This Should Be Illegal...

TL;DR

Retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart use deceptive 'compare at' reference pricing to fabricate fake discounts, exploiting regulatory gaps to mislead shoppers.

Key Points

• 1.Best Buy changed its pricing policy to use misleading 'compare at' reference prices. The new policy allows referencing the price of any product, sold by anyone, anywhere, even at a future price — making claimed discounts essentially meaningless.
• 2.This practice may already be illegal under FTC rules on retail price comparisons. Best Buy was sued as recently as last year over discounts that didn't reflect genuine price reductions, though the case was voluntarily dismissed without resolution.
• 3.Walmart and Amazon use similarly vague reference pricing. Walmart uses a 90-day median price including marketplace sellers; Amazon uses manufacturer-suggested or typical prices with no independent auditing or transparency.
• 4.Price-tracking tools that could empower consumers have been systematically crushed. Amazon barred Price Zombie from its affiliate program for showing prices over 24 hours old — killing 90% of its revenue — and forced CamelCamelCamel to drop competitor price comparisons.
• 5.'Up to' and 'starting at' are two other deceptive marketing terms alongside 'compare at'. The BBB already prohibits 'up to' sale claims where fewer than 10% of items meet the advertised discount, but enforcement remains weak.
• 6.Consumers can fight back through legal participation, advocacy, and spending choices. Recommended tools include Idealo (EU), Honey's Drop List, and Capital One Shopping, while classaction.org and contacting government representatives are suggested for systemic change.