Australian Retailer Fined $8.9 Million Over Misleading Promotions

Key Takeaways

• Penalty Imposed: Australian retailer The Good Guys was fined $8.9 million (AUD 13.5 million) for misleading store credit promotions.
• Hidden Conditions: Credits often expired in as little as 7–10 days, and many shoppers only qualified if they stayed opted in to marketing emails.
• Failure to Deliver: About 21,500 customers never received the credits they were promised within the required timeframe.
• Court Orders: The retailer must provide redress with longer-lasting store credits and has already remediated some affected customers.

Deep Dive

Shoppers thought they were getting a little extra bang for their buck. Instead, thousands walked away from The Good Guys’ stores only to find their promised “StoreCash” vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.

On Tuesday, the Federal Court ordered the Australian retailer to pay $8.9 million (AUD 13.5 million) in penalties after finding its flashy store credit promotions misled customers and shortchanged more than 20,000 people.

Between 2019 and 2023, The Good Guys rolled out 116 different promotions promising credits ranging anywhere from $10 to $1,000 if customers met certain conditions—spend this much, buy that product, use this card. But behind the bold advertising, key details were kept quiet. Many of those credits expired in just seven to ten days, and in some cases shoppers only qualified if they stayed opted in to the company’s marketing emails.

"The chance to earn store credit may have encouraged some consumers to make a purchase at The Good Guys they otherwise may not have made or to choose this retailer over others,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said. “We were concerned some of those consumers may not have done so had they been aware of all the conditions.”

It wasn’t just about the hidden strings attached. The retailer also failed to deliver on its own timelines, leaving about 21,500 customers without credits they had rightfully earned.

That, Cass-Gottlieb added, is exactly the kind of conduct that erodes consumer trust, “Businesses that use promotional programs to attract consumers and differentiate themselves from their competitors must ensure they provide any gifts or rebates to eligible consumers in the time period they said they would.”

The Court’s penalty isn’t the end of the story. As part of the orders, The Good Guys must now offer redress to shoppers who were caught in promotions with poorly disclosed expiry terms, this time with longer-lasting credits. The retailer has already compensated customers who lost out due to the marketing opt-in requirement or simply never received their credit.

In court, The Good Guys admitted its failings and cooperated with regulators, working with the ACCC on joint submissions over the penalty. Still, the outcome demonstrates the watchdog’s growing scrutiny of the retail sector, particularly around promotional gimmicks that sound good at the checkout but don’t hold up afterward.

The case also crossed legal lines, as store credit counts as a financial service, some of the conduct breached provisions of the ASIC Act, which the ACCC enforced under delegated authority. The Court separately ruled that the failure to deliver credits on time violated the Australian Consumer Law.

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