Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) false promises, a hoax, theories that are not followed up by practice; thus sell someone a bill of goods, to persuade (someone) to accept something undesirable, swindle someone.

1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 37: It’s a pipe that they can sell bills to each other all day and never wake up.
1927		E. O’Neill Marco Millions I 41: Selling a big bill of goods hereabouts, I’ll wager, you old rascals?
1935		H. McCoy They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in Four Novels (1983) 45: Looks like Socks is selling her a bill of goods.
1945		J. Fishman Names or Numbers 62: In my early days in prison work, someone sold me a bill of goods. He convinced me that the ‘unfortunate men’ in prison should not lose their identity because of ‘social errors’ and be branded with numbers instead of retaining their names.
1955		Mad mag. Aug.–Sept. 28: Are you one of the suckers that got sold a phoney bill of goods in Snow White?
1968		Globe and Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 8/3: There was no production bonus... We were sold a bill of goods.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 19: You’re trying to sell me a bill of goods.