Marketing Agency in Wisconsin: Sale Ads Written to the Unfair Sales Act

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

Wisconsin’s Unfair Sales Act counts an advertisement as a sale. Its definition of sell includes any advertising or offer to sell, and it bars selling an item below cost to pull shoppers toward other merchandise, so a weekend circular can break the rule before anything leaves the shelf. Clearance, damaged, discontinued and store closing sales may go lower, but a store loses those exceptions if it caps how many a buyer may take or leaves the reason out of any ad. A marketing agency in Wisconsin writes the sale with those lines in hand. Progression plans Wisconsin campaigns from New York and sends people to a store for a working session whenever a client asks.

A doorbuster that boasts below our cost

A hardware store builds its weekend circular around a cordless drill. The headline says the price is below the store’s cost, and a line underneath limits each customer to two.

The boast is the evidence of a sale below cost, and the limit takes away the exceptions the store might have relied on. Either the price comes up to cost or above, or the limit comes off and the reason line goes on.

• Cost is checked at the proof stage, before the ad is placed.
• A below cost price is never described as below cost in the ad.
• A limit never sits on an item that relies on an exception.
• Questions about a particular sale go to DATCP or counsel.

A marketing agency in Wisconsin starts with the word sell

Under Wis. Stat. 100.30, the Unfair Sales Act, the words sell, sale and sold include any advertising or offer to sell. A price in an ad is already a sale for the Act’s purposes.

Subsection (3) prohibits any sale of an item of merchandise below cost with the intent or effect of inducing the purchase of other merchandise or of unfairly diverting trade from a competitor, and says evidence of a sale below cost is prima facie evidence of that intent or effect. The Act’s policy line calls selling certain items below cost to attract patronage generally a form of deceptive advertising and an unfair method of competition.

DATCP’s Unfair Sales Act page calls the law commonly the Minimum Markup Law. The cost check happens at the proof stage, before the ad is placed.

Why does a marketing agency in Wisconsin check sale ads against the Unfair Sales Act?

Because the Act counts any advertising or offer to sell as a sale, so a below cost price in an ad is already a sale below cost.

The circular, offer by offer

The table reads a weekend circular one offer at a time. For each it sets out what the Act says, the exception that may apply, what the ad carries and the record the store keeps.

Cost is invoice or replacement, whichever is lower

For general merchandise, cost to retailer is the invoice cost or replacement cost, whichever is lower, less all trade discounts except customary discounts for cash, plus excise taxes other than those the retailer collects, transportation costs and any other charges not already in the invoice or replacement cost.

A gift with purchase is priced with the purchase

When items are furnished or sold in combination with, or on condition of, the purchase of other items, or are so advertised, all items are included in determining cost. Any separately priced item stays subject to the section.

The reason line on every clearance ad

A retailer cannot claim the clearance, perishable, damaged or discontinued, or liquidation exceptions if it fails to conspicuously disclose the reason for the sale in all advertisements relating to it and on a label, tag or placard.

A rival’s price, with proof in the file

The price match exception needs a price made in good faith to meet an existing price of a competitor, based on evidence kept in the ordinary course of business: an advertisement, proof of sale or receipted purchase, a price survey or another business record. An existing price is one simultaneously offered to a buyer for merchandise of like quality and quantity by a direct competitor from whom the buyer can practicably purchase it.

Does the Act count a website price as a sale?

The Act’s definition of sell includes any advertising or offer to sell, and a price on a product page is an offer to sell.

• Review product pages with the same cost worksheet as the circular.
• Take sale prices down on the scheduled date.
• Keep the reason line beside the price.

Pricing a sale campaign written to the Act

Pricing depends on scope and is set in the written proposal, and published prices are subject to change. Progression quotes after a written scope. Printing and media are quoted by the seller.

The cost check sits inside the creative scope, not as a separate legal service. The written proposal says what it covers.

