PG, the process of setting and unsetting is not the slow part with specials by category, its the running of the store, server resources. Yes, every item is in a valid category and has a manufacturer/brand association.

The actual process of setting a manufacturer/brand on 20% sale is only like 3 clicks, no big deal.. It just seemed to me that when we set a brand on sale, I would get more high load warnings. Since I asked them to stop that practice and limit sales to items and or use coupon codes there has not been load issues.

I also have seen wild interest in buying when a "coupon code" was offered as opposed to saying Brand ABC is 20% off this week. I manage a forum for the users of these products and almost daily there is a post - "Does anyone know if there is a coupon code for product @ THE STORE's site??" I never see anyone ask - "is ABC on sale @ THE STORE's site?"

We also had a meeting and everyone decided it was too much to wade through 900 sale items, we found many like to just page through that area