Friday morning and the Federal Court is where the retail action still is. The ACCC has just sued Amazon Australia (and its US parent) over Prime subscription contract terms that let the company force ads onto more than a million existing annual subscribers without a refund. The Coles Down Down 10-day trial has opened in Melbourne, with the regulator arguing the campaign created “utterly misleading” illusory discounts on 245 products. Depop is stripping its 10 per cent seller commission on 22 July and moving that cost to buyers. The EU has flipped a 3 euro customs duty onto every parcel from Shein, Temu and AliExpress, and the ACCC continues to investigate the Temu safety pledge. Five fresh Australian stores today, all Australian-owned or locally fulfilled, none carried over from Wednesday or Thursday.
ACCC Sues Amazon Over Prime Video Ad Push
Australia’s competition regulator has filed Federal Court proceedings against Amazon Commercial Services Pty Ltd and Amazon Services LLC (its US parent), alleging five specific terms in Prime annual subscription contracts between November 2023 and August 2025 were unfair contract terms under Australian Consumer Law (TechShots, 7 July 2026). The core allegation: those terms allowed Amazon to unilaterally add advertising to Prime Video for more than a million existing annual subscribers, and to make other adverse changes to the service, without offering refunds or a genuine right to cancel. In July 2024 anyone wanting to keep the ad-free experience they had already paid for upfront (79 dollars a year) was told to pay an additional 2.99 dollars a month.
The ACCC is seeking declarations that the terms were void, civil penalties, consumer redress orders and legal costs. Around 850,000 annual subscribers are estimated to have been directly hit by the ad-forcing change (Academic Jobs, 5 July 2026). For any Australian household still on an annual Prime plan, the practical read is: hold every renewal receipt from that window, keep any email confirming the “no ads” promise you originally paid for, and watch for consumer redress details from the ACCC as the case progresses. Amazon has said it is reviewing the claim and has not yet filed its defence. This is a headline consumer-protection case, and the reputational damage lands squarely on Amazon in a week when Prime Day is running seven days in Australia (7 to 13 July) and independent reviewers keep pointing out that fewer than one in eight promoted discounts actually reach a new recorded low.
Coles Down Down Trial Opens in Melbourne Federal Court
A 10-day Federal Court hearing in Melbourne is now underway in the ACCC’s civil case against Coles Supermarkets over its Down Down pricing campaign, with Justice Michael O’Bryan hearing opening arguments on Monday 6 July (AAP via AOL, 8 July 2026). The regulator alleges Coles ran an “utterly misleading” pricing campaign between February 2022 and May 2023, briefly raising prices on around 245 staples (toothpaste, soft drinks, cheese, pet food) before advertising the reduced-back-to-normal number as a Down Down special. The ACCC opened by arguing this created “illusory” discounts and drove sales without giving households a genuine price benefit.
The trial follows the Federal Court’s finding last week that Coles made misleading representations on 13 of the 14 Down Down tickets already examined at the liability hearing (ACCC website). Coles denies wrongdoing, arguing the products were subject to natural price fluctuations and ordinary customers understood the market dynamics. For weekly shoppers, the read is the same one that has been building for a fortnight: screenshot any big-red price ticket that looks suspicious, note the shelf date, keep the receipt if you buy it, and if the “sustained reduction” was actually a two-week window inside a longer high-price period, that is now the kind of evidence the regulator is actively rewarded for pursuing.
Depop Strips 10 Per Cent Seller Commission, Shifts Fee to Buyers
Depop is scrapping its 10 per cent seller commission in Australia on 22 July and moving more of the cost onto buyers instead (Shopifreaks, 6 July 2026). Buyers will start paying a new marketplace fee of up to 5 per cent of the sale price plus 1 dollar per transaction. Sellers still cover Depop Payments processing (2.6 per cent plus 30 cents) via the Stripe-powered checkout that is now mandatory to list. The fee overhaul comes as eBay’s 1.2 billion dollar cash acquisition of Depop from Etsy awaits UK Competition and Markets Authority clearance, with a ruling due by 6 August (Australia’s ACCC cleared the deal in May).
For Australian second-hand fashion buyers, the practical effect from 22 July is that the “sticker price” on Depop stops being the total price. Add up to 6 dollars on a 100 dollar item on top of any shipping and payment processing. For sellers the change removes the commission but pushes buyer prices up, which typically compresses demand. If you have been meaning to buy something you have saved on Depop, the pre-22 July window is the cheaper window. If you have been meaning to sell, listing dates after 22 July are the cheaper window for you (but you will need to price competitively against the extra buyer fee).
EU Slaps 3 Euro Duty on Shein, Temu, AliExpress Parcels
The European Union has introduced a 3 euro customs duty on e-commerce parcels worth up to 150 euros imported from outside the bloc, effective 1 July, in a move targeted at Chinese ultra-low-price platforms including Shein, Temu and AliExpress (Shopifreaks, 6 July 2026). The temporary duty runs until July 2028, when the EU expects to move to a permanent category-based tariff system. Australia has no equivalent duty in place, but the direction of regulatory travel is now clear across three big consumer economies (EU, UK, US) that Chinese cross-border marketplaces will no longer trade duty-free forever.
