Retailer To Pay $10 Million To Settle Pricing Claims

Lawsuits challenging how companies advertise sales are on the rise. In this year alone, we've posted about a lawsuit over a grocer's BOGO offers, a lawsuit over a major retailer's frequent sales, and a large settlement over another retailer's sale practices. This week brought news of a new $10 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging that SelectBlinds' sale practices violated California law.

The class action complaint focused on two types of practices:

• False Sense of Urgency: The plaintiffs alleged that SelectBlinds used countdown timers and other tactics to suggest that sales were about to end. When the timers hit zero, though, the retailer would launch a new sale "with a different name but a comparable discount, with an updated timer stating that the sale would expire at midnight the next day." Allegedly, that cycle continued for over a year.