A study found irregularities such as raising the price of a product days before the sale, using coupons and codes to simulate fake discounts or encouraging impulse buying with supposedly limited offers.

Some 70% of the sales advertised by e-commerce operators during Black Friday 2023 did not comply with consumer protection regulations as they were false or misleading sales. This is according to a study by the Observatory of Consumer Affairs on the Internet, a project of the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030 launched through the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs.

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Consumer Affairs found that 70% of sales in e-commerce operators during the last ‘Black Friday’ were false or misleading

The results of the study show that many of these offers do not comply with current consumer protection regulations, especially those concerning unfair commercial practices and the indication of price reductions. In these cases, the offers were advertised as more advantageous transactions than they might actually be, being offered at prices equal to those offered at other times of the year and altering the purchasing behaviour of consumers.

Specifically, during the period from 23 September to 20 December 2023, the Internet Consumer Observatory monitored more than 800 discounted products advertised by 19 marketers from different sectors, analysing the transparency of information and compliance with consumer protection rules.

The study carried out by the Internet Consumer Observatory found that the most frequent infringements detected were the following:

▪ Manipulation of the reference price: 70% of the products did not comply with the regulations applicable to the indication of price reductions. Thus, according to this rule, the reference price (the price on which the discount must be indicated) must be the lowest price during the last 30 days, which was not complied with in 70% of the cases. This results, for example, in price increases a few days before the sales period and then price reductions during ‘Black Friday’ and the labelling of these products as ‘on sale’ or ‘discounted’, as well as the use of the characteristic discount format.

False offers with codes and coupons: along the same lines, price reductions through codes or coupons available to the general public have a high prevalence of non-compliance, around 65%. The most common case is similar to the previous one, products are offered at a specific price that is artificially raised at the same time as discount coupons are provided, giving the impression of obtaining an advantageous price when in fact it is not.

Misleading information and false time opportunities: in 50% of cases where there is a price-related claim, it is potentially misleading. Typical examples include claims of offers that are apparently valid for a short period of time (e.g. ‘Today only’ or ‘Offer valid for the next 24 hours’) when, at the end of this period, the purchase price is found to be unchanged. This false time limit also encourages compulsive buying.

Misleading price comparisons by not using the reference price: Finally, it is common practice to use price comparisons with discount formats, giving the impression that the products on offer are not actually on offer. For this purpose, prices of different kinds (e.g. ‘Retail Price’, ‘Recommended Price’ or similar) are used as reference prices. These prices appear crossed out and/or with percentage reductions next to them, giving the impression that they are price reductions when in fact they are not. This practice leads consumers to think that they are faced with advantageous offers when in fact they are comparisons of different prices whose origin or calculation is unknown to consumers. Specifically, 25% of the products analysed used prices other than the reference price established by the regulations, i.e. the lowest price in the last 30 days.

In addition to this study, the ministry led by Pablo Bustinduy launched an investigation, through the Directorate General for Consumer Affairs, which resulted in the opening of sanctioning proceedings against eight e-commerce operators that allegedly carried out these practices during the last ‘Black Friday’, and which have already led to the imposition of sanctions on two of these operators for violating the rights of consumers. The other six sanctioning proceedings remain open.