Your rights when a sale price is wrong
What the Consumer Protection Act actually says about displayed prices, inflated was-prices, and how to complain when a discount is not what it claims.
A misleading sale is not just irritating, it is something the law has an opinion on. South Africa's Consumer Protection Act, Act 68 of 2008, sets out the rules retailers have to follow when they display and advertise prices, and it gives you concrete rights when they get it wrong. What follows is general information rather than legal advice, but knowing the basics changes how you push back at the till and afterwards.
The price you see is the price you pay
The most useful rule for everyday shopping is in the Act's section on the display of prices. A supplier may not charge you more than the price it has displayed for an item. If a shelf tag says R299 and it scans at R349 at the till, you are entitled to pay the displayed R299, not the higher number the system rang up. Take a photo of the tag before you get to the till if anything looks off, and ask for a supervisor if the operator cannot override the price.
The same section covers the situation where an item carries more than one price, for example an old sticker showing under a new one, or a shelf price that differs from the till. In that case the lower of the displayed prices applies. The retailer is supposed to remove superseded prices, and when it does not, the mistake is its to honour rather than yours to absorb.
The one exception: an obvious mistake
There is a sensible limit. The displayed price is not binding where it is an inadvertent and obvious error. The standard example is a R12,000 cellphone accidentally ticketed at R120: no reasonable shopper genuinely believes that is the price, so the retailer is not forced to sell it for that. The rule protects you from being overcharged against a real displayed price, not from spotting a typo and trying to hold the store to it.
Advertised specials have to actually exist
The Act also deals with what it calls bait marketing. A retailer may not advertise goods at a special price with no intention, or no reasonable expectation, of being able to supply them. If a store runs a loud "limited special" with a handful of units purely to pull you through the door towards the full-price stock, that is the behaviour the provision is aimed at. A genuine special is one the retailer expects to be able to honour in reasonable quantities.
What the law says about inflated was-prices
This is the part shoppers most want a clear answer on, and the honest answer is that it is a grey area. The Act prohibits marketing that is misleading, fraudulent or deceptive, and it bans false or misleading representations about a price or a saving. A crossed-out was-price that the item never genuinely sold at sits squarely inside that language. The catch is enforcement: proving that a specific was-price was never a real selling price is hard, and regulators rarely pursue it on a single item.
That gap is exactly why the recorded history matters. Across the deals we can verify, 87% carry a was-price higher than anything we have ever seen the item charged. The badge being technically inflated is common; what is missing for an ordinary shopper is the evidence, and keeping the record is the part we can do that the law, in practice, does not.
Lay-by, and your right to your money back
If you are paying something off on lay-by, the Act protects you there too. The supplier holds the goods while you pay in instalments, and if you do not complete payment in time you are generally entitled to your money back, less a fair termination charge the store may keep in certain circumstances. You also have the right to cancel. Before you start a lay-by, ask what the cancellation charge would be, so the right to your money back is not a surprise on either side.
This protects you from being misled, not from regret
One boundary worth being clear about. The Act protects you from being overcharged against a displayed price and from being misled by false claims. It does not protect you from a price you freely agreed to and later wish you had not paid. A genuine price you accepted is binding. Your rights kick in when the retailer charges more than it showed, or represents a saving that is not real.
How and where to complain
Start with the store, then its head office, in writing, with your evidence: the displayed price, the price charged, the date. If that fails, the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud handles retail complaints for free and is the right next step for most shopping disputes, mediating between you and the supplier. Their consumer line is 0860 000 272. The Ombud cannot issue binding rulings, so if a matter cannot be resolved there it can move to the National Consumer Commission, the regulator that enforces the Act and can refer suppliers to the Consumer Tribunal. A clear record of what was displayed and what you were charged is worth more than any amount of arguing at the counter.
See also how we verify a deal and the five checks for a fake sale.
Figures on this page are calculated from our own price tracking and update as we record new prices. We do not invent price drops or savings.