Do prices really inflate as Black Friday approaches? What the law says

A smartphone at -30% or a television at -50%. When you are looking to equip yourself, this may seem attractive. However, faced with such discounts, there is indeed reason to be cautious. Wouldn’t that be too good to be true? Isn’t there a trick somewhere?

A few years ago, we already interested in smartphone prices before Black Friday to check if they were increasing well before the event in order to show larger discounts). Since then, the legislative landscape has changed in France and the EU, to the benefit of consumers. But what exactly does the law say about false promotions?

What the law says

Since May 28, 2022 in France, fake discount scams are supervised by the Consumer Code. To avoid possible price manipulation as promotion periods approach, resellers are required to display, next to the sale price, the lowest price charged by the merchant over the last 30 days. Thus, it is impossible to quadruple a label the day before Black Friday and then display a monstrous promotion on the big day.

This measure was made mandatory by a 2019 European regulation on consumer protection. This means that, even if you buy from a site on the other side of the Rhine or the Alps, the same rule applies. A trader who does not respect this rule is even exposed in France to two years of imprisonment and a fine of €300,000 for misleading commercial practice.

And if a merchant tries to circumvent the rule by comparing its price with those of other more expensive stores, here too the DGCCRF specifies that the consumer must be clearly informed of the nature of the operation, “as well as the nature of this comparison price (manufacturer’s recommended price, price usually observed, etc.)”.

What is actually happening

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of the law depends on who makes it reign and, from this point of view, things are more nuanced. As revealed by UFC-Que Choisir a few months agothese comparison prices are very widely manipulated by resellers with unclear presentations or deliberately confusing terms. This same sad observation had been drawn up in 2023. Other platforms are purely and simply outside the law on the 30-day principle, as proven by the fine of 40 million euros imposed on Shein not long ago.

Prices therefore do not necessarily inflate as Black Friday approaches, but resellers have other levers to display ever more attractive promotions. Our best advice to avoid being fooled is to pay close attention to the way web merchants present their prices and be wary of overly spectacular discounts. “For genuine promotions that comply with regulations, the average reduction is 11%, while it reaches an improbable level of 31% for comparison prices”details UFC-Que Choisir.

Let us also remember that only the sales period allows sales at a loss and that promotions are therefore more likely to be interesting during these regulated periods than during commercial events such as Black Friday. To find prices really lower than new, and all year round, you can always turn to reconditioned. Even if, here too, practices are sometimes misleading.