Everyone loves saving money. We have some secrets that may help you get better at it. A retail expert says the secret to knowing the best price may lie not in the dollars, but the cents.
Kyle James's coupon website Rather Be Shopping says that at Target, for example, if the price ends in .99 you're paying full price, while .98 means it's a markdown and .04 usually means it's a final markdown.
"They will put a bunch of stuff on clearance, and it will be 15 percent off. If you don't need it right away, come back. In a week or two they're going to mark it down to 30 percent and then to 50 percent," says James.
He says stores like Costco, Home Depot and JC Penney all use the same method. AtSears, if a price tag ends in .88 it's the best price and .97 means it's a discontinued item on clearance, according to James.
He insists it's not complicated at all once you figure it out, and adds that, in some cases, you can tell if you'll get a better deal the next day.
He points to an example at Kohl's. The letters NM in the corner of a price tag there means new mark down, and James says the price will drop.
An asterisk in the upper right hand corner of a Costco price tag supposedly means that's the best price the store will ever have.