Why a per customer limit undoes the exception

Under subsection (6)(b), no retailer or wholesaler may claim the clearance, perishable, damaged or discontinued, or liquidation exceptions if it limits or otherwise restricts the quantity any buyer may purchase.

Drop the limit from below cost lines, or price the item at or above cost and keep the limit. Never run both a limit and a below cost price.

Does a price match need a record?

Yes. The exception rests on evidence kept in the ordinary course of business: an advertisement, proof of sale or receipted purchase, a price survey or another business record.

• Save the competitor’s ad or receipt with the date.
• Note the item, the quantity and the competitor.
• Keep the record with the circular.

A Wisconsin advertising agency carries the reason into every format

Subsection (6)(b) asks for the reason in all advertisements relating to the sale and on a label, tag or placard. A reason line such as discontinued model, store closing or damaged packaging is written once and repeated on the printed circular, the email, paid social, search ads, the product page badge and the shelf tag.

A Wisconsin advertising agency keeps a format checklist so no ad runs without it. See our promotional marketing agency page for the promotion side.

• One reason line, written once.
• The same words in the circular, email, social and search ads.
• The same words on the product page and the shelf tag.
• A checklist that names every format in the campaign.

SEO services in Wisconsin for sale pages that outlast the sale

A product page price is an offer to sell. Sale pages and structured price data come down or revert when a clearance or liquidation ends, and the reason line sits next to the price on the page.

A Wisconsin SEO company checks the pages that search engines and shopping feeds still show, and old sale pages that still rank are redirected or updated. See our ecommerce SEO services page for the work.

• Schedule the end of every sale page with the start.
• Keep the reason line beside the price on the page.
• Turn off structured price data when the sale ends.
• Redirect or update old sale pages that still rank.

Forfeitures and the Dane County venue

For a violation of subsection (3), DATCP or a district attorney may sue for a forfeiture of not less than $50 nor more than $500 for the first violation and not less than $200 nor more than $2,500 for each subsequent violation. An action to enjoin may be brought in a circuit court in the county where the offense occurred or in Dane County.

Who can sue under the Act?

DATCP or a district attorney may commence an action on behalf of the state for a forfeiture, and may bring an action to enjoin a violation.

• Keep the cost worksheet for every circular.
• Keep the reason line checklist for every format.
• Send any inquiry to counsel the day it arrives.

Where can a case be filed?

An action to enjoin may be brought in a circuit court in the county where the offense occurred or in Dane County.

DATCP’s Unfair Sales Act page offers a complaint form. Keep the cost worksheet and the competitor evidence with each circular. Legal questions go to DATCP or counsel.

A marketing agency in Madison, WI and the state’s trade practices staff

DATCP works from 2811 Agriculture Dr., Madison. The rules for the ad are the same anywhere in the state, and a marketing agency in Madison, WI sends questions about whether a sale qualifies to DATCP before the circular prints, not after.

Before the circular goes to print

The card below holds the items to tick off at the proof stage.

For the wider store marketing, see our retail marketing agency page. For stores by category, see grocery store marketing and furniture store marketing, for paid search, our PPC agency page, and for Milwaukee, our SEO company in Milwaukee page.

What does a cost worksheet record?

One line per item: the invoice cost, the replacement cost, the lower of the two, the trade discounts taken off, the excise taxes, freight and other charges added, and the date. The worksheet is the first thing an inquiry asks for.

• Invoice cost and replacement cost for the item.
• The lower of the two.
• Trade discounts removed, other than customary cash discounts.
• Excise taxes, transportation and other charges added.
• The date and the person who prepared it.

Gifts, bundles and the sale that is not a sale

A free gift with a purchase is part of the same offer. The gift and the purchase are costed together, and the circular says what is included in plain words.

• Cost the whole bundle as one sale.
• Check separately priced items on their own.
• Write the offer in plain words, without a claim about cost.
• Keep the bundle worksheet with the circular.

Frequently asked questions