Not only Yoox, here are the crafty e-commerce stings from the Antitrust
All the latest moves by the Agcm against unfair and deceptive practices in the e-commerce sector.
The action of the Competition and Market Authority to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices in the e-commerce sector has intensified in recent months. In November and January, the Antitrust sanctioned, respectively, Yoox and Vinted, active in the online sale of clothing; the news of these days, however, is the shutdown of three sites – bompiano.com, bancodellasalute.it and officinalia.com – on which products could be purchased but were not delivered. For unfortunate customers, not even refunds or any form of assistance.
SANCTIONS FOR YOOX AND EA VINTED
About two months ago, Piazza Verdi took action against the company Yoox Net-a-Porter Group which resulted in a fine of 5.25 million. The investigation made it possible to ascertain the incorrectness of some behaviors – in the period 2019-2022 – through the e-commerce site https://www.yoox.com/it on which clothing, footwear and other fashion goods are sold, luxury and design. In essence, the company unilaterally canceled online orders from consumers who had exceeded certain return thresholds and at the same time omitted the information on blocking purchases. Furthermore, according to the Authority, Yoox induced customers to subscribe to its online offers by proposing misleading prices and discounts. For example, it was ascertained that, due to frequent repricing, during promotions the discounted final price of some products was substantially the same as that charged in the previous period.
On the other hand, the closure of the proceeding – with a fine of 1.5 million – against Vinted UAB, a company that operates through the vinted.it platform, also guilty of unfair commercial practices, dates back to last November. According to the Authority led by Roberto Rustichelli, "at least since December 2020" Vinted provided customers with misleading information on the real costs of commercial transactions also through "claims emphatically focused on the free of charge of buying and selling transactions and the absence of commissions" not saying that they existed additional costs with respect to the purchase price of the product, linked to the application of the "Purchasing Protection" commission and to shipping costs. Furthermore, the actual price of the advertised item, the existence and amount of the commission requested from customers for each purchase made on the platform and the expenses shipping".
BLACKED SITES ACTIVE IN E-COMMERCE
In February, the Antitrust requested and obtained the revocation of the bompiano.com domain to activate the procedure against fraud and abuse against the company Bompiano srl of Palermo. It apparently owned the bompiano.com website, which offered for sale electronics and household appliances at greatly reduced prices. Dozens of reports from consumers had arrived in Piazza Verdi, both directly and through Mediaworld – to which the company falsely qualified itself as an "affiliate" – who complained about the non-delivery of electronic items and household appliances purchased on bompiano.com and paid by wire transfers. Thanks to the reports and investigations carried out with the Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, it emerged that Bompiano srl did not exist and that consumers, after ordering products online, received an email requesting payment – by bank transfer banking – to natural persons. At the end of the operation, however, nothing was received and the consumers were not even able to get in touch with the alleged seller.
Finally, yesterday the news of another intervention, this time against two companies Tomorrowland srl and Pet Clan srl, active in online sales through the websites bancodellasalute.it and officinalia.com. The Authority has received numerous reports from consumers who complained that they had made online purchases on these websites without however receiving the products purchased, nor a refund of the amount paid, nor any other form of assistance. Piazza Verdi therefore communicated to the companies the start of an investigation procedure and of the precautionary sub-procedure "considering the current and dangerous assumptions of the conduct still in progress". Therefore, order not only the suspension of unlawful conduct, but also the prohibition of access to bancodellasalute.it and officinalia.com in collaboration with the Antitrust Unit of the Guardia di Finanza.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/non-solo-yoox-ecco-i-furbetti-e-commerce-stangati-dallantitrust/ on Wed, 08 Mar 2023 08:43:06 +0000.