This article was written by Nancy Wang Principal Solicitor at W & G Lawyers.
For many businesses the weeks before Christmas are the busiest trading period of the year. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas specials and Boxing Day sales arrive one after another, and the rush to launch on time can mean the fine print gets less attention than the artwork. That is also when the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) traditionally turns its attention to retail advertising. In recent years the regulator has publicly warned retailers ahead of the major sales and has investigated dozens of businesses over concerning Black Friday claims.
Consumer law applies to your business whether you sell from a shopfront, through your own website, on an online marketplace or from a social media page. A promotion does not need to be intended to mislead to break the rules. What matters is the overall impression your advertising is likely to leave on an ordinary customer. Penalties for companies can run into the tens of millions of dollars, and even a smaller matter may lead to refunds, corrective advertising and lasting damage to your reputation.
The good news is that most problems can be caught with a few practical checks before launch. Here are seven we recommend you work through with your team.
1. Make sure your “was” price is real
A discount is only as honest as the price it is measured against. If you advertise “was $200, now $120”, your customers will reasonably assume the item genuinely sold for $200 for a meaningful period before the sale. If the price was lifted to $200 only briefly in the lead-up to the promotion, or the item rarely sold at that price, the advertised saving could be misleading.
Before you launch, it is worth checking three things.
- How long the item was offered at the reference price, and whether that period was reasonable rather than a matter of days.
- Whether real sales were made at that price.
- Whether the price was increased shortly before the sale began.
The same care applies to broader claims. An “up to 50% off” headline may mislead if only a handful of products are actually discounted by that much. A “storewide” or “sitewide” sale that excludes popular brands or categories should make the exclusions clear upfront, not leave them buried in the terms. Keep a record of your pricing history, as it may be your best evidence if a claim is ever questioned.
2. Keep your deadlines and stock claims genuine
Urgency sells, which is exactly why regulators watch it closely. “Sale ends midnight”, countdown timers and “only 3 left” messages should be true. If you advertise an end date, you should be prepared to end the sale on that date. Repeatedly extending a “final day” offer, or running a countdown timer that quietly resets for every new visitor, may mislead customers into buying in a hurry.
Stock levels matter too. Advertising goods at a special price when you do not have reasonable quantities available, sometimes called bait advertising, may also breach consumer law. You should hold enough stock to meet the demand you can reasonably expect at the sale price, or state clearly that quantities are limited. If a line sells out faster than expected, update your advertising promptly and consider whether you can offer customers a rain check.
3. Only promise Christmas delivery you can deliver
“Order by 18 December for delivery before Christmas” is a promise about the future. A statement about a future matter may be treated as misleading if you did not have reasonable grounds for making it when you made it. Before you commit to a date, check your stock levels, your warehouse processing times and your carriers’ published Christmas cut-offs for every region you deliver to. Regional and remote areas often have earlier cut-offs than the capital cities.
As each cut-off passes, update or remove the claim everywhere it appears, including your website, email campaigns, paid ads and social media posts. Keep a record of how you arrived at your dates. If you accept payment when you know, or should know, that you cannot supply the goods within the time promised, you may also be in breach, and the customer may be entitled to a refund.
4. Show the total price prominently
If you advertise a price made up of parts, for example a base price plus a compulsory booking or service fee, you will generally need to display the single total price at least as prominently as any of the parts. That total should include GST and any other unavoidable fees or charges you are able to calculate at the time. A “from $49” headline that becomes $64 once a mandatory fee is added at checkout may expose your business to risk.
Delivery charges are treated a little differently. They do not have to be built into the total price, although you should disclose the minimum delivery charge you know of rather than surprising customers with it at the final step of checkout.
5. Remove “no refunds” signs and honour the returns policy you advertise
Your customers have consumer guarantee rights that you cannot exclude, whether or not the goods were on sale. Goods must be of acceptable quality, match their description and be fit for any purpose the customer made known to you. Where a product has a major failure, the customer may be entitled to choose a refund or a replacement. A sign, receipt or website statement saying “no refunds”, “no refunds on sale items” or “exchange only” may mislead customers about those rights and could itself amount to a breach.
