Third of online retailers offered incorrect discounts during Black Friday sales, investigation finds

The European Commission and consumer protection authorities from 25 countries united to carry out the sweeps on more than 300 online retailers, to monitor discounts and pricing practices during major sales events – including Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The sweep, looking to ensure discounts and sales offers were in compliance with EU consumer law, found that 30% of companies checked offered incorrect discounts in breach of rules which require the original price of reference to be the lowest applied in the previous 30 days.

More than a third of those checked also attempted to add optional items to consumers’ baskets, with many doing so without clearly requesting consent, among a host of other concerns raised by the Commission.

The Commission noted that “adding items without the consumer's consent, displaying prices in a misleading way, claiming falsely that a product is running out, or hiding extra fees until the end of the process are illegal practices under EU consumer law.”

Angelique Bret, a competition and consumer law expert with Pinsent Masons, said the results highlighted an increased focus on online price infringements by consumer watchdogs.

“This is another example of coordinated action by EU consumer protection authorities to identify and tackle consumer law concerns,” she said.

“Reference and discount pricing – particularly when it is related to sales event such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday - is a focus area for consumer protection authorities across the EU and in the UK. It will be interesting to see if these findings will lead to specific enforcement action and sanctions under national laws.”

The sweep, which also included Iceland and Norway alongside 23 EU member states, screened online discounts and offers during the busy pre-Christmas sales window, with 314 online traders being monitored.

Despite the price indications directive setting the 30-day discount rules, discounts referenced had been offered incorrectly by 30% of the companies checked.

A third (34%) offered price comparisons, but six in ten of those did not clearly explain the reference for the comparisons, while 18% of the surveyed sites used pressure-selling techniques such as countdown timers or claims stock was running low – although more than half of these were found to be misleading.

Four in ten of the traders that attempted to add optional items to consumers’ baskets did not clearly request consent before doing so. 10% also used “drip pricing” where additional mandatory fees – such as shipping or service costs – are added late in the purchase process.

In the wake of the sweep, the European Commission said national consumer authorities could now bring action against businesses found to be in breach of EU consumer law.

Tadeusz Gielas, a competition and consumer law expert with Pinsent Masons, explained that consumer protection authorities in both the UK and Ireland were also looking into pricing infringements. In Ireland, a number of successful prosecutions were brought by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) against major Irish retailers, who pleaded guilty to breaking sales pricing laws following the sweep.

“At the national level, in Ireland, the CCPC actively investigates misleading conduct involving pricing and manipulative digital interface design,” he said.

“In the UK, the CMA uses its recently expanded 'direct enforcement' consumer law powers under the DMCC Act to investigate suspected consumer law infringements involving pricing. It is currently conducting more than a dozen consumer law investigations under the new regime, several of which focus on pricing.”

“The CMA has also recently published detailed guidance setting out how it expects businesses to engage in lawful pricing practices.”

He added that current EU proposals for a Digital Fairness Act would aim to further strengthen consumer protection laws by making it easier to tackle unfair pricing and similar practices in the digital arena.

The DFA is a forthcoming EU legislative initiative focused on consumer protection in the digital world, seeking to more effectively tackle ‘dark patterns’ – manipulative online choice architecture – and practices such as drip-pricing, social media endorsements and hidden advertising, and subscription contract traps.

Whilst the European Commission is expected to publish the draft text of the DFA in late 2026, it is understood that the DFA will strengthen and supplement existing EU consumer protection rules and complement wider EU legislation that already applies to digital markets. This includes the new competition regime established under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), as well as the Digital Services Act and the Artificial Intelligence Act.