Compare-at prices on Google Shopping: how to audit them

A compare-at price is a claim that the product really sold at that price, and Google’s sale rules ask for a base price you actually charged. Pull the sales record behind every strikethrough, keep the ones it supports, and delete the rest.

Critical4 min read

By Edvinas Ivanauskas How the guides are reviewed

You run this check yourself

Our scanner can’t see inside your Google accounts, so this one’s on you. Work through the checklist below without running a scan.

Why this matters

Google's [sale_price] page tells you to “Keep submitting the original base price that you charged previously” in [price] while a sale runs. Its page on sale price annotations sets the history bar for the struck-through price in Shopping ads. In the UK and the other listed countries: “The base price of the product must be valid for 30 days within the past 200 days (doesn’t need to be 30 consecutive days).” The United States figures differ, and the full rules are in discounts and “was” prices.

On the page, the annotations page asks that “The active sale price should be the most prominent price on the page.” and that the original “can be struck through, grayed out, or otherwise displayed to show that it’s not currently active.” Google's landing page requirements add that any extra prices on the page “should be clearly differentiable from the advertised base price”. And if Merchant Center updates your prices automatically, its automations page warns: “If product pages show multiple strikethrough prices, our system may not be able to accurately find the correct strikethrough price. You shouldn't enable automatic updates for price in this case.”

Behind all of it sits the Misrepresentation policy, which rules out offers that represent your products in a way “that's not accurate, realistic, and truthful”. A “was £199” on something that never sold at £199 fails that test on its face.

The free scan flags a reference price your product page shows crossed out, or declares as a strikethrough or list price in its product markup, and unusually deep discounts, so you know which reference prices need a record behind them. Whether a price was ever real is a manual check against your own order history; the scan cannot see it. Every pricing check is on the misrepresentation checker.

Typical evidence

The audit only you can run

A strikethrough “was” price needs evidence that the product genuinely sold at that price. The proof lives in your order data, which a public scan cannot access, so confirm each compare-at against your own records.

Compare-at priceOrder historyVerdict

£199 → £49

never sold at “was”

remove

£80 → £56

sold at “was” price

keep

£120 → £40

never sold at “was”

remove

A scanner cannot see your sales history. Reconcile the claim with your own records before publishing it, and keep the source material.

The public signals this check looks for:

Every product carries a compare-at price, and nobody has checked whether any of them ever …
Every product carries a compare-at price, and nobody has checked whether any of them ever sold at that level.
Compare-at prices typed in at launch to make the shop look full of offers
Compare-at prices typed in at launch to make the shop look full of offers.
A permanent sale…
A permanent sale: the strikethrough has been there so long it is the only price the product has ever had.
The supplier's RRP shown as a “was” price although you never charged it
The supplier's RRP shown as a “was” price although you never charged it.
A price cut where the platform copied the old price into compare-at after only a few days …
A price cut where the platform copied the old price into compare-at after only a few days at that price.
Two strikethrough prices on one page, one from the theme and one from an app, disagreeing …
Two strikethrough prices on one page, one from the theme and one from an app, disagreeing with each other.

What it looks like once it is right

The kettle sells at £49 for three months, drops to £39 for a two-week sale, and shows £49 struck through only during those two weeks. The price log backs every day of it.

Common mistakes

Common mistake

A kettle shows “Was £89, now £39” all year. The order history shows it has only ever sold at £39, and the £89 came from the supplier's launch sheet.

Self-check steps

Export every product with its price and compare-at price from your store admin, so all the reference prices you show are in one spreadsheet.
For each one, pull the order history for that product and note the dates it actually sold at the compare-at price.
Measure that against Google's bar for the market you advertise in: for Shopping ads in the UK and most listed countries, 30 days at the base price within the past 200.
Delete the compare-at price wherever the order record does not support it. One honest price beats a strikethrough you cannot defend.
Where you show a manufacturer's RRP rather than your own former price, label it as the recommended retail price, never as “was”.
In your product data, send the price you really charged in [price] and the offer in [sale_price] with [sale_price_effective_date], so the feed and the page tell the same story.
Keep one strikethrough per product page; remove duplicate price blocks left by apps or old theme sections.
Start a dated price log now, so the next audit is a lookup rather than a dig through old orders.

The data lives outside a public scan

Your order history can help substantiate whether a “was” price was real, but it sits inside your admin. Keep a dated price-change log so the next audit is straightforward.

Public scanner

no access

Your order history

merchant-side evidence

price-change log · keep this

2026-01-04£80 → £80list price set

2026-03-12£80 → £5630% spring sale

2026-03-20£56 → £80sale ended

Questions merchants ask

How long must a product sell at a price before I show it as a “was” price on Google Shopping?

For sale price annotations in Shopping ads, Google's rules for the UK and most listed countries ask that the base price was valid for 30 days within the past 200, not necessarily in a row. In the United States the figures are 5 days within the past 30, or 15 within the past 200.

Can I show the manufacturer's RRP as a compare-at price?

Only if it is labelled for what it is. Google's sale price rules are about the base price you actually charged, and the Misrepresentation policy rules out offers that are not accurate, realistic and truthful. An RRP presented as your own former price misstates what you charged.

Does Google always show the sale badge if I meet the rules?

No. Google's sale price annotations page says the annotations are not always guaranteed to show, even when the requirements are met.

Remediation

Risk signal

A strikethrough is the cheapest line of copy to add and the hardest to defend without records. Keep the records, drop the reference prices they do not support, and let real sales do the persuading.

PriorityTreat this and any other highest-severity findings as first-priority work, then document each fix.

EvidenceRecord the current state before each change, apply the fix, then capture the corrected state so every change is evidenced.

Similar cases

Sources

Community guidance

Written by Product Experts, the users Google recognises for their answers on its Merchant Center Community forum. Often stricter than Google’s help pages, and not Google policy.

How to fix Google Merchant Center suspensions (plain-language walkthrough)Merchant Center Community · Product Expert guide — support.google.com

Last reviewed 1 Oct 2026.

That is one issue. The library documents 134.

The free scan lists what it finds on your store. The paid report adds the affected pages, captured evidence and step-by-step fixes. Start free, with no account needed.