Shoppers have been warned to take a good look at Black-Friday bargains (which run this whole weekend) as cases of price dishonesty have been detected.

That was the overwhelming conclusion of the investigation carried out last year during the same period by the Observatorio de Consumo en Internet, which is a watchdog agency belonging to the Ministerio de Derechos Sociales y Consumo.

The conclusion was that in 70% of cases consumer-protection legislation had been ignored where bargain prices were concerned. The said agency warned that shops and online platforms face fines of up to 100,000 euros if caught with dishonest advertising this Black Friday campaign.

The law stipulates that the prices being offered must be the lowest in the last 30 days, but in the majority of cases, the prices were raised a few days before Black Friday, so that they could ‘slashed’ come the campaign.

Another ruse is false offers where price codes and coupons are concerned; this corresponded to 65% of the cases detected last year. It is a variation on the previous ruse; i.e., prices are raised some days before and the discount coupons only really put the items back to the normal price, rather than having any real discount.

Another trick consists of announcing that the offer will only be for the “next 24 hours” or “today, only,” when in reality, the offer runs during the whole period.

Finally, there is the false sales tag with a false higher price crossed out and the ‘bargain’ price below it, when in reality the bargain price is the normal price.

(News: Spain)

Keywords: Black Friday, Bargain Prices, False Tags, 30-day minimum, Observatorio de Consumo en Internet, Consumer Watchdog Agency

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