Unfair commercial practices are actions towards the consumer that are contrary to professional diligence and may influence their decision-making. They are divided into misleading practices – stating untrue information about the price, availability, origin or characteristics of goods – and aggressive practices, which use pressure, harassment or abuse of position. In online marketing they most often concern discounts calculated from a price that was never actually charged, fake countdown timers, artificially claimed last-remaining-stock notices, and fictitious reviews. Oversight is carried out by the trade inspection authority, and the sanctions are significant, with liability resting on the seller, not on the agency that prepared the campaign. In practice this means that urgency elements used on a website must correspond to reality, and the company must be able to substantiate their truthfulness.
See also: Scarcity and urgency, Online review management, Comparative advertising.
