How to tell if a sale price is real

A discount is only as good as the price it’s measured against. If a pair of headphones is shown as “£249, now £149”, the saving looks like £100. Whether that’s true depends on whether anyone ever actually paid £249 for them at that shop, and the rules on that differ more between countries than most people expect.

In the EU: the lowest price of the last 30 days

Since 28 May 2022, a shop in the EU that announces a price reduction has to show, as the earlier price, the lowest price it charged for that product in at least the 30 days before the reduction. The rule is Article 6a of the Price Indication Directive, added by the 2019 Omnibus Directive, and it applies to online shops as much as to high-street ones.

That one rule closes the oldest trick in retail: raising the price for a week or two before a sale so the discount looks bigger. If a shop sold a coffee machine for €299 in October, put it up to €399 for ten days and then “reduced” it to €299, the earlier price it has to show is €299, and the discount is zero.

A few details are worth knowing:

• Countries may set different rules for goods that go off quickly, and for products that have been on sale for less than 30 days.
• When a price is cut in steps during one sale, countries may let the shop keep showing the price from before the first cut.
• The rule covers the shop’s own earlier price. A comparison with the maker’s recommended price, or with another shop, falls outside Article 6a, though a misleading one is still banned as an unfair commercial practice.

In the UK: no fixed number of days

The UK left the EU before the 30-day rule arrived, so there isn’t one. What the UK has instead is a general ban on misleading prices. Since 6 April 2025, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority can fine a business directly for unfair commercial practices, up to 10% of its worldwide turnover.

The CMA’s guidance on unfair commercial practices (CMA207) treats a price comparison as misleading when it gives a false impression of the saving, for example a “was” price the product was hardly ever sold at. Without a fixed test, a UK “was” price tells you less than an EU one, so the checks further down matter more.

In the US: a price actually charged, for a reasonable time

The Federal Trade Commission’s Guides Against Deceptive Pricing say a former price is fair to compare with when it’s the actual price the item was openly offered at, in good faith, for a reasonably substantial period. A price set high only so it can be cut is what the guides call fictitious. Comparisons with a “compare at” or “retail value” price should reflect what other shops in the area really charge.

These are guides rather than a precise rule, and state laws add their own requirements, so practice varies a lot between shops.

In Canada: the ordinary selling price

Canada’s Competition Act lets a shop compare with its “ordinary selling price” if it passes one of two tests. Under the volume test, a substantial share of sales (the Competition Bureau reads this as more than half) were made at that price or higher in the previous 12 months. Under the time test, the product was offered at that price or higher, in good faith, for a substantial period (more than half of the previous six months).

In Australia: a genuine earlier price

The ACCC says a “was” price should be one the product was genuinely sold at, recently and for a reasonable time, before the discount. Showing a strikethrough price the shop rarely or never charged can be misleading under the Australian Consumer Law.

How to check a discount yourself

The law sets a floor. These checks take a few minutes and tell you more than the label does.

• Look at the price history. A price tracker, or a screenshot you took a few weeks ago, shows whether the “was” price was real and how often the product goes on offer.
• Compare with other shops, not with the shop’s own label. A 40% discount means little if another shop sells the same model at that price all year.
• Treat the recommended retail price as a ceiling. Few shops charge it, so a saving measured against it is often imaginary.
• Check you’re comparing the same product. The same name can cover different storage sizes, colours or model years. Our guide to reading a product listing covers the details that matter.
• Ignore countdown timers. In the EU and the UK, falsely claiming a price is only available for a very short time is banned outright. Elsewhere, a timer is just a sales tool.
• Add delivery. A cheaper price with £6 delivery can end up costing more than a dearer one shipped free. See finding the cheapest shop once delivery is added.

If you think a price comparison is misleading, you can report it: in the EU to your national consumer authority, in the UK to Trading Standards through Citizens Advice, in the US to the FTC, in Canada to the Competition Bureau and in Australia to the ACCC.

Sources

1. Price Indication Directive 98/6/EC, Article 6a (EUR-Lex)
2. Omnibus Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (EUR-Lex)
3. CMA: Unfair commercial practices guidance, CMA207 (GOV.UK)
4. FTC Guides Against Deceptive Pricing, 16 CFR Part 233 (eCFR)
5. Competition Bureau Canada: Ordinary selling price
6. ACCC: Pricing

Rules change. If something here is wrong or out of date, please tell us and we’ll fix it. This guide is general information, not legal advice.