Black Friday and holiday sales in Canada: drip pricing, 'was/now' prices and countdown timers

Every November, SaaS and e-commerce teams ship banners, strikethrough prices and countdown timers in a hurry. Most of the legal risk sits in three patterns, and each is easy to fix before launch.

This post is general information, not legal advice.

The law that applies

The Competition Act prohibits representations to the public that are false or misleading in a material respect, made to promote a product or business interest, by any means. That covers pricing pages, checkout flows, emails, paid social ads and creator posts. The test looks at the general impression as well as the literal meaning, so a headline that says one thing and fine print that says another can still mislead. Provincial consumer protection laws can add their own requirements for consumer sales.

1. Drip pricing

Since June 2022, section 74.01(1.1) of the Act expressly treats a price as misleading if it isn’t attainable because of fixed obligatory charges or fees. The only exclusion is for charges imposed by or under federal or provincial law, such as sales tax. See drip pricing.

Where software companies get caught:

• a “$9/month” holiday plan that requires a mandatory onboarding or platform fee added at checkout;
• a per-seat price that requires a minimum seat count the ad doesn’t mention;
• a store that adds a non-optional “service” or “processing” fee on the last screen.

The Competition Tribunal ordered Cineplex to pay a penalty of more than $38.9 million in 2024 over a mandatory online booking fee. The Federal Court of Appeal upheld that decision in January 2026 (Cineplex Inc. v. Commissioner of Competition, 2026 FCA 10), and Cineplex said it would seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. If a fee is mandatory, put it in the headline price.

2. “Regular $299, now $149”

A reference price has to be a real ordinary selling price. Section 74.01 gives two ways to support one:

• Volume test: a substantial volume of the product was sold at that price or higher within a reasonable period before or after the claim.
• Time test: the product was offered in good faith at that price or higher for a substantial period recently before or immediately after the claim.

The Competition Bureau’s enforcement guidelines generally read the volume test as more than 50% of sales at or above the reference price over the 12 months before or after the claim, and the time test as the product being offered at or above that price for more than 50% of the six months before or after it. Shorter periods may apply to some products, such as seasonal goods.

This matters for SaaS, where many startups run near-constant promotions. If your annual plan has been “50% off” for most of the year, the discounted price is arguably the real price. Before you publish a strikethrough, export your pricing and sales history from your billing system and keep it with the campaign file.

3. Countdown timers and scarcity

Urgency messages aren’t banned, but they must be true. A timer that resets when a visitor reloads the page, a “24-hour” deal that quietly runs for a week, or a hard-coded “only 3 left” badge all create a false impression. The Bureau has taken action against urgency claims, including deals that stayed available after a countdown timer ran out: in 2023 a furniture and appliance retailer group agreed to pay a $3.25 million penalty to settle the Bureau’s concerns about inflated regular prices and urgency cues like these.

For product and growth teams:

• tie timers to a real end time stored on the server, not the visitor’s session;
• if you extend a sale, change the message instead of restarting the clock;
• only show stock or seat limits that come from live data;
• avoid interface designs that pressure buyers, often called dark patterns.

Free trials and upgrades

A “free for the holidays” trial that converts into a paid annual plan needs clear disclosure of when billing starts and what it will cost. If the conversion terms are hidden, the “free” claim can mislead. Consumer subscription and renewal rules also vary by province.

Creators and affiliates

Creator posts and affiliate emails promoting your sale are representations made to promote your business. If a creator says “everything is 40% off with my code” and the code excludes your most popular products, that’s a problem for both of you. Give partners approved copy and written exclusions, and require clear disclosure of the paid relationship. Holiday emails also need CASL consent and an unsubscribe mechanism. See CASL for SaaS and e-commerce.

Penalties

Under section 74.1, for a corporation, an administrative monetary penalty can reach the greater of $10 million ($15 million for later orders) and three times the benefit derived from the conduct, or 3% of annual worldwide gross revenues if the benefit can’t reasonably be determined. Since June 20, 2025, private parties, such as competitors, can apply for leave to bring deceptive marketing cases to the Competition Tribunal.

Before you launch

• Put every mandatory fee in the advertised price.
• Keep pricing history that supports any “regular” or “was” price.
• Make timers and stock messages reflect real data.
• Disclose trial conversion terms clearly.
• Brief creators and affiliates in writing.
• Check that your email list has valid consent.

We prepare terms of service and SaaS agreements, and run CASL reviews, at fixed fees listed on our fees page. If you’d like a check of your holiday pricing and checkout flow, book a free 15-minute consult.