of back-to-school “deals” weren’t real.

We scanned 600 advertised Amazon deals for Back to School 2026. 165 weren’t meaningfully below their usual price.

Fakest back-to-school categories

Busted back-to-school “deals”

• SPORTEX SAV Men's E4220 Blue Light Reading Glasses - Flexible, … — $28 is basically its everyday $25
• Zebra Pen Mildliner Dual-Tip Highlighter Set, Broad and Fine Ti… — $17 is basically its everyday $15
• LookOurWay Air Dancers Inflatable Tube Man Attachment | 20ft Ta… — $230 is basically its everyday $210
• Winsor & Newton Galeria Round Long Handle Brush, Size 12 — $18 is basically its everyday $17
• Amazon Basics USB-2.0 Type C to Lightning Cable, MFi Certified,… — $14 is basically its everyday $13

How this is measured

• Sample: 600 advertised Amazon deals across back-to-school categories — Computers, Office, Electronics, and Toys & Games (scanned per-category, then pooled).
• “Busted” = today’s price sits within 0.88–1.12× the item’s usual (90-day) price — i.e. not meaningfully below it, a “discount” off an inflated or invented “was”.
• Source: real Keepa price history — the figure can’t be bought.

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