Retailer advertised 40% discount then a few days later increased original price by 25%

suzyq2909

Can someone tell me if this is legal practice. A large retailer announced sale of 40% discount starting on 14 January ending  20 February Then on 18 January, sale is still on but the original price of goods has increased by 25%.

I appreciate it’s a bit of a grey area but I thought retailers had to show the goods had been offered at original price for a reasonable length of time before advertising it as on sale

thanks in advance 

k3lvc

Probably a bit more clarity needed - are you suggesting that the 40% off was only active for 4 days and then it became 15% off or did it become 40% off the higher price after 18th Jan ?

And none of this has a lot of impact if the goods have previously been sold at the lower price - I'm sure someone will come along with latest regulations

user1977

Also the relevant regulations don't actually give the consumer any rights, they just create offences for which trading standards might pursue the retailer.

suzyq2909

So the standard price was £43 (give or take a few pence), sale started on 14th Jan, discounted by 40% so sale price was £25ish. I went in to buy yesterday (18th) only to find the standard price had now increased by almost 25% to over £56 so the new sale price was £34. Just feels like rather than saying it’s on sale at 25% discount they put the price up & say 40%. 

arthurfowler

They don't need to show the length of time it has been at the prior price, they just need to prove it if they have a complaint I believe. 

Artificially raising the price just before a sale/promotion or during,  could be deemed to be misleading, as in this case:

Do not artificially inflate prices

Marketers should be cautious when making a savings claim based on recent prices. The ASA upheld complaints about a supermarket ad offering a multi-buy offer on cereals. The product was priced at 97p per box between January 2015 and 5 July 2015, and at £1.38 from 6 July 2015. On 7 July 2015 the product was then included in a mix-and-match multi-buy offer of three packs for £3. The ASA considered the offer misleading because the £1.38 was not the usual selling price (Asda Stores Ltd, 4 May 2016).

https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/promotional-savings-claims.html#Do not artificially inflate prices

You could make a complaint to the retailer if you like, and see if they offer you that price you were expecting. It may also concern them that members of the public are aware of what they are doing. 

You can report the sale to ASA: https://www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html (they could fine them)

Money_Grabber13579

suzyq2909 said:

So the standard price was £43 (give or take a few pence), sale started on 14th Jan, discounted by 40% so sale price was £25ish. I went in to buy yesterday (18th) only to find the standard price had now increased by almost 25% to over £56 so the new sale price was £34. Just feels like rather than saying it’s on sale at 25% discount they put the price up & say 40%. 

I guess it might also depend what happens after the sale finishes. If it goes back to £56 and stays there, it’s likely going to be difficult to take any action, particularly given we’re in a time of high inflation. However, if it then eventually returns to something close to £43, then that would seem to be indicative of a misleading practice.

y3sitsm3

Money_Grabber13579 said:

suzyq2909 said:

So the standard price was £43 (give or take a few pence), sale started on 14th Jan, discounted by 40% so sale price was £25ish. I went in to buy yesterday (18th) only to find the standard price had now increased by almost 25% to over £56 so the new sale price was £34. Just feels like rather than saying it’s on sale at 25% discount they put the price up & say 40%. 

I guess it might also depend what happens after the sale finishes. If it goes back to £56 and stays there, it’s likely going to be difficult to take any action, particularly given we’re in a time of high inflation. However, if it then eventually returns to something close to £43, then that would seem to be indicative of a misleading practice.

It's a discount rather than a sale price.

The retailer is free to do as they wish as the discount remains constant.

arthurfowler

y3sitsm3 said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

suzyq2909 said:

So the standard price was £43 (give or take a few pence), sale started on 14th Jan, discounted by 40% so sale price was £25ish. I went in to buy yesterday (18th) only to find the standard price had now increased by almost 25% to over £56 so the new sale price was £34. Just feels like rather than saying it’s on sale at 25% discount they put the price up & say 40%. 

I guess it might also depend what happens after the sale finishes. If it goes back to £56 and stays there, it’s likely going to be difficult to take any action, particularly given we’re in a time of high inflation. However, if it then eventually returns to something close to £43, then that would seem to be indicative of a misleading practice.

It's a discount rather than a sale price.

The retailer is free to do as they wish as the discount remains constant.

They are not. There are guidelines which they must adhere to or they can receive huge fines for misleading consumers. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Rules on pricing are governed by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 which stipulates

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/regulation/5/made

5.—(1) A commercial practice is a misleading action if it satisfies the conditions in either paragraph (2) or paragraph (3).

(2) A commercial practice satisfies the conditions of this paragraph—

(a)if it contains false information and is therefore untruthful in relation to any of the matters in paragraph (4) or if it or its overall presentation in any way deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer in relation to any of the matters in that paragraph, even if the information is factually correct; and

(b)it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

(4) The matters referred to in paragraph (2)(a) are—

(g)the price or the manner in which the price is calculated;

Active guidance seems hard to find other than this from the Office of Fair Trading:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consumer-protection-from-unfair-trading-regulations-traders

Although it says

This guidance was originally published by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and has been adopted by the CMA Board. The original text has been retained unamended, therefore it does not reflect or take account of developments in case law, legislation or practice since its original publication.

and it gives this example

A trader advertises televisions for sale saying the price has been substantially discounted. In fact, they have only been on sale at the non-discounted price in very small numbers for a very short period of time in one of the trader’s numerous shops. Whilst the trader’s advertisement may be factually correct, it is likely nonetheless to be deceptive. The average consumer would have been deceived about the existence of a specific price advantage in a way that is likely to cause him to take a different decision about the television – in this case to buy it. 

Manxman_in_exile

But is it the case that anybody has been deceived or misled here?  The retailer appears to have been reasonably transparent about what has happened here, otherwise I don't see how the OP would have been able to deduce the following:

suzyq2909 said:

So the standard price was £43 (give or take a few pence), sale started on 14th Jan, discounted by 40% so sale price was £25ish. I went in to buy yesterday (18th) only to find the standard price had now increased by almost 25% to over £56 so the new sale price was £34. Just feels like rather than saying it’s on sale at 25% discount they put the price up & say 40%. 

If what suzyq calls the "standard" price has genuinely increased by 25% (and I can think of many valid reasons why it might have done) then if the sale price is still 40% lower than the "new standard" price, then I'm not sure that it's a problem.  And if the item remains at the new standard price after the sale ends, then it's definitely not a problem as you could have bought it during the sale at a 40% lower price than you could after the sale.

What I'm trying to say - perhaps not very effectively - is that the OP hasn't provided enough info to allow anybody to decide if this is dodgy or not.  All that's happened is the OP thinks "That doesn't sound right", but they don't know enough to be able to say whether it is or not...

pinkshoes

I thought retailers had to state how long a product had previously been on sale at a certain price before discounting? e.g. I've seen many sales where it states "product previous priced at £x between <date> and <date>. And I'm also thinking there was supposed to be a minimum time period that they offer goods for sale at the higher price before applying a discount??


This was to stop them bumping up the price then claiming a misleading discount.