EU e-commerce survey: “60 per cent of businesses applied irregular discounts in 2025”

Brussels – A total of 314 companies operating in the e-commerce sector are coming under scrutiny in Brussels. Yesterday (26 March), the European Commission and the consumer protection authorities of 23 Member States, as well as those of Iceland and Norway, published the Sweep 2025 results, the annual coordinated enforcement exercise carried out by the EU and national governments to verify compliance with European consumer protection legislation by online sites. Each year, Sweep focuses on a different sector, and in 2025, the investigations concerned online discounts offered by companies during the Black Friday (the period of special discounts beginning on the Friday following Thanksgiving in November) and Cyber Monday (the day of discounts held on the Monday following Black Friday and dedicated primarily to electronics). 

The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) – the EU network that brings together the competent authorities of individual Member States and coordinates this type of inspection – conducted its own investigations to verify online sellers’ compliance with the Price Indication Directive.. This legislation sets out a series of very specific obligations. For example, when a discount is advertised, the company must necessarily indicate, as a “benchmark,” the lowest price applied in the 30 days prior to the start of the sale. Furthermore, the price shown must include, from the outset, all “mandatory and unavoidable” costs, such as delivery charges or VAT, and misleading practices, such as presenting a simple price comparison with an equivalent product from another brand as a discount, must be avoided. 

According to the data, 30 per cent of the companies monitored did not comply with these and other rules imposed by the EU directive, and a further 30 per cent did so only partially. In essence, only 40 per cent of the online sellers in the sample fully complied with Brussels’ requirements regarding price display during sales periods. Among the most widespread misleading practices is adding optional products to customers’ shopping baskets: 36 per cent of the sellers checked attempted to do so; of these, 4 out of 10 did so without expressly seeking the consumer’s consent. Even the comparison of prices for equivalent products from different brands – which is legitimate in itself – is often carried out fraudulently. Of the total number of companies that used this practice (34 per cent of the sample), 60 per cent did not clearly state what the comparison referred to, presenting it indirectly as a genuine discount.

“High-pressure” sales techniques are also particularly widespread, such as countdown timers to prompt a purchase or warnings that the desired item is about to sell out. 18 per cent of the online sellers inspected used these techniques and, in more than half of the cases, did so in a misleading manner (for example, by falsely claiming a product was in short supply). Finally, Brussels also warns of the risk of so-called “drip pricing,” i.e., the addition of extra costs only in the final stages of the purchase. 

“Black Friday and Cyber Monday offer great opportunities for both
businesses and consumers. However, a great bargain is no excuse to cheat
the rules,” said Henna Virkkunen, EU Commissioner for Digital Sovereignty and Security. Her comments were echoed by Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law: “Misleading discounts and false ‘promotions’ undermine that trust. EU
consumer protection rules strike a careful balance, ensuring a fair
market that serves the interests of both businesses and consumers. This
sweep gives us a comprehensive view of the market, helping us identify
where further action is needed to keep it fair, transparent, and
competitive.” 

One initial course of action could be to impose direct sanctions on companies “caught red-handed” during inspections. “Following the sweep, national consumer authorities may take action against the businesses concerned,” according to the official statement from the Commission.