Promotions, sales... How Europe wants to better regulate merchant sites

Maud Descamps, edited by Solène Leroux 06:17, June 01, 2022

You may have already had the unpleasant experience of buying a product displayed on promotion on the Internet and realizing once the purchase has been made that it was not such a good deal.

Many online sales sites inflate their crossed-out prices, to make consumers believe that they are offering a very big discount.

All this is over, since a new European regulation has just entered into force.

Indeed, from now on, professionals who offer you products at discounted prices on the Internet will have to base themselves on a reference price recorded at least one month before the date of the promotion.

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UFC recommends staying alert

A new rule that will prevent these websites from inflating their prices just before the promotional periods to make customers believe that they are making a big saving.

A common practice according to Véronique Louis-Arcène of UFC-Que Choisir.

"We see that the prices have sometimes been artificially inflated a few days before", she assures the microphone of Europe 1. "These are therefore false promotions since a month or a few days before, the price that the consumer could have found would have been significantly cheaper."

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Despite the new regulations, the consumer association advises to remain vigilant by adopting a few good reflexes such as comparing the prices of products on different sites to ensure that the promotion is real.

In the event of misleading practice, you have the possibility of making a report on the site of the DGCCRF, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and the Repression of Fraud.