The practice has been known and denounced for several years by consumer associations. Fake promotions (or fake crossed out prices) on e-commerce sites are on the rise despite a policy that strictly regulates this practice.
And this time, UFC-Que Choisir goes on the attack by announcing this Tuesday that it will file a complaint against 8 e-commerce sites: Amazon, ASOS, Cdiscount, E.Leclerc, La Redoute, Rue du Commerce, Veepee and Zalando for “commercial practices”. misleading”.
“The ‘Omnibus’ directive has required for a year that the display of a price reduction be made based on the lowest price charged by the seller in the month prior to the entry into force of the promotion,” explains the consumer association .
But “professionals show promotions based not on price reductions from the last 30 days, but on the concept of so-called ‘comparison’ prices. In this case, they freely choose a reference price with which to compare their product, so way to present your offer as a bargain not to be missed.
More than 96% of the analyzed ads are not real promotions
The association analyzed a sample of 6,586 strikethrough price ads posted on major e-commerce sites. This analysis “shows that only 3.4% of them correspond to real promotions operated by sellers, in accordance with the ‘Omnibus’ directive”.
“Identified claims (‘Recommended retail price’, ‘Originally’, ‘Old price’, ‘Average market price’, ‘Average price on competitor sites’, ‘Seller provided price’, etc.) They are like multiples since they are unintelligible,” denounces the UFC.
And add that “beyond the proliferation of these comparison prices, the calculation method itself, which is not regulated by law, is particularly problematic. Even if the Internet user tries to understand what is hidden behind this displayed price, the definition of it is usually buried. in the general conditions of sale or simply non-existent”.
Therefore, the consumer advocacy association believes that these merchants “mislead consumers by offering them good deals.”
“You can’t show a price drop if you can’t prove it. The comparison price doesn’t correspond to any data,” adds Rodolphe Bonnasse, president of Aristide Retail, a consumer specialist, on BFMTV.
In addition to the complaint filed with the Public Ministry, UFC-Que Choisir appealed to the European Commission “to alert it to the abuses of professionals, and to ask it to act to strictly prohibit any other reference price system than that provided for in the directive. ‘Bus'”.
Source: BFM TV
