How to Spot Fake Discounts: Your Guide to Detecting Fake Offers

The oldest trick: raise the price, then "discount" it

Roughly two weeks before big sale seasons, some stores quietly raise a product's price by 10% to 15%, then announce a "huge discount" on sale day that simply brings the price back to where it always was, or even slightly higher. The result: flashy red badges, impressive-looking percentages, and actual savings of zero.

How to catch it yourself

The only reliable weapon is price history. Look at the last 90 days of a product's price curve and the picture becomes obvious: if the price sat steadily at SAR 4,500 and jumped to 5,100 two weeks before the sale, a "discount" back to 4,500 is not a discount, it is a return to normal.

• Real discount: the new price is clearly below the three-month average.
• Possibly fake: the price was pumped in the last two weeks, then "cut".
• Was lower before: today's offer is higher than a price seen in the past 90 days.
• Best price: the current price is the true 90-day minimum, a genuinely great time to buy.

What Beseyat does for you

Beseyat records a daily price point for every product at every store, analyses each deal automatically and stamps it with a clear label: real discount, possibly fake, or best 90-day price. Before you pay, open the deal page, look at the label and the chart, and ask yourself one question: could I have bought this cheaper last month? If the answer is yes, patience will usually save you hundreds of riyals.