No need to feel too bad about what you paid for your USones, ralph and bizkid, as I'm sure you'll ultimately agree, these cans are easily worth their full retail value and then some!
I believe that I just happened onto an oddball anomaly at a massive Belgian retailer.
Unlike in the States, where everything seems to be "on sale" pretty much all of the time, here in Belgium, the retailers are far more conservative, running "mega-sales" throughout only two months of the year, January and July.
Now the box containing my 2500s was at the very end of the display, on the lowest shelf, and all the way in the back. I suspect that when the sales ended in July, the folks at FNAC simply missed removing the sales sticker.
Interestingly enough, removing the sticker now reveals that an intermediate markdown had been taken at some other point as there was yet another sticker directly behind it:
And much to my surprise and delight, when I took the box to the store check-out, the cashier did not so much as bat an eyelash. Wahoo!