You're actually right that it works both ways - marketers sometimes anchor something with higher price (to make it seem more luxurious) and sometimes at lower p

You're actually right that it works both ways - marketers sometimes anchor something with higher price (to make it seem more luxurious) and sometimes at lower price (to make it feel for people that they paid less than what they did). But the whole point of the effect is that it misleads your feelings around the value of the product and I guess it still works well since it's been used for century in marketing.