Sale pricing and returns wording: retail campaign review

What changed in June 2026

Four infringement notices were paid over alleged strike-through pricing and returns-policy representations. Payment is not an admission that the law was contravened.

What businesses should do now

Use genuine price history for comparison claims and make sure returns wording preserves Australian Consumer Law remedies rather than presenting a store policy as the only right.

• 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.

• Official regulator information ↗

Related resources

Continue with this topic.

Recommended training

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.

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.