The guarantees do have sensible limits. A customer who was told about a defect before buying, for example a scratched floor model sold at a discount, generally cannot later complain about that defect.
Change of mind is a different matter. You are not required to give a refund simply because a customer has changed their mind. Many businesses offer extended Christmas returns so that gifts can be swapped in January, and that is a commercial choice for you to make. Once you advertise a returns policy, however, you must honour it as stated. Make the conditions clear, such as the return period, whether a receipt is required and the condition the goods must be in, and take care that the wording does not suggest customers lose their consumer guarantee rights once the change-of-mind period ends. It is also worth briefing your front-counter staff on the difference between a faulty item and a change of mind before the post-Christmas rush.
6. Check your gift card terms
Most gift cards and vouchers sold to consumers must remain valid for at least three years from the date they are supplied, and the expiry date must be clearly displayed on the card or voucher. Post-purchase fees, such as activation fees, account-keeping fees or fees charged when a card is not used for a period, are generally prohibited. Some limited fees, such as certain booking fees or payment surcharges, may still be allowed.
There are a small number of exceptions to the three-year rule, for example cards given away free as part of a promotion, or vouchers for a particular experience on a specific date. You should check whether your product genuinely falls within an exception before relying on one. It is also worth checking old card stock, printed terms and online gift card platforms, as wording such as “valid for 12 months” sometimes survives long after the rules changed.
7. Be upfront about influencers and reviews
If you pay an influencer, gift them products or give them any other benefit to promote your Christmas range, the commercial relationship should be clearly disclosed in the post itself. The disclosure should be prominent and easy to understand, not hidden among a string of hashtags or behind a “see more” link. Your business may be held responsible for misleading content it commissions or encourages, not only the influencer who posts it.
The same honesty applies to reviews. You should not write fake reviews, ask staff or family to post them, or offer incentives for positive reviews without making that clear. Removing or suppressing negative reviews, or publishing only the favourable ones, can create a misleading picture of what customers really think. You may remove reviews that are genuinely abusive, fake or irrelevant, provided you apply a consistent and transparent policy. A courteous public response to a fair criticism will often do more for your reputation than deleting it.
Changes on the horizon
New laws on unfair trading practices passed federal Parliament in 2026 and are scheduled to commence on 1 July 2027. Broadly, they are expected to prohibit conduct that manipulates consumers or unreasonably distorts the way they make decisions, where that conduct is likely to cause them detriment. Online design features such as misleading countdown timers, false low-stock alerts and hard-to-find cancellation options could be caught. The reforms will also introduce new rules on how additional per-transaction charges, such as delivery or booking fees, must be displayed alongside the advertised price, and new requirements for subscriptions, free trials and automatic renewals. The maximum penalties for companies are expected to be substantial.
These changes will not apply to this Christmas, although the promotions, website design and checkout processes you build now may need to be revisited before mid-2027. Getting into good habits this season could make that transition far easier.
The businesses that stay off the naughty list are usually the ones that treat compliance as part of the launch rather than an afterthought. Nominate one person to sign off each promotion, review every channel where it appears (in store, online, by email, on marketplaces and on social media), keep records of your pricing and delivery assumptions, and diarise a check-in as each deadline passes. A short briefing for your sales and customer service staff on refunds and gift cards can prevent many of the disputes that arise in January.
Making the checks part of your launch routine
How W & G Lawyers can help
Our commercial team can review your promotional materials, website terms, returns policy, gift card terms and influencer arrangements before launch, and can assist if you receive a customer complaint or an enquiry from a regulator about a promotion. If you would like your Christmas campaign checked before it goes live, we would be pleased to assist.
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Disclaimer
This article is general information only and does not constitute legal advice under Australian law. For advice specific to your situation, please contact W & G Lawyers. For further details, please click here to view our disclaimer.