One week only: Good Guys fined $13.5m for store credit sham

Nathan Jolly

September 9, 2025 11:07

The Good Guys has been hit with a $13.5 million fine by the Federal Court for misleading its customers and failing to provide store credit to more than 20,000 eligible consumers.

The ACCC brought the action in July 2024, after it found that 116 promotions run by The Good Guys over a four-year period offered store credit to customers who either spent a minimum amount of money, purchased a specific brand or product, or used a particular payment method at checkout.

In June, the Good Guys agreed to make joint submissions with the ACCC to the Court about penalties, including the agreed-upon $13.5m figure, after admitting liability.

There were at least three problems with how The Good Guys ran the promotions: the credits were available only for a short time, customers had to sign up for marketing material, and in some cases they entirely failed to provide customers with the credit.

The store credit offered was, in some cases, up to $1,000.

In submitting to the ACCC’s case, The Good Guys admitted its advertising for the store credit promotions “did not disclose, or adequately disclose, the expiry period of the store credit”.

For the majority of these promotions, the credit was valid for between 7 and 10 days, and customers only received the credit if they remained on The Good Guys marketing list. The Good Guys also admitted it failed to provide about 21,500 consumers with the store credit within the time frame it had specified.

“We took this court action because we were concerned that The Good Guys had failed to adequately disclose some really key conditions attached to these store credit promotions,” ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

Example of StoreCash promotion.

“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. We were concerned some of those consumers may not have done so had they been aware of all the conditions.

“When advertising promotional offers, all businesses must clearly disclose any key terms and conditions or limitations to avoid misleading consumers. Businesses that fail to do so could potentially face court proceedings and large penalties.”

One of the ‘StoreCash’ promotions that fell afoul of the law.

On top of the $13.5 million in penalties, the Court ordered The Good Guys to provide store credit with a longer expiry period to affected customers.

“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,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

The ACCC noted the company had already remediated consumers who did not receive their store credit due to not remaining opted in to marketing material, and to the further 21,500 consumers who did not receive their credit within the specified time.