Black Friday attracts more and more Swiss people every year, both online and in stores. However, behind attractive promotions sometimes hide “fake good deals”, or even scams. So how do you sort things out and avoid the pitfalls?
1 – Do not trust the “reference price”
Whether online or in store, some brands artificially increase the reference price (i.e. the price displayed before reduction) just before the sales, to give the illusion of offering a significant discount. For example, a product advertised at “200 francs before, now at 100 francs” may in reality have been sold at 100 francs well before the promotion.
“Investigations have revealed deceptive practices where products are allegedly on promotion while their price remains unchanged,” explains Jean Busché of the French-speaking Consumer Federation (FRC) to RTSinfo. “In Switzerland, however, controls are rare and sanctions, such as the fine of 4,000 francs imposed on Ochsner in 2018, are little dissuasive.”
Investigations have revealed deceptive practices where products are allegedly on sale but their price remains unchanged
To avoid being trapped, the most reliable method is to consult price comparison sites such as toppreise.ch. A simple Google search can also be useful to check if the offer is really interesting by comparing the prices applied by other brands for the same product.
In addition, as Jean Busché explains, the inflationary context, characterized by a general rise in prices and a drop in purchasing power for part of the population, paradoxically contributes to strengthening the attraction for this type of event.
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2 – Check the reliability of certain websites
Online scams also peak during the Black Friday period with the creation of fake merchant sites. Some unscrupulous sites are taking advantage of this period to seduce consumers with attractive offers, with the aim of recovering their banking information.
To avoid this, it is important to check the legal notices of the website, a reputable site has a duty to display them clearly. If information such as the company name or the identity of the seller is not mentioned, it is preferable to opt for another website.
Another way to check the reliability of the website: make sure that the address begins with “https” and has a padlock. Also watch out for imitations of addresses known as “amaazon” instead of Amazon, which count on consumer confusion.
3 – Don’t be fooled by misleading interfaces
Some e-commerce platforms often exploit what are called “dark patterns”, i.e. online manipulation techniques to encourage compulsive buying. “These stratagems take, for example, the form of false countdowns or messages indicating limited stock in order to create a feeling of urgency and encourage impulsive purchasing,” explains Jean Busché. “Many platforms also deliver products that are dangerous to health or non-compliant.”
Fake countdowns are used on some websites to create a sense of urgency and encourage impulsive purchases.
Very common during Black Friday, this technique, which is in no way illegal, plays on the Internet user’s emotions or their lack of vigilance to push them to buy or accept conditions that they would not initially have chosen. . They also encourage consumers to disclose more personal data. According to a joint investigation by the FRC and Public Eyethe online fashion sites that use this practice the most are Shein, Aliexpress, Amazon and La Redoute.
Still according to the FRC, online counterparts of physical store chains such as Zara, Globus or Manor seem to resort less to these different manipulative practices – even if H&M stands out in this group with the presence of six categories of “dark patterns”. different.
Hélène Krähenbühl
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