Arbitrations Over Fake Sales, “Limited Time” Deals: Join Today

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org are pursuing various mass arbitrations on behalf of consumers who may have been misled into making purchases based on fake sales.

Specifically, they believe some companies may be violating consumer protection laws by listing items at a discount from a higher “regular” price when they’re never, or rarely, actually sold for that price. Similarly, companies could be deceiving customers by advertising “limited time” deals when the sales are almost always extended or replaced with nearly identical sales.

Mass arbitration is a relatively new type of legal action that, unlike a class action lawsuit, requires affected consumers to sign up to take action.

Below you’ll find a summary of each investigation with more details on what’s going on, who could be affected, and what laws may be getting violated. Each summary will also have a link to a secure form where affected customers can sign up today. It doesn’t cost anything to sign up.

Current Investigations: Fake Sales? Limited Time Offers?

Examples of Fake Sales

The Federal Trade Commission’s Guides Against Deceptive Pricing provide examples of fake sales, specifically calling out instances in which a seller could misleadingly advertise price comparisons. The FTC notes that when a seller advertises an item at a discount from its former price, the former price must be the genuine, bona fide price at which the item was sold for a substantial period of time. If the seller lists a false former price, such as an inflated price that was only used for the purpose of advertising a discount, customers are not receiving the value they expect, and the discounted price is “probably just the seller’s regular price,” the FTC states.

The FTC provides the following example of false reference pricing that essentially amounts to a fake sale:

John Doe is a retailer of Brand X fountain pens, which cost him $5 each. His usual markup is 50 percent over cost; that is, his regular retail price is $7.50. In order subsequently to offer an unusual ‘bargain’, Doe begins offering Brand X at $10 per pen. He realizes that he will be able to sell no, or very few, pens at this inflated price. But he doesn't care, for he maintains that price for only a few days. Then he ‘cuts’ the price to its usual level—$7.50—and advertises: ‘Terrific Bargain: X Pens, Were $10, Now Only $7.50!’ This is obviously a false claim. The advertised ‘bargain’ is not genuine.”

Per the FTC, other examples of fake sales involving reference pricing may include when an advertiser uses a price at which the item was never offered at all, a price that was not used in the regular course of business or was used a long time ago (without disclosure of the date it was used), or a price that was not offered for a reasonable amount of time before being reduced.

The FTC notes that the examples provided in its Guides Against Deceptive Pricing are only the most frequently used forms of bargain advertising among many other variations of deceptive pricing, including the advertising of “limited time” offers that are not actually limited.

Laws Prohibiting Fake Sales

Various federal and state consumer protection statutes ban certain deceptive advertising practices, which could include fake sales or misleading limited-time deals.

For instance, the California Unfair Competition Law prohibits “any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising.”

Similarly, the California False Advertising Law makes it illegal for a seller to make any statement about its products or services that is “untrue or misleading,” or to advertise its products and services with the intent not to sell them as advertised, including at the advertised price.

The California Consumers Legal Remedies Act lists a number of prohibited deceptive practices, including making false or misleading statements concerning price reductions.

Various consumer protection statutes in other states also prohibit fake sales, false reference pricing and misleading advertising, including the New York Deceptive Practices Act and New York False Advertising Law.

Is This a Lawsuit? What Am I Signing Up For, Exactly?

You are not signing up for a lawsuit, but rather a process known as mass arbitration. This is a relatively new legal technique that, like a class action lawsuit, allows a large group of people to take action and seek compensation from a company over an alleged wrongdoing. Here is a quick explanation of mass arbitration from our blog:

"[M]ass arbitration occurs when hundreds or thousands of consumers file individual arbitration claims against the same company over the same issue at the same time. The aim of a mass arbitration proceeding is to grant relief on a large scale (similar to a class action lawsuit) for those who sign up.”

Some companies’ terms and conditions may contain a class action waiver and/or an arbitration clause requiring consumers to resolve disputes via arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution that takes place outside of court before a neutral arbitrator, as opposed to a judge or jury. It’s for this reason that attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to handle these matters as mass arbitrations rather than class action lawsuits.

How Much Does It Cost to Join Arbitrations?

It costs nothing to sign up, and you’ll only need to pay if the attorneys win money on your behalf. Their payment will come as a percentage of your award.  

If they don’t win your claim, you don’t pay.

Previous Investigations

The following investigations are complete, and attorneys are no longer signing up affected consumers. 

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