How to check a product's price history in Australia (and spot inflated "was" prices)

A price tag tells you what something costs today. A price history tells you whether today is a good day to buy it. It's the single best defence against a "sale" that's really the normal price with a bigger "was" next to it.

The free tools

Compare Empire: every Australian store, every day

Every product we compare has a price chart on its page. We save the lowest in-stock price each morning across the Australian stores we check (391 of them, including JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, the PC shops and brand stores), and each store's own price too. Each page also gives a plain verdict on today's price: the lowest we've recorded, below usual, usual, or above usual.

CamelCamelCamel and Keepa: Amazon

For Amazon Australia, CamelCamelCamel and Keepa chart the price of a listing over time and can email you when it drops. They only cover Amazon, so pair them with a check of the other stores.

OzBargain: what it went for last time

Searching OzBargain for a product shows past deals people posted, with dates. It's a rough guide to the lows a product hits during sales.

How to read a price chart

• Look for the floor. Where does the price keep dropping back to? That's the realistic sale price. If today's price is at or near the floor, it's a good time.
• Watch for a step up before a sale. A price that rises a week or two before a big sale and then "drops" back to where it was is the classic inflated discount.
• Check how long it's been there. A price that has sat still for a month isn't a limited-time offer, whatever the banner says.
• Compare stores, not just dates. One store's history can look like a sale while another store has charged less all along.

A worked example

Here are the TVs sold by the most Australian stores today. Open any of them to see its chart and today's verdict:

Which "was" prices to ignore

• A "was" price no other store has charged recently.
• An RRP on an older model that hasn't sold at RRP in months.
• "Save up to" banners, which describe the best discount in a whole range, not the one you're looking at.

We only call something a deal when another store or the product's own history backs the reference price up. That's how our deals page works. More on this in how to spot a fake sale.