The Consumer Protection Act treats pets as consumer goods. The same pricing regulations apply.

Merchants have 2 ways to go about pricing: tag each item individually or show an item’s price on its shelf. In the latter case, merchants must abide by the Price Accuracy Policy.

Prices shown on the shelves

The Price Accuracy Policy allows customers to be compensated in case of a pricing error at the register. If the price of the item you are buying is higher at the register than what was shown on the shelf, the merchant must:

• give you the item for free if the item costs less than $10;
• sell you the item at the shelf price, minus $10, if the item costs more than $10.

Prices shown on individual items

If a merchant chooses to indicate the price of each individual item, then each item is required to show a price tag. An exception exists regarding pets: their prices must be legibly and clearly shown close to where they are kept.

If the price shown at the register is higher than the one displayed or shown on the item’s price tag, the merchant must sell the item at the labelled price, but they don’t have to offer additional compensation. An item tagged at $5 must be sold at that price, even if the register shows $7.

What if a single item shows two different prices? The lower price prevails.

Always check the receipt before leaving the store

To avoid having to go back to the store to recover a few dollars, make sure you always check the receipt before leaving the store. However, if you only notice an error when you’re back home, you can go back to the store. It’s never too late to assert your rights.

The section Price indicated in the store provides all the information about the pricing of items, the display of prices, and the Price Accuracy Policy.

Top of page