These days almost half of everything is sold at some kind of discount. This seismic shift has made shoppers more savvy than ever, generating phenomena like extreme couponing, flash sales, and Groupon. But meanwhile, retailers have developed their own tricks to protect their profit margins, including secret sales, shifting prices, and shredding perfectly good clothes.

In this playful, deeply researched book, Mark Ellwood uncovers the sleights of hand that sellers employ to hoodwink unsuspecting buyers. He takes us from the floor of upscale department store Bergdorf Goodman to the bustling aisles of a Turkish bazaar, from the outlets of rural Pennsylvania to a town in Florida that's the spiritual capital of couponing. His book is a manual for thriving in this new era, when deal hunting has gone from being a sign of indigence to one of intelligence.