Struck-through prices: the French 30-day rule, explained with examples

The rule: the reference price is the lowest of the last 30 days

The DGCCRF puts it this way: every price reduction announcement must state the lowest price the trader charged during the 30 days before the promotion. That price is the “reference price”; it, and it alone, is the price you may strike through or use to calculate a percentage.

You remain free in how you present it: struck-through price, percentage off or amount off. But the calculation always starts from that floor, not from the “recommended” price, not from a price displayed for a single day, not from a competitor’s price.

• Legal basis: Article L.112-1-1 of the French Consumer Code (Code de la consommation).
• In force since 28 May 2022, to fight fake promotions.
• Applies to every price reduction announced to consumers, in shops and online.

Three examples to get it right

The amounts below are examples, to illustrate the calculation.

1. 1
   Stable price: a bag sold at €80 for two months, reduced to €60. The reference price is €80; you can show €80 struck through, €60, that is 25% off.
2. 2
   Price raised just before: a product at €50 moved to €70 ten days before the promotion, then “reduced” to €55. The lowest of the 30 days is €50: showing €70 struck through is misleading, and €55 is not a reduction.
3. 3
   Successive reductions: a coat at €200, cut to €160 then to €120 during the same operation. According to Service Public, the reference price remains the one charged before the first reduction, that is €200.

Displaying a reduction correctly in an online shop

On a product page, a clear and compliant reduction comes down to four elements:

• The struck-through reference price, equal to the lowest of the previous 30 days.
• The new price, highlighted, including taxes.
• If you show it, the percentage or amount off, calculated on the reference price.
• The period of the offer when it is limited, with a real end date.

On the Google Shopping side, the sale prices sent in the feed must match what the buyer sees on the page: Google Merchant Center penalises misleading information and requires the total price to be shown, taxes and fees included.

The most common pitfalls

On our own sites, we settled it simply: no invented struck-through price, no more promo codes without an end date. A stable, fair price sells better than a perpetual discount nobody believes in any more.

• The struck-through “recommended price”: if it was never your selling price in the 30 days, it cannot serve as the reference to announce a reduction.
• The permanent promotion: a struck-through price that never moves means that price is no longer charged; after 30 days, the “sale” price becomes your reference price.
• The countdown that starts again: fake urgency, to be avoided.
• The never-ending promo code: in the eyes of savvy buyers, it turns your public price into an inflated one.
• The imported supplier price: in dropshipping, the struck-through price suggested by the supplier’s catalogue has no value as a reference in your shop.

Setting up a simple check in your shop

Compliance is decided before the promotion, not during it. A routine of a few minutes is enough:

1. 1
   History: export your catalogue prices every week (or switch on your platform’s price history) and keep the dated files.
2. 2
   Calculation: before each operation, note for each product concerned the lowest price of the last 30 days; it is the only value to strike through.
3. 3
   Display: check on the product page, on mobile, that the struck-through price, the new price and the percentage agree.
4. 4
   Feed: check that the sale price sent to Google Merchant Center is the one on the page, with the same dates.
5. 5
   End: on the announced date, the offer really stops; if you keep the new price, remove the struck-through price.

The same logic applies to reviews and trust signals

The struck-through price belongs to a family of practices the DGCCRF watches closely: fake reductions, fake reviews, fake urgency. For online reviews, the fine can reach 10% of average annual revenue. Everything that pushes towards a purchase must be true and verifiable.