There is a specific moment — probably familiar to anyone who shops regularly — where you spot a tag that reads something like "Now €34.99 — Was €69.99" and your brain automatically files it as a good deal. The percentage math happens without effort. Fifty percent off. That sounds significant.
The question worth asking more often is: was the item actually €69.99 before? And if so, for how long?
The reference price is the whole game
Almost every discount tag works by presenting two numbers: a current price and a "was" or "original" price. The deal lives or dies on that second number. If it reflects something real — a price that held for a meaningful stretch of time across most of the retailer's buying season — then the markdown is genuine. If it's a ceiling price that existed briefly, technically, before anyone had a chance to buy at it, then the tag is telling you something much less useful.
Dutch consumer law (and EU Directive 2019/2161, which took effect in May 2022) requires that the "prior price" shown in a promotion must be the lowest price the seller charged in the 30 days before the reduction. This is a meaningful constraint. But it applies to formal promotions. A retailer selling an item at full price for 30 days, then discounting it, is compliant even if that full price was always its highest possible point and few or no units actually sold there.
Legal compliance and genuine value aren't the same thing.
Language patterns worth learning
After watching how discount tags are worded across different retail categories, certain patterns start to surface. Some are neutral, others are reliably worth slowing down for.
"Was" vs. "RRP" vs. "From" — these three words signal quite different things. "Was €X" implies the retailer's own prior selling price. "RRP" (recommended retail price) is a manufacturer's number and often has no relationship to what anyone actually paid. "From €X" on a price tag, particularly in fashion, typically refers to the highest variant in the range — the largest size, the premium colourway — not the item you're holding.
Percentage labels without the base price — a tag reading "-40%" with only the new price shown requires you to calculate what the original was. That's not an accident. Retailers know that round percentages scan well and that most people don't do the reverse arithmetic to check what they imply.
"Special purchase" and "clearance" framing — these are distinct from standard markdowns. A special purchase item may never have carried the implied reference price at this retailer at all; it was sourced specifically for a promotional event. Clearance items are genuinely marked down, but the reason for the clearance (end of season, discontinued line, overstocking) matters more than the percentage shown.
The placement question
Discount signage placement follows some consistent logic that's worth noticing. Tags positioned at eye level, in high-traffic zones, or near entrances tend to carry the largest percentage figures. These are your attention anchors. The items toward the back of the store or in secondary sections often have smaller discounts but may represent better actual value against comparable products.
Online this translates differently. Homepage banners and top-of-category placements during sale periods typically feature the most dramatic markdowns. The mechanism is identical: high-visibility position, headline-friendly number. The question of whether that number reflects genuine savings is separate.
Cross-checking in practice
The most reliable habit for evaluating a tag-based discount is checking the item's price history directly. For Dutch online retail, tools like Pricespy and Tweakers' Pricewatch cover electronics and appliances reasonably well. Fashion is harder — items rotate frequently and SKUs get retired — but even a quick check of whether the same or similar item is available at a competing retailer at the "original" price will tell you something.
If the "was" price isn't available anywhere at face value right now, that's information.
What the Deal Score reflects here
This article earns a B on our Deal Score not because the information is unreliable, but because discount tag literacy is situational. The same piece of knowledge produces different outcomes depending on what category you're shopping in, what retailer you're dealing with, and how much research time you're willing to invest. It's a useful skill to develop incrementally, not a system that pays off uniformly on every purchase.
Price tags are designed to communicate one thing: a number that looks better than it did. Understanding what's behind that number is the more relevant skill.