BBC Morning Live expert urges online shoppers to make 1 check before buying

People who shop online and think they could be getting an incredible discount are being urged to check before buying, as brands might be making deals seem better than they actually are, an expert has claimed. It follows an investigation in which retailers offering slashed prices had no evidence to back up these huge savings.

Lisa Webb, a lawyer at consumer group Which?, claims that people who shop online could be getting misled into thinking that they have found an amazing bargain. It follows the consumer group's investigation into the RRP (recommended retail price) of items that had supposedly been cut in value.

The RRP is the price that a manufacturer or brand suggests a product should be sold for in shops. Its main purpose is to maintain consistent pricing across different stores, though retailers are generally free to sell items above or below this figure.

The Which? investigation found that consumers are seeing discounts on the genuine price, but Lisa claims the problem is that "the discount is not nearly as good as [some retailers are] claiming". She claims that shoppers are being "drawn in" by the promise of a major discount that might not be all it seems.

Speaking on a recent segment of BBC's Morning Live, she said: "We had a look at a bunch of different online marketplaces and we found sellers on there who were really inflating the RRP so that the price they were actually selling it at looked like a real steal."

How to check if an RRP discount is a good deal

Lisa suggested that online shoppers investigate a product's RRP if a discount seems too good to be true. Simply carry out a reverse image search on Google to find all versions of the product picture online, often leading to websites that also sell the same item.

Simply press and hold the image of what you want to buy, if using a mobile phone, and an option should appear. On desktop computers or laptops, right-clicking should have an option such as 'search with Google Lens'.

What does the law say about misleading RRPs?

In the UK, the law has rules in place to prevent retailers from using inflated RRP prices to create fake discounts. Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (2008) and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (2024), any misleading price comparison is a criminal offence that can result in massive fines - up to 10% of a company's turnover.

The legislation and guidance is enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Trading Standards, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).