Sierra Trading Post Named in Class Action Over Allegedly Fraudulent ‘Reference’ Price Discounts

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action lawsuit out of Washington alleges outdoor apparel and gear retailer Sierra Trading Post advertises products at fraudulent discounted “reference prices.” The lawsuit, which has recently been removed to district court, claims Sierra Trading Post’s reference prices “are not the former price or market price” of a particular product, but are instead estimates or, the plaintiff says, simply made up.

“Many items have never been sold at the reference price from which the item is supposedly discounted,” the complaint reads.

The case states that the defendant purports to offer its customers terrific deals due in part to its practice of buying excess inventory from other retailers and reselling the goods at cut-rate prices. According to the lawsuit, however, Sierra Trading Post’s “carefully crafted image” as a close-out retailer is outright fraudulent, as many of the company’s products are allegedly advertised at prices at which no retailer has offered them in the recent past. Moreover, Sierra Trading Post’s claims that it buys excess inventory from other retailers is also misleading, according to the suit, because “many if not most” of the company’s wares were specially ordered by and manufactured exclusively for the defendant, and were never offered by other retailers at all, let alone at a “compare at” price.