A price with a line through it does one job: it makes the price next to it feel like a decision you have already won. We found 15 of the 161 NAD⁺ sellers we review showing one.
Sometimes it reflects a real former price. Often it does not, and there is a way to tell.
It is worth separating from the other pricing problem in this category. That one is about a number you will be charged later. This is about a number nobody was ever charged.
The test: does the discount ever end?
A sale has a before and an after. If the crossed-out number is there today, was there last month, and sits on every product in the catalog, then nobody has ever paid it. It is not a former price. It is a reference point placed next to the real one to change how the real one reads.
One seller lists a thirty-day supply at $91 against a struck-through $449. That is an 80% discount — and the same markdown sits across their whole catalog rather than on that product. The honest reading is that $91 is the price and $449 is merchandising.
Another lists NAD⁺ at $129 against $299, and a NAD⁺-and-sermorelin stack at $229 against $599. A third sells an injection, a nasal spray and a liposomal liquid on the same price ladder where the only thing that changes between products is the anchor above it.
The countdown that resets
The same instinct shows up as time pressure. One site runs a sale banner with a countdown starting at twelve hours, fifty-four minutes and nineteen seconds. When it reaches zero it sets itself back to exactly that figure and counts down again.
It never ends. And while it runs, no product price is actually discounted — the percentage in the banner refers to the subscription plan. It is the one straightforwardly manipulative thing on a site that is otherwise unusually transparent, which is worth saying, because this is a pattern rather than a verdict on a company.
Why it works even when you know
Anchoring is not a trick on inattentive people. Being shown a high number first shifts what the next number feels like, and knowing that is happening does not fully undo it. That is why it is used so widely and why the defense has to be procedural rather than mental.
The procedure is short. Ignore the crossed-out number completely. Then ask what you are being asked to pay, and whether that is competitive against sellers you have checked.
Where a crossed-out number is fine
Some are real. A genuine seasonal sale, a clearance on old stock, an introductory offer with an end date — these all legitimately show a before and an after.
The distinguishing feature is that a real sale ends. If you can find the same discount in two months, you have your answer. It costs nothing to check: note the price, come back later.
What to do with a NAD⁺ price
- Cover the struck-through number with your thumb. Read the page again.
- Check whether the same discount sits on every product on the site.
- Compare the real number against what other sellers charge, not against the anchor.
- Then check the separate question of whether that number is what repeats next month, which is a different tactic entirely.
- And if a dose is published, work out what a milligram costs — the only comparison an anchor cannot distort.
A low price is a good thing. A large discount is a claim about a price nobody paid, and the two are not related. Our provider reviews record which sellers use an anchor and what the underlying number is.