What a Crossed-Out Price Has to Have Been

Update, 11 October 2026. This page said the four checks in our deal guide were close to the regulator’s four tests. They are not: only its first check, what the price was before the sale, overlaps; the others are about model generation, running costs and whether the cheaper model is as good. Our quotation of 16 CFR 233.3 also dropped the words “(that is, not isolated or insignificant)” without marking the cut, and the ereader example now says “every device with a current price”, as that shortlist does. All three are fixed. The four tests are unchanged.

A crossed-out price is a claim that the item really sold, or was really offered, at that higher figure, and in the US it is meant to be true. The FTC’s guide asks that a former price be the actual one, openly offered, recently, for a reasonably substantial period; California sets the window at three months. It does not have to be low, fair, or the launch price.

Target and Walmart.com go further than the federal text in one respect: both publish how they set a “Was” price, and both use a median over the past 90 days that leaves sales out.

What each label is based on

Label	Whose definition	What the higher price is
Any former price (“Was”, “Regularly”, “Formerly”)	FTC, 16 CFR 233.1	The actual price offered openly, on a regular basis, for a reasonably substantial period, recently. No fixed number of days
Any former price	California, B&P Code §17501	The prevailing market price within the three months before the ad, unless the ad states the date it prevailed
Was	Target	The 90-day median price offered on Target.com and the app, excluding sales, clearance and limited-time offers
Was	Walmart.com	The 90-day median price paid on Walmart.com, or the median price offered there on at least 28 of the last 90 days, promotions excluded
List	Walmart.com	The maker’s suggested price, used if customers bought at it or other retailers offered it at or above in the past 90 days (180 for seasonal items)
MSRP	Target	The suggested price from the maker, supplier or seller; Target says it “may or may not reflect the actual, sold at or prevailing market price”
Comp. Value	Best Buy	A price at which the item “or a comparable item” was, “or in the future will be”, offered by Best Buy, marketplace sellers, makers or other retailers
Reg. / Orig.	Macy’s	“The price an item was offered at (not necessarily the price it sold at)”

Store definitions read on each store’s own help page on 11 October 2026. Best Buy’s pricing page defines no “Was” label, and Target’s defines no “Reg” label.

The four federal conditions

From 16 CFR 233.1, the FTC’s Guides Against Deceptive Pricing. A former price used in a comparison must be:

1. Real — “the actual, bona fide price at which the article was offered to the public”
2. Open — “openly and actively offered for sale … honestly and in good faith”
3. Sustained — “on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period of time”
4. Recent — “in the recent, regular course of his business”

The thing the guide was written to stop is named in its own text: a comparison is false where the former price is “not bona fide but fictitious—for example, where an artificial, inflated price was established for the purpose of enabling the subsequent offer of a large reduction.”

Two details are easy to miss. A former price “is not necessarily fictitious merely because no sales at the advertised price were made”, so an asking price can count; but the guide warns against wording like “Formerly sold at” unless substantial sales were made. And a cut too small to matter is its own problem: the guide’s example is an item “Reduced to $9.99” from $10.

California puts a number on it

The federal guide never says how long “reasonably substantial” is. California’s §17501 does: no price may be advertised as a former price unless it was the prevailing market price within the three months before the ad, or the ad states the date it prevailed. That test is about the market price in the locality, not only the seller’s own. The FTC’s own advertising FAQ points businesses to state attorneys general on pricing, because “many pricing issues involve local practices”.

“Compare at” and list prices

A “compare at” figure is usually not the seller’s own past price. 16 CFR 233.2 covers it: a “Comparable Value $15.00” claim is deceptive unless a reasonable number of principal outlets in the area offer an essentially similar item at that price. Best Buy’s “Comp. Value” is the widest definition in the table; it can be another retailer’s price, a comparable item’s, or a future one. Its page also says intermediate markdowns may have been made between the reference price and the selling price.

For a maker’s list price, 16 CFR 233.3 says it “will not be deemed fictitious if it is the price at which substantial (that is, not isolated or insignificant) sales are made in the advertiser’s trade area”. Before advertising a list price as a comparison, the retailer should ascertain whether it is in fact the price regularly charged by principal outlets in its area. The checking duty is the seller’s.

The condition none of them imposes

Nothing in the federal tests, California’s three months or either store’s median says the former price has to be the launch price, or last year’s.

A price that rose quietly in spring and was openly charged all summer can be a bona fide former price in November. It is real, it was open, it was sustained, it is recent. A large discount from it can be entirely lawful and still return less than it looks.

That is the rule policing invented reference prices rather than drifting ones. Our ereader shortlist found every device on it with a current price listing above the price its maker announced it at, each higher price openly charged for months. Samsung’s store listed the Galaxy S26 at $999.99 on 4 October against the $899.99 it charged from February, so a $100 Black Friday cut only takes it back to its earlier price. A raised price held for 90 days is also what a 90-day median, like Target’s or Walmart.com’s, would turn into the “Was”.

What to do with a crossed-out price

• Read the label. “Was” and “Reg.” are claims about the seller’s own past price; “MSRP”, “List” and “Comp. Value” may not be.
• Find the price from before the drift. A launch price or a figure you noted yourself is the baseline no rule requires anyone to show you. Our deal guide starts with that check.
• Be sceptical of a very large cut from a figure you have never seen charged, since an inflated price set up to allow a large reduction is the pattern 233.1 describes.
• If the price falls after you buy, ask. Several big US stores pay back a drop in their own price within a set window.

The percentage tells you the relationship between two numbers the seller chose. The rules ask that the higher one was real at some recent point. Neither tells you whether the price is good, because that is a question about the market rather than about the advertisement.

Questions people ask

What does a crossed-out price mean?

It is the seller’s claim about a higher reference price: usually its own former price (“Was”, “Reg.”, “Orig.”), sometimes a maker’s suggested price (“MSRP”, “List”) or a price for a similar item (“Compare at”, “Comp. Value”). Each store defines its own; Target and Walmart.com use 90-day medians.

Is the “was” price real?

It is meant to be. The FTC’s guide asks that a former price be the actual price the item was offered at, openly, recently and for a reasonably substantial period. Target and Walmart.com say they calculate theirs from 90-day medians that exclude sales. A real former price can still be a raised one.

What does “compare at” price mean?

Usually a price for the same or a similar item somewhere else. The FTC’s guide says a “comparable value” claim is deceptive unless principal outlets in the area really offer an essentially similar item at that price. Best Buy’s “Comp. Value” can be a price from other retailers, a comparable item, or a future price.

What does “reg.” price mean?

Regular price: a claim about the seller’s own former price. The FTC’s guide treats a former price with “Regularly” or “Formerly” beside it the same as one without, and says it must not be fictitious. Macy’s defines Reg. and Orig. as the price an item was offered at, not necessarily the price it sold at.

Does an item have to sell at the was price?

Not under the federal guide. 16 CFR 233.1 says a former price is not necessarily fictitious because nothing sold at it, as long as it was openly and actively offered. It warns against wording like “Formerly sold at” unless substantial sales were made at that price.

How long does a price have to be charged before it can be a “was” price?

The federal guide gives no number of days, only “a reasonably substantial period of time” in the recent course of business. California’s §17501 sets three months unless the ad states the date. Target and Walmart.com use 90-day windows; Walmart’s alternative needs the price offered on at least 28 of those days.

Is it legal to show a fake original price?

The FTC’s guide describes an inflated price set up to allow a large “reduction” as a false bargain, and California’s §17501 bars advertising a former price that does not meet its three-month test or carry a date. Whether a given price breaks a law is for regulators and courts; this is not legal advice.