Domestically, the ACCC’s investigation into Temu’s Australian Product Safety Pledge inclusion is still live after Choice complained in June that “substantial volumes” of dangerous products were being sold by pledge participants (ABC News, 5 July 2026). The federal 2026-27 budget allocated 6.6 million dollars over three years to overhaul the Australian product safety framework, including online marketplace reforms. For Australian households the read remains the same one we run every day at It’s On Sale: the retailers we feature (all Australian-owned or locally fulfilled) come with Australian Consumer Law protections, retail warranties enforceable in Australian courts, and refund rights the ACCC will actually back. Cross-border ultra-low-price marketplaces do not.
Myer Closeout Final Week, Toy Sale Rolling, Rates On Hold Until 11 August
Myer’s Stocktake Sale Closeout Offers are running the final week Monday 6 to Sunday 12 July, following the main stocktake window that closed in June (Myer, 3 July 2026). The Toy Sale Catalogue runs longer, 22 June to Sunday 19 July, with clearance pricing across LEGO, board games, outdoor toys and craft. If you have Myer One points sitting, closeout weeks are the highest-value redemption window because the base price is already the lowest of the campaign.
On monetary policy, the Reserve Bank does not sit in July, so the next cash rate decision is 11 August. The current cash rate is 4.10 per cent (Your Mortgage, 8 July 2026), and household consumer confidence rose off record lows in June but net buying intentions for major household items are still negative. On card payments, Assistant Minister for Competition Andrew Leigh confirmed this month that the ban on card surcharging for Visa, MasterCard and EFTPOS transactions kicks in October 2026 (Andrew Leigh transcript, 2 July 2026), removing another 1 to 2 per cent line item from most in-store and online checkouts. Between the excessive-pricing prohibition (1 July), the Down Down trial, the Amazon Prime lawsuit, the Coles-Kalgoorlie merger block and the coming surcharge ban, the second week of July is quietly turning into the most consumer-protective fortnight the Australian retail calendar has seen in a decade.
Five Fresh Australian Stores, Auditted at Dawn
Five stores. Five categories. All fresh names today, none carried over from Wednesday or Thursday, all headline discounts verified from the live sale pages.
Discount
SportsgirlWomen's FashionUp to 90 per cent off Sportsgirl’s sale range: knitwear, dresses, denim, outerwear and accessories from the Australian-owned womenswear label with 100-plus stores nationwide since 1948, free returns and click-and-collect.90%OFF2
Rebel SportSport & FitnessUp to 85 per cent off Rebel Sport’s Fan Gear Clearance: AFL, NRL and A-League jerseys, sneakers and training kit from the Australian sporting-goods chain with 160-plus stores and free returns on unworn items.85%OFF3
Kick Push SkateSkate & WheelsUp to 82 per cent off Kick Push Skate’s sale: skate decks, wheels, protective gear and skate apparel from the Australian-owned skate specialist with free shipping over 100 dollars and Australian warehousing.82%OFF4
Elite SupplementsHealth & SupplementsUp to 80 per cent off Elite Supplements’ Sale: protein, pre-workout, recovery, vitamins and sports nutrition from the Australian-owned supplement retailer with 40-plus stores nationally and fast local dispatch.80%OFF5
Colette HaymanBags & AccessoriesUp to 71 per cent off Colette Hayman’s Sale: handbags, wallets, jewellery, sunglasses and travel accessories from the Australian-owned accessory label since 1994, with 90-plus stores and free returns.71%OFF% discounts shown are indicative across each store’s sale range. Individual product savings vary.
Other Deals Worth A Look
Beyond the Top 5, a handful of other Australian-owned retailers are running strong cuts through Friday. Baku Swimwear (today’s Top 6 ticker pick) has up to 70 per cent off swimwear, resort wear and accessories from the Australian swim label since 1985, with free returns and Australian warehousing. Dusk is running up to 70 per cent off candles, diffusers, homewares and gifting from the Australian-owned homeware chain with 130-plus stores. Eckersleys has up to 70 per cent off art supplies, paints, canvas, journals and craft from the Australian art materials specialist since 1938. Decjuba is running up to 70 per cent off Australian-designed womenswear across dresses, tops, denim and knits, with 130-plus stores. Showpo has up to 80 per cent off Australian-founded fast-turn womenswear including dresses, going-out wear and denim. All Australian-owned or locally fulfilled, all Australian Consumer Law backed.
Our Take
Zoom out from the day and the pattern is stark. In the last 10 days the ACCC has sued Amazon over Prime Video contract terms, sued a debt collector over 320,000 misleading notices, opened its 10-day Down Down trial against Coles, blocked a Coles supermarket acquisition in Kalgoorlie, fined Lactalis over “fresh milk” labels, activated the excessive-pricing prohibition against Coles and Woolworths, and confirmed the October card-surcharge ban. That is a regulator moving with genuine intent, and it is happening in the second week of a new financial year when most Australian households are still recovering from a hard June quarter. Add in the EU’s tariff strike against Shein and Temu, and the direction of travel is clear: the discount claim, the subscription click, the “fresh” label and the “up to 90 per cent off” ticket all now need to be verifiable, not just marketable.
That is exactly why It’s On Sale exists. We track 35,000 Australian stores and 45,000 live sale products, every retailer Australian-owned or locally fulfilled, every promotion audited daily. Today’s Sales shows every store currently running a discount in one place. The AI search reads the way real shoppers ask (try “womens knitwear under 80” or “AFL jersey clearance”). None of it is Temu, Shein, AliExpress, Wish or any offshore marketplace dressed up as a local brand. Browse Today’s Sales on the Friday of the second week of the new financial year, with the regulator visibly on your side.