• Sales – bargains or traps? How to buy wisely? What to keep in mind during the shopping spree? – Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK warns.
• UOKiK and ECC experts would like to invite you to a special webinar (in Polish) with practical Black Friday guidance on 26 November at 10:00 a.m.

The shopping spree will reach its climax on Black Friday, the festival of sales. Every year UOKiK receives complaints about promotions, sales and unique bargains. The complaints about price juggling are the most common. Retailers raise the prices just before the sale in order to make the discount seem extremely attractive. This type of action may be an infringement of the collective interests of consumers. To avoid the scam of false sales, it's worth doing some price research beforehand on the items you want to buy on Black Friday. Thus you can judge whether the discount price is actually lower than the regular one.

Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK, says "During the season of sales and promotions, we are trying to remind bargain hunters of their rights. We also suggest looking out while shopping. We advise the customers to be cautious, and the retailers to be honest with the clients"

Discount or a regular price - the same rights

Retailers and consumers should be aware that discounted goods, like all other goods, are subject to complaint if they turn out to be faulty. A complaint should be submitted to the retailer under warranty, preferably in writing. When the product is covered by a warranty, then a complaint can be made to the warrantor (usually it is the manufacturer or the distributor of the goods). The choice between the two options is up to you. It's worth remembering that if the reason for the price discount is a defect in the goods, which you knew about at the time of purchase, you cannot claim it.

Tomasz Chróstny, the President of the UOKiK, explains: "Uniform consumer rights apply regardless of whether you buy goods at a discount or regular price.

Before you decide to take advantage of a discount, check whether it is really the best one. It may turn out that the same goods cost less in a different shop.

If you buy in a stationary shop, remember that the possibility to return full-value goods depends only on the retailer. Therefore, you should think carefully and do not make an impulse purchase because of the discount. Before the purchase, ask about the shop's policy in this regard, i.e. whether returns are possible, and if so, within what time period and under what conditions. On the other hand, when buying online you have a statutory right to cogitation, which means that within 14 days of receiving the product you can withdraw from the contract without giving any reason. After you send your purchase back, you will receive a refund, regardless of whether the purchase was made at the discount or regular price.

Safe online shopping

Remember to check the credibility of the retailer while purchasing online. You should start with finding the registration details of the retailer, his address and contact details on the shop website. The retailer is required to make them available. Typos, grammatical errors or a messy website design should be a red flag for the buyers. You can also check if your shop has an SSL certificate. Remember about the closed padlock symbol in front of the website address, as well as the https:// prefix. Choose a payment method wisely. We suggest avoiding express transfers and direct transfers to the retailers' private bank accounts.

When buying in foreign shops, it is worth remembering that a shop operating in the EU should inform about the right to make complaints and the right to withdraw from the contract. In case of any doubt, check the e-shop in the online business database. In Poland, you can use CEIDG (eng. Central Registration and Information on Businesses) or KRS (eng. National Court Register). Other EU countries also have online databases and a compilation of them was prepared by the European Consumer Centre.

Check for scammers

Verifying a shop from home may be difficult for many consumers. This is what the European Consumer Centre simulator was designed for – https://brandedshoesoutlet.eu/. It's a tool that resembles an online shop and shows you what things to look out for at each stage of doing shopping. At the same time, you can test your knowledge of the rights of consumers and find out what mistakes you make during online shopping. This will help you avoid them in the future, in a real shopping process.

Moreover, UOKiK prepared the simulations of common scams avaiable at consumer.edu.pl. The website looks like a social network where the scams such as shopping fraud, identity theft or blik code phishing are presented. This tool allows you to go through dangerous situations under controlled conditions that may occur in real life, e.g. during Black Friday.

Invitation to the webinar

Bargains or traps? How to buy wisely? What to keep in mind during the sale? How to verify an e-shop? These and many other questions will be answered by UOKiK and ECC experts and the Consumer Ombudsman of Biała Podlaska during the"Black Friday - VADEMECUM FOR BARGAIN HUNTERS" webinar (in Polish) on Friday 26 November at 10:00 a.m. on the UOKiK YouTube channel. We would like to invite you to join the webinar and ask questions.

You can receive free consumer guidance at:

• Consumer Helpline – for simple matters without analysis of documents, phone numbers: 801 440 220 and 22 290 89 16.
• Consumer E-Advice Centre – [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE].
• Consumer Ombudsmen in your city or county – www.uokik.gov.pl/pomoc
• Voivodeship Inspectorates of Trade Inspection – www.uokik.gov.pl/wiih.
• European Consumer Centre – for cross-border cases involving retailers in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway and Iceland. Website: https://konsument.gov.pl/

For more information, visit www.prawakonsumenta.uokik.gov.pl. 

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL

Consumer assistance:

Tel. 801 440 220 or 22 290 89 16 – Consumer Hotline
E-mail: [SCODE]cG9yYWR5QGRsYWtvbnN1bWVudG93LnBs[ECODE]
 Consumer Ombudsmen – in your town or district