How to tell if an Amazon deal is real
Last reviewed November 8, 2026
Compare today's price with what the product has actually sold for in recent weeks, not with the crossed-out price on the listing.
The check, step by step
- 1.
Ignore the crossed-out price.
It tells you how far today's price is from a reference on the listing. It doesn't tell you what the product usually costs.
- 2.
Find the normal price.
Look at what the product has actually sold for. TrackPin uses the lowest price level it held for at least 15% of the last 45 days, about a week, so a price that lasted only hours can't count.
- 3.
Compare today with normal.
20% or more below normal is a great price. 5% to 20% below is a good price. Within 5% is a normal price. 5% or more above is above normal.
- 4.
Check how much history stands behind it.
Under 14 days of prices, nobody can say much. A verdict built on two months of prices is worth more than one built on two weeks.
- 5.
Check the price you would actually pay.
Confirm the seller, shipping and any coupon on Amazon before you buy. Prices change, and some discounts only appear at checkout.
- 6.
If it isn't a good price yet, set an alert.
On a TrackPin product page you can ask for one email when the product reaches a Good or Great price. No account or newsletter.
A worked example
These numbers are made up to show the sums. A listing shows $80, with $120 crossed out, so it claims 33% off. The product held $79.99 for three of the last six weeks. Its normal price is about $80, so today's price is a normal price. The 33% is measured from a price the product didn't recently sell at.
During Black Friday and other big sales
A sale badge says a product is on promotion. It doesn't say the price is low for that product. Run the same check, and compare against the weeks before the sale rather than against the badge.
Our daily sample of crossed-out prices shows how many were below the product's normal price on a given day.
What the research says
A study in Marketing Sciencelooked at household products on Amazon in 2016 and 2017. It found that 28% of new list-price introductions came with a price increase rather than a drop or no change, and the price rose 23% on average. “You actually paid a higher price than before the seller displayed the discount claim,” co-author Jinhong Xie of the University of Florida told UF News. That data is several years old, so treat it as background.
For a current figure, see our daily crossed-out price sample. Amazon's own definition of a strike-through price is in its guide to deals.
Questions
- Is the crossed-out list price on Amazon the price it used to sell for?
- Not necessarily. Amazon says a strike-through price is either a List Price, the suggested retail price, or a Typical Price, what customers have recently paid on Amazon. The prices a product has actually held are the better guide.
- How can I see the price history of an Amazon product for free?
- Paste an amazon.com link, an amzn.to or a.co short link, or an ASIN into TrackPin. The product page shows the price history, the normal price and a verdict. No account is needed.
- How much price history do I need to judge a deal?
- TrackPin gives no verdict with under 14 days of prices, and every verdict shows how much history it rests on.
- Does this work for Amazon outside the US?
- TrackPin covers amazon.com (US) only.
Check an amazon.com product now, or read how TrackPin judges a price.