Best Buy Lawsuit Claims Reference Prices Are Misleading, ‘Illusory’

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims that the “regular” or reference prices Best Buy routinely displays alongside lower purchase prices online to convince consumers that they are getting a larger discount are, in reality, a “permanent fictional anchor” in that the retailer never actually charges those prices for many items.

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The 20-page lawsuit contends that Best Buy, one of the country’s largest retailers, has run a large-scale false advertising scheme characterized by a three-prong pricing display that shows the price to be paid by consumers, a higher reference “regular” price, and a savings figure purportedly showing the difference between the two. Per the complaint, these reference prices may refer either to the “regular” prices that Best Buy supposedly charges or to a “Comp. Value” price that the retailer says represents what competing advertisers charge.

According to the complaint, Best Buy utilizes this pricing display model across product pages, promotional emails and other marketing materials to suggest to shoppers that they are receiving a “genuine bargain,” and to induce purchases.

In reality, however, Best Buy does not ever charge the stated reference prices for many of its products, and other retailers do not charge the stated comparable prices, meaning any advertised “savings” are not genuine, the case alleges.

Furthermore, the suit argues that Best Buy’s “Save $X.XX” figures are false and misleading because they are calculated from supposedly fictitious references and therefore fabricate any perceived discount. 

Related Reading: Class Action Lawsuit Claims Best Buy Advertises Fake Sales for TVs, Major Appliances

The suit claims that the purported discounts function as ongoing “artificial benchmarks,” citing similar pricing across numerous product pages on both high-traffic promotional days and ordinary business days.

Under California’s False Advertising Law, retailers are prohibited from promoting reference or comparable prices unless those prices reflect the “prevailing market price” in the three months preceding the advertisement in the location where it is vended, the class action lawsuit states.

However, by advertising large savings based on reference prices that allegedly never existed within the required 90-day window, Best Buy deceived consumers into making purchases based on “illusory” discounts, ostensibly in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the filing alleges.

“This precise scheme—displaying a reference price, a ‘Save’ amount, and a sale price to create the illusion of a discount—is exactly what California courts have recognized as actionable false advertising,” the suit relays.

The case describes that the alleged misconduct is most blatantly seen in the retailer’s promotion of its in-house brand, Insignia, which is sold primarily through Best Buy and Amazon.com pursuant to a distribution agreement controlled by Best Buy.

Because Best Buy sets pricing as the proprietor of Insignia products, and given that no independent retailers sell them, any “regular” or “Comp. Value” reference prices it advertises are inherently nonsensical, the complaint claims. The filing also notes that identical reference prices appear on both Best Buy and Amazon.com listings, adding that Amazon functions as an additional distribution channel for Best Buy and does not dictate Insignia prices independently.

The plaintiff, a California resident, purchased two Insignia televisions from BestBuy.com on February 8, 2025. Per the complaint, one television was advertised as offering $270 in savings from a regular price of $899.99, while the other advertised $150 in savings from a regular price of $599.99.

The lawsuit argues that these reference prices were not the “prevailing market price” during the three months preceding the plaintiff’s purchase. The complaint points to product listings showing that the same reference prices remained unchanged for more than 14 months, even as sale prices declined and advertised “savings” increased.

“A price that does not move for fourteen months while actual transaction prices fall is not a ‘prevailing market price’ … it is a permanent fictional anchor,” the filing stresses.

The Best Buy class action lawsuit looks to represent all Californians who purchased one or more products from a Best Buy retail store in California or from BestBuy.com that was advertised with a “regular,” “reg,” “Save $X.XX,” or “Comp. Value” reference price within the applicable statute of limitations period.

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