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Why the "was" price can mislead you, and what to check instead

"Was £249, now £149" sounds like £100 off. Whether it really is depends on one question: was £249 a price people were actually paying?

By Luke at DealSift. Updated 23 October 2026.

What a "was" price is meant to mean

A "was" price, also called a reference price, is supposed to show you what the shop normally charged, so you can see how much you're saving. UK consumer law, now set out in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, bans misleading pricing, and that includes savings claims that don't reflect reality.

Trading Standards guidance for retailers says, broadly, that a "was" price is more likely to be fair when:

  • it was charged recently (the guidance mentions within the last couple of months),
  • it was charged for at least as long as the sale is running,
  • it was charged in the same shop, and
  • it was a realistic price that people actually bought at.

That's guidance for traders rather than a set of hard rules, and courts look at each case. In 2026 the High Court ruled in a case the Competition and Markets Authority brought against mattress seller Emma, finding some of its reference pricing unlawful while declining to set a fixed rule for how many sales a "was" price needs.

RRP is a different thing

RRP means recommended retail price: the price the manufacturer suggests. It's not necessarily a price that shop, or any shop, has ever charged. The same guidance says an RRP should be a genuine selling price, and warns comparisons are likely to mislead if the RRP is far above what the product generally sells for.

In practice, some products sit well below their RRP almost all the time, so "60% off RRP" can simply be the usual price.

What to check instead

  • The recent price history. What has this product sold for over the last one to three months? Price-tracking sites show this for many products, and some retailers now show a price chart on the product page.
  • Whether the higher price lasted. A price that was high for one week just before a sale tells you much less than one that held for months.
  • The saving in pounds. 40% off a £10 item is £4. It's worth knowing what you actually keep.
  • Other shops. If the "sale" price is what everyone else charges anyway, it isn't much of a deal.
DealSift's 🔥 Top deal and ✅ Good price labels are based on the price history we've recorded ourselves, never the retailer's "was" price or RRP. Deals we label "Spotted on Amazon" or "Spotted on eBay" use that retailer's own price information instead, and we say so. How we check deals.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.

Sources