sucker's deal 

n. A "sale" price so high that only a sucker would pay it.

To pull off a sucker's deal, retailers often display obscenely high rates as "normal" prices so that a discount would seem comparatively low to a hapless shopper, even if the reduced price is significantly higher than market value.

Sucker's deals are easy to spot, often found in fashion malls or department stores with giant red signs advertising "SALE" or "20% OFF" in bold letters. If a deceptive marketing campaign is executed correctly, the sale items will fly off the shelves, along with their other regularly priced hyper-inflated products.

Of course, this conjob, scam tactic only works on stupid people with lots of disposable income, but apparently there's an abundance of these types in both North America and Europe.

A good rule of thumb to follow is that if a store's advertised SALE price is greater than 20% higher than Internet mail-order market rate (including UPS/Fedex) for exactly the same product, it's a true sucker's deal.

Sucker: "I just came back from a huge sale at (insert rip-off designer clothing store here) and got these jeans at half off!"

You: "How much did you pay?"

Sucker: "It was a deal. $175!"

You: "That sure was a deal. A sucker's deal."

*A fool and his/her money are soon parted*

sucker's deal by Crazy Crazy Carl March 7, 2008