Scanner price error - the item free, or $10 off
Competition Bureau Canada
When an item without a price tag scans higher than the displayed shelf price at a participating retailer, the Scanner Price Accuracy Voluntary Code gives you the item free if it is priced under $10, or $10 off if it is priced higher. The Competition Bureau endorses the code; the Retail Council of Canada runs it on behalf of participating retailers.
The catch: It is voluntary and it is not law. Outside Quebec the code binds only retailers who have signed up to it, and a store that has not is entitled to simply correct the price and charge you the lower one. Quebec is a different regime entirely - a mandatory provincial price-accuracy policy with a $15 threshold rather than $10 - so anything written about this has to branch on province rather than state a single national rule. You have to notice at the till: once you have left, the shelf label is gone and so is the evidence.
At a glance
- Worth
- $10
- Effort
- About 2 minutes
- Time to money
- Right away
- How it arrives
- Account credit
- How often
- Unknown
- Proof needed
- None
- Where
- Canada
- Last checked
- 15 August 2026