ACCC Guidelines for your Business this Holiday Season

As we approach the busy holiday season, it’s important to remember what your business can and can’t do when marketing and selling goods or services. This week the Small Business Information Network issued the following reminders

Ensure your advertising is truthful

Regardless of how you communicate with your clients – whether it’s through advertising of products or treatments or endorsements from client feedback, remember

• Your business must provide accurate and truthful messages, based on reasonable grounds, about the products and services you supply
• This applies to any claims you make in the media or online, such as testimonials on your website or social media pages.

• Even if you don’t intend to be misleading, if the overall impression created is something other than the truth, then you’re at risk of breaching the law and could expose your business to large penalties.

Check the prices you display or advertise are clear and accurate

• Don’t take advantage of holiday shoppers looking for a bargain with misleading advertising.

• Your business should take care not to mislead customers if you do offer any savings on products and services.

For example, if your business states that the sale price is marked down from an earlier price, you must ensure that customers are not misled about the actual savings to be made. The ‘sale’ price can be misleading when:

• The items were not sold at that pre-sale price for a reasonable time right before the sale started, or
• Only a very small proportion of items were sold at that pre-sale price right before the sale.

It’s also important to remember that a ‘sale’ or ‘discounted’ price should only be available for a limited period.

What if the sale goes on too long?

• If a sale goes on too long, the ‘sale price’ could become the new normal selling price. In that instance, calling it a sale or discount could be misleading.

• You should also take care not to mislead customers about the price of a product by advertising only part of the price.
• You must make sure to include all known taxes, duties and unavoidable extra fees.

You can refer to the ACCC website for more information, or you can access this document on advertising guidelines