• President of UOKiK has imposed more than one and a half million zlotys on DUKA International for a practice that violates the collective interests of consumers.
• The duka.com online store automatically added unsolicited products to the buyer’s shopping cart. This is an unlawful practice of dark patterns.
• President’s decision also concerns compensating consumers for their losses.

Originated in Sweden furniture and kitchen accessories chain DUKA in Poland has more than 60 stationary outlets and an online store duka.com/pl. In June, the President of UOKiK accused the company of adding additional goods to shopping carts for online shoppers.

The challenged practice lasted almost all of last year - from 4 January to 27 December. Shoppers at the duka.com/pl online store had “promotional” products added to their order, without prior express permission. Depending on the period covered by the promotion, an umbrella or a cup was automatically added to a shopping cart full of goods selected by the buyer. In order to avoid buying unwanted goods, the consumer had to remove them, which in the case of a full shopping cart could have been easily missed by the consumer. It is worth emphasising that the addition of a promotional product to the shopping cart should depend solely on the will and decision of the consumer, not the entrepreneur who believes that the consumer can remove the unwanted product from the cart themselves. If the buyer did not notice the extras when making the payment, the umbrella or cup became their property. Returning an unwanted purchase meant taking time and incurring postage costs for DUKA customers.

- The site should be designed so that the consumer can navigate it intuitively and safely. Designing a website in a way that forces consumers to be proactive so that products they have not selected are not included in their shopping cart is disloyal and hinders the consumer’s online shopping experience. An entrepreneur offering a product in a promotion may suggest to the consumer that the product be added to the shopping cart but cannot make that decision for the consumer themselves - stresses the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny.

UOKiK has concluded that while placing an order, consumers might have not seen an additional item and they might have done the unintended shopping. For DUKA International’s practice violating the collective interests of consumers, President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny has imposed a fine of PLN 1,578,061. Its amount was affected by the cessation of the company’s illegal practice.

In addition, in the decision issued, the President of UOKiK ordered DUKA International to compensate consumers for their losses. The company is to refund money for automatically added goods to all consumers who placed orders at the duka.com/pl online store between 4 January and 27 December 2022, and paid for the unsolicited add-ons. Respectively, in the amount of PLN 24.99 to those who chose not to return them, and PLN 14.50 to the others who sent back the goods at their own expense. The former can additionally keep the added products.

Information about President of UOKiK’s decision is to be sent by e-mail and text message to the affected customers. It should also appear on the company’s website and social media. The issued decision is not final and biding and may be appealed against to the court.

Caution! Dark patterns

The practice used by DUKA is an example of the so-called dark patterns, that is unfair usage  of the knowledge on consumers’ behaviour on the Internet with the intention of affecting their purchasing decisions. This particular type of mechanism is called “sneak into basket,” or stealth add to basket. It aims to increase sales by taking advantage of the user’s inattention.

- Increasingly, when conducting proceedings, we see that, regardless of their knowledge and skills, consumers in the e-commerce sector are in a position of imbalance against the entrepreneur. This “digital asymmetry” relates not only to information, but also to the instruments held to influence the course of transactions. Consumers who understand the rules of online shopping have no reason to believe that products add themselves to the shopping cart automatically - explains the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny.

Consumer, are you buying goods on-line? Beware of manipulations used by unfair e-stores. Below you will find some of them:

• Adding a thematically-linked product to the cart, for example, at a promotional price, or an insurance service.
• Additional, unannounced fees occurring at the last stage of placing your order, the so-called drip pricing.
• Illusive interfaces - for example, providing the order-placing button before the consumer has read the information on all fees.
• False time counters - extorting artificial pressure.
• Never-ending promotions - suggesting that the time of some attractive price promotions is limited while they never come to an end.

• Hiding important information on the product, service or transaction rules.

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