ACCC flags four dodgy Black Friday tricks after $217,800 in retailer fines

Australian retailers jumped the gun on Black Friday, and the competition watchdog was ready. The ACCC has widened its annual sweep of sale advertising beyond retailer websites to include social media posts and marketing emails, hunting for bogus countdown timers, false storewide claims and phoney price comparisons.

Deputy chair Catriona Lowe didn't mince words. Shoppers need to know a sale sign isn't a guarantee of a good deal, she said, because some businesses deliberately mislead people into thinking they've snagged a bargain. The regulator is urging cash-strapped households to watch for four specific tricks: fake timers, exaggerated storewide discounts, pressure tactics and inflated was/now pricing.

There's a paper trail. Six Australian retailers have been fined a collective $217,800 over the past two years for misleading Black Friday advertising. Jewellery chain Michael Hill copped $19,800 for a Member Event promising 25 per cent off sitewide when not every product was discounted. Homewares retailer MyHouse paid the same for an Up to 60% Off Sitewide claim that skipped products, with the terms-and-conditions asterisk too small to count.

Countdown clocks are next in the crosshairs. James Lane was fined $19,800 after advertising a sale ending December 3 that the furniture retailer had already decided to run for an extra week. Trampoline seller Vuly paid $39,600 over two bogus timers, including a Click Frenzy clock ticking down to the second on an up to 30% off offer that simply reset to up to 45% off. Lowe warned retailers risk enforcement action if they misrepresent a sale's size, scope or duration.

Scarcity plays are also on the list. Consumer Policy Research Centre deputy CEO Chandni Gupta pointed to prompts like 10 people are looking at this product right now, or only 1 item left when fresh stock lands tomorrow. Shoppers have no way to verify whether the urgency is real, she said. Her advice: if the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Then there's the maths. Electronics retailer digiDirect has racked up $99,000 in fines across five instances, including a mini wireless keyboard advertised at $149, cut from $229, when the ACCC found the product rarely sold at the higher price. The regulator has also taken grocery giant Coles to court over its Down Down discounts. Meg Dalling of the Consumer Action Law Centre said strong enforcement against retailers who mislead and rip off people is vital, while Gupta said new unfair trading laws landing next July should curb dark patterns, noting 83 per cent of Australians report a negative experience with them. The ACCC is separately warning about fake shopfronts cloning legitimate retailers, telling shoppers to check for https:// and a padlock, and to report suspect ads through its Report a consumer issue page.