Unbelievable discounts, countdown clocks, and urgent warnings of dwindling supplies — these are the siren songs of Black Friday already seducing consumers in emails and personalized ads.
But are the deals really that good? Or are people being lured into perilous consumer waters?
Advertisements on Black Friday and Cyber Monday promise major deals for price-conscious shoppers, but hidden fees, deceptive discounts and false scarcity — all illegal under Canada’s Competition Act — are some of the manipulative tactics used by retailers during the biggest shopping day of the year. The global sale event, once reserved only for Americans, has become a minefield for deceptive claims, triggering a warning from the Competition Bureau to companies at home and abroad that violate laws designed to protect Canadian consumers.
“It’s illegal to advertise fake discounts by promoting a made-up ‘regular price,’” the Competition Bureau said in a press release Tuesday.
A “regular price” or “ordinary selling price” scam is when a retailer jacks up the original price before a major sale event and then marks down the falsely inflated price, creating the illusion of a better deal.
According to the Bureau, it receives about 4,500 complaints about deceptive marketing practices every year — and complaints about inflated prices are surging.
A November study from Consumers’ Checkbook, an American nonprofit that researches vendors and service providers, found that deceptive markdown claims were rampant among top retailers in 2025.
After tracking prices at 25 major retailers over a six month period, the organization found companies such as Bass Pro Shops, Home Depot, and Michaels boasted sales that were usually misleading.
A spokesperson for Michaels said in a statement to the Star that it “complies with all applicable Canadian laws and regulations and strives to provide value to our customers every day.”
The Star reached out Bass Pro Shops and and Home Depot but did not receive a response in time for publication.
“Ordinary selling price is a top priority for the Competition Bureau,” said Candice Kloes, a Toronto-based lawyer specializing in advertising and consumer protection. “As long as the ads are targeting Canadian consumers, it triggers Canadian law.”
Kloes said that in order to claim a regular selling price, businesses must have sold at least half the volume of the product at that price or higher for at least half the time it’s been offered.
Corporations that violate this provision of the Competition Act can be charged a fine of up to $10 million for a first violation and up to $15 million for subsequent violations, plus restitution.
In November 2024, the Bureau opened an investigation into furniture retailer Leon’s and its subsidiary, The Brick, citing alleged use of inflated regular prices and fake urgency cues. While there is not yet a conclusion of wrongdoing, the case is still ongoing.
“At this point, there is no update on the Leon’s and The Brick Competition Bureau inquiry,” said Audrey Hyams Romoff, a spokesperson for the companies, in a statement to the Star.
Tandy Thomas, a professor of marketing at Queen’s University, said that urgency cues like claiming low supplies or issuing countdowns for a deal to expire prey on a consumer’s “fear of missing out.”
“We know that scarcity and urgency are really big drivers of what pull people to buy things,” said Thomas, adding that businesses can tailor ads based on your purchase history. “We get an emotional reaction which pushes us to make impulsive decisions.”
With roving costs thanks to dynamic pricing — real-time price-adjustments that reflect supply, demand, and the prices of competitors — the urgency can sometimes feel very real.
Grant Packard, a professor of marketing at York University’s Schulich School of Business, said that companies can’t charge one customer more for an item just because their dynamic pricing model has determined that that the customer is willing to pay more than everyone else.
But they can target groups for discounts.
“If it’s a category of consumers that’s not based on gender, ethnicity, or income, you can price at a group of people,” said Packard. “So there’s a lot of wiggle room to offer one person a $10 discount and another person a $5 discount, as long as it’s not individual.”
What can consumers do?
Packard said that the goal of retailers this time of year is to drive consumers toward an extra, unplanned purchase. His advice is to make a list, set a budget, and do your research.
“Come up with kind of a structured approach to shopping so that you don’t overbuy on Black Friday or Cyber Monday,” said Packard. “It’s not worth it to save $50 on that $200 gift if really you should have spent a hundred in the first place.”
For consumers already doing their research, websites like “CamelCamelCamel.com” offer a price tracking tool that regularly “scrapes” price data from e-commerce sites, such as Amazon. Users can see a detailed history of the product price over time to determine whether the price on Black Friday is actually a deal, or if shoppers were just getting gouged the month before.
The Bureau encourages anyone who suspects deceptive marketing claims like misleading sales claims or fake urgency cues to report it via the online complaint form.
“Awareness plays an important role,” said Bureau spokesperson Anna Maiorino in a statement to the Star. “Research options before buying, watch for patterns, and question the claims.”
