Shutterfly class action alleges company misleads online shoppers by offering ‘phantom’ discounts

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Shutterfly false reference pricing class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Rose Rivali filed a class action lawsuit against Shutterfly LLC. 
• Why: Rivali claims Shutterfly advertised false original prices to offer “phantom discounts” to customers who shop on its website.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

Shutterfly advertises fictitious original prices while offering “phantom discounts” to customers shopping on its website, a new class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Rose Rivali claims Shutterfly misleads consumers into believing they are getting a discount by using a method known as false reference pricing. 

“The resulting artificial price disparity misleads consumers into believing the product they are buying has a higher market value, and it induces them into purchasing the product,” the class action lawsuit states. 

Rivali argues the practice of false reference pricing “artificially inflates” a products’ true market, which both emboldens retailers and financially injures consumers.

“False reference pricing schemes enable retailers, like Defendant, to sell products above their true market price and value—and consumers are left to pay the price,” the class action lawsuit states.

Shutterfly’s advertised discounts create urgency to purchase

Rivali says she believed she had been given a “significant discount” on products she purchased from Shutterfly’s website last month.

Further, she says the advertised discounts spurred her to make the purchase since she believed they would “likely not last.”

In reality, the products Rivali purchased had never been offered for sale at the original price referenced on Shutterfly’s website, according to the class action lawsuit.

Rivali claims Shutterfly also failed to disclose that the products listed at being at a discount had never been offered at the original price referenced.

“Neither Plaintiff’s receipt nor any other language on the website observed or relied upon by Plaintiff indicated that the product was not offered previously at the advertised reference price,” the class action lawsuit states. 

Rivali claims Shutterfly is in violation of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition Law. 

Plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory and injunctive relief along with restitution and disgorgement for herself and all class members.

Rivali wants to represent a nationwide class of consumers who have purchased a product listed as being at discount from an advertised reference price on Shutterfly’s website within the past fours and have not received a refund or credit. 

Shutterfly agreed to pay $6.5 million last year to resolve claims it violated privacy laws by illegally collecting and storing the biometric data of its customers without their consent.

Have you purchased a product on Shutterfly’s website that was advertised as being at a discount? Let us know in the comments. 

The plaintiff is represented by Todd D. Carpenter and Scott G. Braden of Lynch Carpenter LLP. 

The Shutterfly false reference pricing class action lawsuit is Rivali v. Shutterfly LLC, Case No. 2:22-cv-02175, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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