Fake discounts and countdown timers: the CMA rules

What the rules actually say

The Competition and Markets Authority accepted undertakings from Simba Sleep Limited on 25 July 2024 in relation to its online selling practices, and the case is closed. The undertakings commit the company to an agreed set of rules around the use of discount claims and urgency claims including countdown clocks. The investigation formed part of the CMA's consumer enforcement work tackling potentially harmful online selling practices. The CMA opened the investigation on 15 December 2023 and closed the case on 25 July 2024. The company gave commitments, and the case is closed. The undertakings bind one company, but the principles behind them apply to online selling generally.

The CMA published an open letter in March 2023 giving compliance advice to online businesses on urgency claims and price reduction claims. The CMA also published discount and reference pricing principles for selling mattresses online, to help businesses in that sector understand and comply with their existing obligations under consumer protection law when making discount claims. Consumer protection law in the UK is now largely consolidated in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The table above sets out the core requirements in plain terms. The test is about actual trading, not about what a label says.

Why a fake was price matters

A discount is only meaningful against a price the item genuinely sold at. If a retailer sets a high price, sells little or nothing at it, then runs a long-running sale from that price, the discount is an illusion and the sale price is simply the price. That is why the CMA requires the higher price to be established through real sales over a sufficient period and in sufficient volume, rather than merely displayed. The test is about actual trading, not about what a label says. A was price that appears only in the sale banner, and nowhere in the product's history, is a claim rather than a fact. The shopper sees a number crossed out and a lower number beside it, and reads a saving. If the higher number was never a price at which the item sold in meaningful quantities, the saving is not real.

The mechanism is simple. A reference price gives the sale price its meaning. Remove a genuine reference price and the sale price stands alone as the price. The CMA's approach is to ask whether the higher price was a genuine price, established by sales at that price for a sufficient period and in sufficient volumes. That is a factual question about trading history. It is not answered by a label, a banner, or a percentage figure. For an online shopper, the practical consequence is that a large percentage off tells you nothing on its own. The size of the claimed discount is not evidence that the discount is real. What matters is whether the item actually sold at the higher price, in enough volume, over enough time, for that price to be a genuine reference point.

Why countdown clocks are treated as a pricing issue

The less obvious half of the rules concerns urgency. Urgency is a pressure tactic: a timer, a low stock warning or a claim that others are viewing the item pushes a decision before the shopper has compared alternatives. The CMA's concern is not the existence of a deadline but whether it is true. A clock that resets on page reload, a stock figure that never changes, or a deadline that passes without the price changing all create a false impression. Under the undertakings, countdown clocks must not give consumers a false impression that they have to act quickly to avoid missing out on a deal. A stock warning or urgency message must not mislead about availability. The CMA published an open letter in March 2023 giving compliance advice to online businesses on urgency claims and price reduction claims, and separate discount and reference pricing principles for the online mattress sector in 2024.

Treating urgency as a pricing issue makes sense once you see what a timer does. It removes the time in which a shopper would otherwise compare prices, check the product elsewhere, or simply wait. A genuine deadline is not the problem. A deadline that is not genuine is. If the same offer is available after the clock reaches zero, the clock was not a deadline. If the stock figure is identical on every visit, it was not a stock figure. If the price does not change when the timer ends, the urgency was decoration. The rules require that these signals not create a false impression. For a shopper, the test is whether the claim is true, not whether a timer is present.

How to check a discount yourself

Look at whether the was price appears anywhere other than the sale banner. Note the date you first saw the offer and check whether the same discount is running weeks later, because a permanent sale is not a sale. Reload the page and see whether a countdown clock resets. Check whether the deadline passing actually changes the price. Search the product name and model number to see what other retailers charge, since a genuine comparison is against the market rather than against the seller's own claim. These steps need no special tools. They rely on observation and a note of dates. A discount that survives weeks without change, or a clock that resets on reload, tells you something about the claim.

Keep a simple record. The date you first saw the offer, the was price shown, the sale price shown, and whether the clock reset are all useful. If the same discount is still running a month later, the sale price is effectively the price. If the deadline passes and the price is unchanged, the deadline was not a deadline. If the was price appears only in the banner and nowhere else, treat the claimed saving with caution. Comparing against other retailers gives you a market reference rather than the seller's own reference. A genuine comparison is against what the market charges, not against a number the seller has chosen to display. None of this requires naming a retailer or assuming bad faith. It is simply checking whether the claim holds up.

What to do if a price claim looks wrong

Consumer complaints about misleading pricing go to Citizens Advice, which passes reports to Trading Standards, the body that enforces consumer protection law locally. Citizens Advice operates the consumer service for England and Wales and passes reports to Trading Standards. Trading Standards enforces consumer protection law at local authority level. The CMA does not generally resolve individual consumer complaints but uses reports as intelligence for enforcement across a market. That means a single report may not produce an individual outcome, but reports collectively inform where enforcement attention goes. If a price claim looks wrong, the reporting route is Citizens Advice, not the CMA. The CMA's role is market-wide enforcement, and it uses reports as intelligence rather than as individual casework.

Separate rights apply to the purchase itself. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods supplied must be as described. Most online purchases also carry a cancellation right. Those rights concern the goods and the transaction, and they sit alongside the rules on how prices and urgency are presented. Consumer protection law in the UK is now largely consolidated in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. If a price claim looks wrong, report it to Citizens Advice, which passes reports to Trading Standards. If the goods themselves are not as described, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies. The two routes address different problems, and both are available to an online shopper.

Source: CMA: urgency claims and price reduction claims, compliance advice.

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Frequently asked questions

What must a was price be under the CMA rules?

A was or comparison price must be established as a genuine price through sales at that price for a sufficient period and in sufficient volumes. The test is about actual trading, not about what a label says.

Are countdown clocks banned?

No. The requirement is that countdown clocks must not give consumers a false impression that they have to act quickly to avoid missing out on a deal. A genuine deadline is not the problem; a deadline that is not genuine is.

Where do I report misleading pricing?

Consumer complaints about misleading pricing go to Citizens Advice, which passes reports to Trading Standards. Trading Standards enforces consumer protection law at local authority level. The CMA does not generally resolve individual complaints but uses reports as intelligence for enforcement across a market.

Which company gave the undertakings?

The Competition and Markets Authority accepted undertakings from Simba Sleep Limited on 25 July 2024 in relation to its online selling practices, and the case is closed. The company gave commitments. The undertakings bind one company, but the principles behind them apply to online selling generally.

What did the undertakings require on compliance?

The undertakings required the company to provide the CMA with a report within six months of signing to demonstrate compliance.