Anchoring Bias: The Lie Behind Every "Sale" Price

The hoodie that "saved" you money.

It was €89. You scrolled past it. Too much.

Then you saw it again: ~~€200~~ NOW ONLY €89!

Suddenly it felt like a steal. You bought it. You told your friend you basically got it for free. You felt smart.

Here's the thing: that hoodie was never €200. It was always €89. The store just needed you to see a big number first.

Welcome to anchoring bias — one of the oldest tricks in the book, and one your brain falls for every single time.

What's Actually Going On

An anchor is the first number (or piece of information) you see. Your brain grabs onto it like a stubborn GPS that refuses to recalculate. Every number you see after that gets compared to the anchor — not to reality.

Here's the psychology: humans are terrible at judging absolute value. We don't walk into a store and think "is this hoodie objectively worth €89?" We think: "compared to what it was before, is this a good deal?"

That's the trap. You're not evaluating the product. You're evaluating the gap.

A €89 hoodie crossed out from €200? Feels great.

A €89 hoodie with no prior price? Feels like a lot.

Same hoodie. Same €89. Completely different feeling — because of a number that was made up.

Real-Life Examples

The "first offer" trap in negotiations. Studies show that in salary negotiations, whoever mentions a number first has massive influence over the final result. If your potential employer says "we're thinking around €25,000," you'll likely counter around that — even if the market rate is €32,000. The first number became the anchor, and everything else orbits it.

The restaurant menu. Ever noticed how upscale restaurants often list one absurdly expensive dish? Like, €95 for a single entree. They don't actually expect you to order it. It's there to make the €45 options feel reasonable by comparison. You look at the menu, see €95, and think "well, €42 for this pasta is actually pretty normal." Anchor set. Menu psychology working perfectly.

The "only 3 left in stock!" trick. This one mixes anchoring with scarcity. You weren't going to buy it. But suddenly there are only 3 left, and the price feels more urgent — because you're now anchoring to the future regret of not getting it at this price.

Follower counts and social proof. You see an account with 2.3 million followers posting an opinion. You see an account with 400 followers posting the exact same opinion. Which one feels more credible to you? The follower count is an anchor. It has almost nothing to do with whether the opinion is actually correct.

How to Spot It in Yourself

Anchoring is sneaky because it works before you notice it. By the time you're deciding, the anchor has already done its job.

Ask yourself these questions:

• "Would I buy this if there was no original price listed?" Strip the strikethrough away. If the hoodie just said €89, would you still want it? That's the real question.

• "Where did this first number come from?" Who decided the "original price"? In fast fashion, "original prices" are often set artificially high so they can be immediately "discounted." The original price isn't real — it's marketing.

• "Am I comparing to the anchor or to my actual needs?" You might not have needed the hoodie at all. But the €111 "savings" felt so good that the need appeared out of nowhere.

• "What's the reference point here?" In a negotiation, a score, a comparison — what's the first number you heard, and is it actually a fair reference?

What You Can Do

Reset your reference point deliberately. Before buying anything on "sale," Google the product and check its price history. Tools like price trackers can show you whether that "€200 original price" was ever real. Spoiler: usually it wasn't.

Set your own anchor first. Before entering a negotiation, a salary discussion, or even a group decision — decide what you think is fair or reasonable before anyone else speaks. Your self-set anchor will compete with the one they're about to throw at you.

Give yourself the "no-number version." When evaluating anything — a product, an opinion, a person's credibility — try to mentally remove the number and evaluate just the thing itself. What do you actually think of the argument, independent of the follower count?

Watch for "compared to what." Every time you feel like something is cheap, expensive, good, or bad compared to something else — ask yourself where that comparison came from, and who chose it.

Your Challenge

Next time you see a "sale," do this:

• Find the item on another website or store — what's the actual going price?
• Ask yourself: "Would I buy this at this price if I'd never seen the original price?"
• Check if the "original price" even exists anywhere outside of this one store's marketing.

Share what you find. You might be surprised how often the "deal" was never a deal — just an anchor you were handed without knowing it.

Next up: Why you think the phone you chose is objectively better than everyone else's — and why you're (probably) wrong.