The Anchoring Trap

The "original price" on a sale tag is not information. It is an anchor. A jacket "marked down" from $200 to $120 feels like a win, even if it was never truly worth $200. Regulators have repeatedly gone after fake "original" prices, yet the trick survives because the first number you see quietly resets what "reasonable" feels like.

Researchers once had people write the last two digits of their Social Security number, then bid on wine. Those with higher digits bid noticeably more. A number with zero relevance still steered their sense of a fair price.