What is "two-price advertising"

n. A sales and marketing practice whereby the seller shows two prices, a normal price and a lower special discounted price, in order to attract customers by the apparent saving, but where the "normal" price is in fact a fiction, the goods having never actually been sold and/or offered at that price. (Genuine reduced prices are not considered two-price advertising, only the case where the higher price is invented to look like a saving.)

Two-price advertising' is the sales and marketing practice of showing customers two prices, a supposed normal price and a lower price, which is claimed to be a special offer or discount, but in fact, the stated normal price is a fiction.

The idea of two-price advertising is to present an apparent saving, usually very substantial, as a way to attract customers. The term two-price advertising refers only to those cases where the "normal" price claimed is designed to deceive.

Regulatory treatment of the practice varies around the world. A clear deception, it is likely to come under false advertising or fair trading laws. The practice normally takes place only in retail marketing. Certain industries tend to be more prone to it than others.