JB Hi-Fi is refunding around 200 customers more than $250,000 after the ACCC flagged misleading was and now pricing. The regulator is actively monitoring online prices, and inadvertent errors are no excuse.
The retailer called it inadvertent. The ACCC still made them refund every customer. Intent did not get them off the hook.
JB Hi-Fi is refunding around 200 customers more than $250,000 after the ACCC flagged misleading was and now pricing. The regulator monitored the retailer's online prices from March to September 2025 and found 17 products promoted as discounted from a higher price that was either never genuine, only briefly in place or set well before the promotion.
The products included laptops, monitors, VR headsets and electric heaters. A total of 206 customers bought one of them under an allegedly misleading was price. JB Hi-Fi put the errors down to system and human mistakes, said it had already started fixing some before the investigation, and the ACCC resolved the matter administratively without formal enforcement.
Why it matters
This is a warning shot for every business that runs sale pricing online. The ACCC has been clear that fake was prices are a priority, and it is actively monitoring. If a national retailer with a compliance team got caught by system errors, a smaller business running manual price changes is far more exposed.
The rule is simple. A was price has to be a price you genuinely sold at, for a reasonable period, recently. Inflating a reference price to make a discount look bigger is misleading, even if a spreadsheet error caused it. The regulator does not care whether you meant to.
The amount JB Hi-Fi is refunding around 200 customers after the ACCC found 17 products carried misleading was prices. Source: ACCC
What to do about it
Check your was prices are real. Every reference price must be one you actually charged, recently, for a fair stretch of time. If it is not, remove it.
Audit your sale automation. System errors caused this. If your pricing or discount feeds run automatically, someone needs to be checking what they output.
Keep records of your pricing history. If you ever have to prove a was price was genuine, you will need the dates and the data to back it up.
Briefly review old promotions. Strikethrough prices left running long after a sale ended are a common trap. Clear them.
Treat compliance as cheap insurance. A refund bill plus reputation damage costs far more than getting your pricing honest in the first place.
Discount pressure is high and it is tempting to make the saving look bigger than it is. The regulator is reading your product pages right now. Make sure every price on them is one you can stand behind.