How we check discounts

The rule in Denmark

• When a store shows a before price next to a reduced price, the before price must be the lowest price the store itself charged in the 30 days before the reduction.
• The rule covers goods. It does not cover services or digital content.
• For goods that spoil quickly, the period is 14 days instead.
• Member and loyalty-club prices do not count when finding the lowest price.
• There is no separate rule for products the store has sold for less than 30 days.
• A price may be marketed as reduced for at most 50 % of the time the normal price applied before it. Offers are meant to be short: up to 10 days, or 5 days for goods that spoil quickly.

Forbrugerombudsmanden supervises the rule. Guidance from Forbrugerombudsmanden

Legal basis: Prismærkningsbekendtgørelsen § 9 a (førpris); Forbrugerombudsmandens retningslinjer for prismarkedsføring (2022), pkt. 4 og 14. In force since 1 July 2022. Our lawyers have not yet checked this summary.

What our verdict says

Next to a reduced price you may see one of these statements. Each one says only what our data shows.

The reference price matches our records

The before price the store shows is not higher than the lowest price we recorded at the store in the period the rule sets.

The reference price is higher than our records show

The before price the store shows is higher than the lowest price we recorded at the store in the period the rule sets. We show both prices and their dates.

Our records do not support the discount

The store shows a discount percentage without a before price. The before price that percentage implies is higher than the lowest price we recorded at the store in the period the rule sets.

Not enough price history to compare

We have not recorded the store's prices for the whole period, so we make no comparison.

The difference may be due to a VAT change

The before price is higher than the lowest price we recorded, but by no more than a VAT change in the period can explain. We point that out instead of drawing a conclusion.

Nothing to compare

There is no reduction to compare, or the rule does not apply to the product.

What our verdict does not say

Our verdict describes what our data shows and which rule applies. It does not say whether the store has followed the law, and it is not advice to buy or not to buy.

This is an account of the prices we have recorded and the rule that applies. It is not a legal assessment. Whether the rules have been followed is for Forbrugerombudsmanden and ultimately the courts to decide.

What data we use

• The store's own prices: from the product feed the store sends us, or, for a store without a feed, from its product page.
• We record a price each time it changes, and keep the price in effect at the start of every period, so the whole period is covered.
• We compare the store's before price only with the store's own earlier prices. The lowest price across all stores is never used for a verdict.
• When VAT changed during the period, we mark it, so a VAT change is never shown as a reduction that did not happen.

When we say we cannot assess

• We have recorded the store's prices for less than the 30 days before the reduction.
• The store shows no before price and no discount percentage.
• A VAT change during the period could explain the difference.

In those cases we say so plainly instead of guessing.