As consumers, we can’t help but get excited over markdowns and new sales regarding our favorite items. If we think we’re saving big while still treating ourselves, we consider it a good day. Unfortunately, marketers make money off of tricking consumers into this inflated sense of shopping pride.

Know a trick when it’s being used on you. Here are 5 shopping tricks we all still fall for – every single time:

1. The Instant Markdown:
For many people who don’t want to do the math: a markdown appears to be an automatic bargain in their eyes. However, you need to look closer than that. Many stores inflate their original prices so that markdowns aren’t actually a deal at all.

2. Decoy Pricing:
Have you ever bought a “small for $3 because the large was $10?” If you look again and notice that the medium, which was left off of the menu, is only $5, it is actually a better deal to grab the medium over the large. Be sure to take in all of your options before deciding.

3. Overpriced Menu Items:
Have you ever been to a restaurant and noticed some super expensive entrees for $59 when everything else is about $25? This is a tactic that leads consumers to believe their dinner, which is still pretty expensive, is still a “deal” in their eyes. Look out for this one.

4. Urgency:
Stores are great at scaring you into thinking you only have 2-days to capitalize from a deal. The reality is, most deals go on for weeks at a time until the store feels they have capitalized from it. Don’t feel rushed into shopping.

5. Loss Items:
Lastly, look out for a draw to Target or Walmart for discounted notebooks when they know it means you’ll buy 50 other items while you’re there. Identify if you really need that singularly discounted product.

Stay ahead of the marketing game.