Advertising, Pricing & Marketing

Pricing-system errors: correction and remediation checklist

Practical guidance on pricing-system errors: correction and remediation checklist, with a June 2026 explanation, business checklist and evidence questions.

Development June 2026 · Australia · Determination Or Enforcement · General information

What changed in June 2026

The ACCC reported refunds and process improvements following allegedly misleading ‘was/now’ displays. The matter was resolved without a formal court finding.

What businesses should do now

Reconcile campaign inputs against live displayed prices, alert on impossible or stale comparisons and maintain a fast customer-remediation route when a pricing error is found.

  • Define the exact claim and the impression it is likely to create.
  • Check every qualification at ordinary screen sizes and in the full customer journey.
  • Confirm price, review, relationship, urgency and performance evidence before publication.
  • Test feeds, marketplaces, affiliates, social content and checkout for inconsistent wording.
  • Set an expiry or recheck trigger for claims that depend on changing facts.

Evidence to retain

  • Final creative and every material variation used in market.
  • Product-level price history, sales data and campaign dates where a savings claim is made.
  • Substantiation records, reviewer or influencer relationships and approval conditions.
  • Screenshots or exports showing the live journey, qualification and checkout state.

Turn the issue into a controlled decision

  • Record the affected product, claim, customer journey, system, supplier or business process.
  • Separate current requirements from proposals, priorities, allegations, warnings and matter-specific outcomes.
  • Assign an owner, action date and evidence location for every material gap.
  • Set review triggers for legal changes, new facts, supplier changes, incidents, complaints and campaign variations.
  • Escalate when the available facts or evidence do not support the proposed decision.

Questions to ask

Focus on the decision and the evidence.

  1. 01

    What overall impression will an ordinary customer take from the claim or presentation?

  2. 02

    Does current evidence support the exact product, channel, audience and campaign period?

  3. 03

    Do headline, qualification, checkout and customer-service explanations remain consistent?

Primary sources

Check the controlling material.

Recommended training

WC05Watchdog PRO certificate

Watchdog PRO Certificate: Marketing Professional

Learn how to define the claim, test the evidence and control approval before marketing is published.

Most relevant course moduleClaim Substantiation and Evidence Files
  • Assess the overall impression of marketing
  • Build claim and pricing evidence files
  • Review promotions, influencers and digital journeys
Self-paced online5-7 hoursA$1,600 per learner · GST included
This course is in development. Register your interest from the course page and Watchdog will contact you when enrolment opens.

Practical support

Apply the guidance to your facts.

Identify the exact product, claim, customer journey, supplier, legal entity or process involved. Preserve the information that supports the current position, record unresolved facts, assign an owner and confirm the point at which specialist review is required.

Need help applying this?

Tell us how this issue affects your organisation and receive a tailored recommendation for the most useful next step.

Important information

Check the current position.

This resource is general information, not legal advice. Laws, official guidance and proposals can change. Do not rely on a title or summary alone to decide whether a requirement applies to a particular entity, product or activity.

Build the capability

Turn this guidance into practical skills with Marketing Professional.

Continue with the Claim Substantiation and Evidence Files module, or ask Watchdog for tailored support with a current issue.