As a consumer, what does “factory authorized clearance” mean to you? Probably nothing, really. Yet it’s used all the time to indicate “sale”. Why should we as consumers care that the clearance is factory authorized?
I’m guessing that either it use to mean something to consumers in the past or the merchants are legally (by law or contract with the manufacturers) required to say it. A quick google of it turned up nothing but merchant sales, surprise surprise.
These are the things that go through my mind at the gym in the mornings.Â
Digital Ramblings 
re: Meaning something to consumers in the past
It probably meant something to the people who got to those factory-authorized clearances by horse and buggy in 1845.
Allusion to: Why vote on Tuesdays? No good reason.
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I tried googling for the origin of it as well. Ended up only finding your post! Google+ is working rather fast in their indexing.
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Interesting. Wonder if Google indexed it after I posted it on G+. It also comes up towards the top of my Google search, but only if I’m logged in. If I’m not logged in, it doesn’t show up in the first page at all.
Ah, the quirky effects of customized content.
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