Costco price tags tell you what’s on sale, a floor model, a returned item, or last stock

Shopping at Costco can lead to some great bargains if you understand what the .99, .98, .97, or .00 price tag endings mean.

Items ending with 99 cents, 89 cents, 79 cents, and so forth: Those are usually Costco’s regular priced items.

Items ending with .98, .88, .78 and so forth: Those are manager specials because the items might have been returned to the store, are floor models, or are close-out items.  

Items ending with .97, .87, .78 and so forth: Those are items that are marked down because they are going out of sale.

Items ending in .00, like $179.00, are similar to those ending with an “8.” If you are looking for a great deal, Costco no longer wanting them might be a great bargain for you. Costco will usually put the items in an area of the store where they do not take up valuable space. Some of the merchandise will have the original price posted or a close-out price sign on it.

Costco price tags that have an asterisk * in their upper right corner: Those are items that will not be restocked. Whatever you see is what the store has left. Most often the prices end in “.97, .87, .77,” and so forth. Sometimes the price tag will say “Existing Inventory Only.”

So what happens when you buy an item ending in .99 one day just to find out a week later (when you return to the store) that the price has changed to a .97, .98, or .00 ending? As explained above, you might be looking at the last inventory, a floor model, or a returned item.

If Costco’s price tag does not indicate why the item has been marked down, ask a store assistant. If you provide him or her with the item number (you can take a photo with your smartphone), you can usually find out why the price has changed. If the difference in price makes it worth the hassle, return the first more expensive item that you bought to the store and then get the cheaper one.

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