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Premieres 1 November 2026 at 12pm UK time
Who's Tricking You? · Episode 13
Why Is That Sofa Always in the Sale?
"Was £X, now £Y" only means something if people actually paid £X. The Old Fox looks at a handwash on 'half price' for 84 days, Trading Standards guidance and the watchdog's warning to mattress sellers. Tip: ignore the crossed-out price and judge the real one.
- In 2013 Which? analysed more than 70,000 supermarket prices and found, for example, a handwash sold at full price for seven days and then advertised at half price for 84 days (Retail Week, 'Supermarkets misleading shoppers with promotions, Which? survey finds', 19 November 2013).
- Trading Standards guidance from December 2016 dropped the old '28-day rule' and recommends that a product should not be on discount for longer than it was sold at the higher price (Chartered Trading Standards Institute, Guidance for Traders on Pricing Practices, 2016; Osborne Clarke).
- In August 2024 the Competition and Markets Authority raised concerns about online mattress sellers' long-running discounts and countdown clocks, and set out principles for genuine 'was' prices (Lewis Silkin, August 2024).
- The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints where advertisers could not show that a struck-through price was the usual selling price (ASA ruling on a mattress 'Halloween sale', July 2025, via Lewis Silkin).
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What the fox said
Why is that sofa always in the sale?
Because the most important number on a sale tag is the one with a line through it.
It's called a reference price. Was this, now that. And the bigger the was, the better the now feels.
But was, when? For how long? And did anyone actually pay it?
In 2013, a consumer group tracked more than seventy thousand supermarket prices.
One bottle of handwash sat at full price for seven days. Then it was half price for eighty-four.
So which was the real price?
Trading Standards guidance now says the discount generally shouldn't run longer than the full price did.
In 2024, the competition watchdog warned online mattress sellers about endless discounts and ticking countdown clocks.
The advertising regulator has ruled against sellers who couldn't prove their was price was ever the usual one.
So ignore the crossed-out number. Check the price history if you can, compare other shops, and ask one question. Is this price good, on its own?
A sale that never ends isn't a sale. It's just the price. Keep your nose to the wind.
Sources
- In 2013 Which? analysed more than 70,000 supermarket prices and found, for example, a handwash sold at full price for seven days and then advertised at half price for 84 days (Retail Week, 'Supermarkets misleading shoppers with promotions, Which? survey finds', 19 November 2013).
- Trading Standards guidance from December 2016 dropped the old '28-day rule' and recommends that a product should not be on discount for longer than it was sold at the higher price (Chartered Trading Standards Institute, Guidance for Traders on Pricing Practices, 2016; Osborne Clarke).
- In August 2024 the Competition and Markets Authority raised concerns about online mattress sellers' long-running discounts and countdown clocks, and set out principles for genuine 'was' prices (Lewis Silkin, August 2024).
- The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld complaints where advertisers could not show that a struck-through price was the usual selling price (ASA ruling on a mattress 'Halloween sale', July 2025, via Lewis Silkin).
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