Is It Really a Discount? Price Check Tool
Enter the usual 'before' price and the current price, and the tool shows the real percentage off, how much you save, and your true checkout cost with delivery. That percentage only means something if the 'before' price was genuinely charged.
On this page (3 sections)
Advertised discounts are only as honest as the “before” price they are measured against. This tool does the arithmetic for you — and reminds you of the one number it cannot check.
Is it really a discount?
Based on CCCS price-transparency guidelines. As of October 2026. Estimate only — it does the maths on the prices you enter and cannot verify that the 'usual price' is genuine.
How it is calculated
The maths is deliberately simple, and it all runs in your browser:
- Percentage off = (usual price − current price) ÷ usual price × 100.
- Amount saved = usual price − current price.
- True checkout cost = current price + any delivery and fees you enter.
If the current price is higher than the usual price, the tool shows that as an increase, not a discount. Under the CCCS price-transparency guidelines (in force since 1 November 2020), a strike-through “usual price” should be a bona fide previous price, a time-limited discount should state its period clearly, and unavoidable fees should sit in the headline price rather than appear only at checkout.
A worked example (illustrative)
Suppose a kettle shows a “usual price” of S$100 and a sale price of S$70, with S$0 delivery. The tool reports 30% off, a S$30 saving and a S$70 true cost. Now suppose that “usual price” had quietly been raised from S$80 to S$100 the week before: the real saving against its genuine everyday price is only S$10 — about 12.5%. Same banner, very different deal. (These figures are illustrative.)
CCCS gives its own illustration: a packet of noodles normally sold at S$3, advertised as “buy one, get one free” at S$6 for two, is still S$3 each — no genuine price benefit at all.
Limits of this estimate
- It cannot verify that the “before” price is genuine. That judgement is yours — ideally by noting an item’s everyday price a week or two earlier.
- It uses only the numbers you type; it does not read live prices or any seller’s price history.
- For the authoritative position on misleading prices, see the CCCS price-transparency guidelines; to raise a complaint about an unfair practice, contact CASE.
To go further, read how to spot fake discounts for the full manual method, how our price tracking works for what our own records can add, and the 11.11 and 12.12 guides for event-specific timing.
Sources
- Guidelines on Price Transparency — Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (as of October 2026)
- CCCS Publishes Guidelines on Price Transparency — Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (as of September 2020)
- CPFTA & Lemon Law — Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) (as of October 2026)