Watchdog will check more strictly for fake discounts | Money

The law already regulates that sellers are not allowed to mislead consumers with fake discounts. The product must have been sold for the ‘old price’ used in a period of three months prior to the offer. Many entrepreneurs still get away with this.

From May next year, new European rules will be in force. These require that the so-called ‘from-price’ must be calculated in the month prior to the offer. In short: if a retailer wants to offer a high discount on a sofa or television, the product must be offered in the store or web shop at the latest one month earlier for the normal price.

It is difficult for consumers to check whether the presented benefit is genuine, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) concluded in a message to entrepreneurs and consumers on Wednesday. “Especially online, companies can constantly adjust their prices. The consumer often does not know whether it is really an offer,” according to the ACM.

Honestly

“Only if prices are stated honestly can consumers evaluate and compare offers properly. With the new strict rules that will come into effect next year, consumers are better protected against fake offers,” says Edwin van Houten, director of Consumers at ACM.

Earlier this year, ACM automatically recorded the offers of 250 popular products (toys and consumer electronics) from 25 web shops for a few months.

The researchers found that the stores regularly made offers that were not real offers. Sometimes products were constantly presented as offers, other times the ‘off-price’ was not recent or had not been carried out at all. The ACM will use this data for enforcement next year, the watchdog announced.

There are some exceptions to the new European rules, for example for perishable products and for increasing discounts on the same product.

—