Honest Discounts
“40% off” checked against what we’ve actually seen, not the price printed on the label.
What HAULS actually saw
Same price it’s always been. New sticker.
The printed MRP is ₹2,000, a number this product has never actually sold for. HAULS checks today’s price against what it’s actually observed recently instead.
Listed MRP ₹2,000, current price ₹1,200, shown as “40% OFF.” HAULS’ observed history: ₹1,250, ₹1,220, ₹1,200, ₹1,180, ₹1,250. Today’s price is only about 4% below the most recent price it’s actually sold at.
Why this matters
A big percentage means nothing if the reference number is fiction.
The EU now requires online stores to show a product’s lowest price from the past 30 days next to any discount claim, so an inflated reference number can’t manufacture a bigger-looking percentage.EU law
US rules require a struck-through "was" price to be one the item was genuinely sold at for a real stretch of time, not a number invented to make today’s price look like a bargain.FTC
India’s consumer authority has already fined e-commerce platforms for inflating a base price specifically to make the advertised discount look bigger, including a ₹2 lakh fine against FirstCry in 2025.CCPA, 2025
Research on reference-price anchoring finds shoppers judge a deal partly by the crossed-out price next to it. Inflate that number and the deal feels bigger even when the real price never moved.Study
HAULS is being built now. Join the waitlist for launch access.