A sale price must be temporary, and a "was" price must be real

The rule

The ACCC says businesses should take extra care not to make misleading statements about price. Under "Price claims" it lists, among misleading price claims, a product promoted at a "sale" price that isn't actually a temporary sale price, and a price shown without GST or other costs included.

On savings, it uses the example "WAS $275 NOW $149". The advertised saving may be misleading if the product has never been sold at the higher price, or was sold in a limited amount at the higher price immediately before the sale.

ACCC content is published under CC BY 4.0.

What it means for your store

• Give every sale an end date, and end it.
• Only show a "was" price you genuinely sold at, and keep a record of when.
• Show prices with GST and other costs included.

Used in

Physio lesson 02. Ecom lessons 01, 02, 03 and 10.