H&M

Wow. A handbag at $14.95. Great price, right? Not so fast. The price above this H&M bag — $14.95 — is not the price that will be rung up at the register. Why? The answer can be found in small print that most people need to get on their tippy toes to see.

.@TruthinAd Q: How much is this purse? @hm mgmt says a tiny mice type disclaimer is “policy” #Teens call it deception pic.twitter.com/riFsrJRezv

— Amy Jussel (@ShapingYouth) April 8, 2015

Amy Jussel of shapingyouth.org, a San Francisco Bay Area-based children advocacy group, first alerted TINA.org to the issue via Twitter (@TruthInAd). We followed up with Jussel and eventually learned that fine print on the sign discloses that the $14.95 price is good for only “[s]elect styles.” The actual price of the bag, an apparent non-select style: $24.95.

Jussel shared another photo of in-store H&M signage with the same disclaimer:

@TruthinAd more @hm merchandising at eye level; obviously misleading/mice type is normative; zoom in for real prices pic.twitter.com/TpJUsiyKRs — Amy Jussel (@ShapingYouth) April 14, 2015

We took Jussel’s advice in the tweet and an enlarged image revealed at least six items costing more than $2.95. In fact, the items pictured ranged in price from $4.95-$9.95:

So where have all the “select styles” gone? Maybe only H&M knows. But if you find yourself in an H&M store sometime soon, to avoid any confusion at the register, go with what’s on the price tag rather than what any sign says above.

TINA.org notified H&M about the issue and the company forwarded our query to a customer service representative. She responded in part:

We advertise the sale price larger because it is the focus of the sign, it is the most important part of the sign. While we understand that many people have different vision levels, we found that the signage is visible to most customers.

Find more of our coverage on pricing here.