A price almost never works alone. The impact of $79 comes from the $129 next to it. That benchmark is a reference price—and it is now one of the most heavily policed inputs in performance marketing.
Why a reference price changes behaviour
On Google Shopping and Amazon product pages, the crossed-out number does heavy lifting. It frames the deal, raises perceived value and shifts click-through and conversion. In behavioural pricing, Richard Thaler called this transaction utility—the value a buyer gets from the deal itself, not just the product.
That power cuts both ways. Regulators have treated fake reference prices as deceptive pricing since the FTC published its Guides Against Deceptive Pricing in 1967. The EU’s 30-day prior price rule has applied since May 2022, and courts have ruled that a percentage reduction must be calculated from that prior price.
Platforms are now tightening the inputs
Google decides whether a strikethrough renders. The base price must be higher than the sale price, the discount must sit between 5% and 90%, and both prices should appear on the landing page. In many markets the base price also needs enough history: 30 days within the past 200 in countries such as the UK and Germany, and a shorter window elsewhere.
Amazon takes a different route. Since April 23, 2026, a List Price must match recent external retail evidence or what customers actually paid for the Featured Offer. From May 18, Amazon pulls promotional sales into its 90-day Typical Price median when the offer sits below that median too often. The result: sneakers at $89.99 for 20 days and $74.99 for 70 days end up with a Typical Price of $74.99 and no strikethrough.
These standards are not aligned. A product can show a legitimate discount on one surface and none on another, so the feed must be built for the platform you are buying ads on.
What this means for ad performance
Once a reference price is invalidated, your Sponsored Products bid still buys traffic—but the listing shows no savings badge and often converts worse. Hadia Arif, an Amazon PPC growth strategist, noted that listings with always-on coupons converted 15–20% lower after the coupon was removed.
That makes reference pricing a conversion lever, not just a compliance checkbox. A code-based promotion can leave the reference price intact, while a sale price overwrites it. Your offer design should know the difference.
Audit before you discount
Before your next sale or Prime event, run this check:
- Confirm the base price was genuinely offered, not just uploaded.
- Document the lookback window for your country and platform.
- Keep landing page prices consistent with feed attributes.
- Choose promotion types that preserve the reference price where useful.
- Track whether ads convert after the strikethrough disappears.
Enforcement is real. In April 2026, Australia’s Federal Court ordered Emma Sleep entities to pay A$15 million after finding most products had never been offered at the strikethrough price.
The pattern is clear: sellers set inputs, platforms validate them, and regulators judge them afterwards. A phantom discount may survive a few days, but the fines—and the lost conversion—are becoming harder to ignore.
Source: PPC Land
