |
| Best Buy | 1,061 | 68 | 34% | 40% | 23% |
| Lowe’s (lowes.com) | 2,442 | 61 | 18% | 50% | 0% |
| Walmart | 1,864 | 67 | 5% | 38% | 0.7% |
| Nordstrom Rack | 4,094 | 70 | 0.1% | 57% | 0% |
How to read it
- Academy’s discounts are mostly real. Prices move between the regular price and sale prices, so the advertised discount and the drop from the highest price we saw are both about 30%.
- Walmart’s “was” price is rarely a price we saw. For the typical item, today’s price is within 1% of the highest price we ever recorded. The 38% off is measured against a list price, not against what Walmart charged.
- Nordstrom Rack’s “compare at” is a reference price, not a Rack price. We recorded Rack charging it on 0.1% of items. Rack’s own markdowns do happen and show in each item’s history, but the 57% headline is not a drop.
- Lowe’s online sits in between: 18% of items had been charged the stated regular price, and the typical item was at its highest recorded price.
Our record of an item starts when it first appears in our data, which can be after a sale has started. That can only lower the “ever charged” share, so we required at least 30 days of history; the median item had about two months.
How to check a deal yourself
- Ignore the strike-through price. Compare against the item’s own history. The price tracker pages show every price we have recorded per item.
- Walmart: item pages like those linked from Walmart price history show the drop from our recorded high instead of from list.
- A real drop has a date. If no lower or higher price was ever recorded, the “sale” may be the normal price.
- Clearance at Home Depot and Lowe’s is a different case: the regular price is the store’s own shelf price. See how much Home Depot clearance is marked down.
Live deals with recorded drops: Walmart, Academy, Best Buy, Nordstrom Rack, Lowe’s.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Walmart “was” prices real?
Rarely, in our data. Of 1,864 Walmart items advertised at 30% or more off and tracked at least 30 days, we had recorded the stated “was” or list price for 5%. The typical item’s price was within 1% of the highest price we recorded.
Is Nordstrom Rack’s compare-at price the original price?
Not in our data. Compare-at is a reference price rather than a price Rack charged before. Of 4,094 Rack items advertised at 30% or more off, we had recorded Rack charging the compare-at price on 0.1%.
How can I tell if a sale price is a real deal?
Compare it with the item’s own price history rather than the strike-through price. If the store has charged more for the item recently, the drop is real; if today’s price is the highest it has been, the discount is only on paper.