Court Decision Could Change Rules for Online Price Comparisons

Following a California court decision, online retailer Overstock.com is facing significant changes to the way it compares prices on its site, and the company believes the court's decision could cause a ripple effect across the rest of the retail world. Today, when offering a price comparison for a particular product sold on its site, Overstock compares its price to a price recently offered by a single competitor — an approach that overstates the extent of the company's discounts, according to a lawsuit from a group of California district attorneys.