Basically, your wishlist (and maybe other pages as well?) display the sale % using the wrong number. It makes it look like you're getting a better deal than you are. For example, this game I wishlisted is $43.95 AUD. But if I get it in the bundle, it's $41.81 AUD. That's a 4.8% discount. But the wishlist shows 42% discount of the whole bundle, not the actual game I wishlisted. I think that's misleading.
You could argue I'm getting extra games so it's a good deal; but I don't know that other game, I haven't researched it or wishlisted it. In some cases, I've had this happen to games that are in bundles where I already own the other games. At that point I'm just getting completely ripped off, because it says 75%, but it's actually 5%, without even any "bonus games" to justify it.
To avoid this, never buy from the wishlist or home page or any page that isn't the original full store listing. I always click into each game to see the original store page and ensure it's a real discount before buying. I'd recommend doing the same.
I noticed this years ago and submitted a support ticket and a Reddit post, but it never got fixed. I feel like it must be by design at this point. This is the first "anti consumer" practice I've seen Steam implement.
Interesting. It only seems to happen when there's a bundle that actually costs LESS than buying the game standalone (which is fairly uncommon). If you check out a game where the standalone is the cheapest option, the numbers seem to be accurate. Given that, I'm inclined to think it's a bug.
It's reasonably common. It happens frequently with "complete your collection" type of bundles, which means any item you already owned is basically removed from the bundle, but you still get the bundle-discount compared to buying it standalone.
Yes that's exactly how it works. If the bundle is even 0.1% cheaper than the base price of the game, that price and percentage takes priority when displayed in your wishlist, which makes no sense at all.
I thought it was a bug at first too, but I've reported it to them in the past and gotten no response. Also when I inspected the JSON in the web browser, both prices are returned by the server, so it is a deliberate choice to use one over the other. This would result in more sales, so I'm doubtful it's truly a bug. Or maybe it's a beneficial "pet bug".
I think that makes perfect sense. It's the best possible price, it should get priority.
I have had it save me money several times by steering me to a "complete your bundle" that was a better discount than the sale price.
They should fix their sale percentage calculation, though.
Agreed, I more meant that the displayed number makes no sense. It should ideally display the cost and discount percentage calculated in my original post; but also I'm not sure a 4% discount is even worth noting lol
Isn't the minimum discount on a bundle 10%?
Yes but in this case the final price after the discount is only 4% for the game I actually want. In the wishlist it doesn't even say you're buying a bundle
Oh. Yes. I found that confusing, too.
I think the discount displayed is always off of full price? So it might actually not be a discount for me, at all, compared to one of the bundles I could complete.
I do like that it grabs me the best price - when I put it in my cart - but it has surprised me when the bundle ended up in my cart.