Market places and digital services

Following a dialogue with the European Commission and the national consumer authorities of Member States, Vinted, an online marketplace for the second-hand sale of goods, has modified its website and mobile app to better inform consumers about the total price of goods offered for sale and how consumers can claim a refund when their purchase doesn’t arrive or is counterfeit. The Commission and national consumer authorities had received multiple complaints about Vinted, such as the automatic addition of the so-called ‘buyer protection fee’ to the price at check-out without informing consumers about it upfront, which Vinted now addressed.
    
The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network, coordinated by the European Commission and led by the Lithuanian State Consumer Rights Protection Authority, started a dialogue with Vinted in December 2021. After multiple exchanges, Vinted implemented a series of changes to the versions of its website and app that are directed to EU/EEA consumers, including:

• Informing consumers upfront about the total price of goods offered for sale on Vinted, including the so-called ‘buyer protection fee’, which is added automatically to every purchase. ‘Buyer protection’ is a service provided by Vinted that aims to ensure secure payment transactions, refunds in case of problems, and access to customer support. 
• Removing misleading advertisements that create the impression that purchases on Vinted are free of charges.  
• Informing consumers more clearly on the process to claim a refund under Vinted’s ‘buyer protection’ policy if their purchase does not arrive. 
• More transparent and detailed information on Vinted’s counterfeit review process, including the steps consumers must take to claim a refund in case their purchase turns out to be counterfeit.  
• More transparent and detailed information on the identity verification process that consumers must go through when they want to sell second-hand goods on Vinted, in particular on the documents and information that they must submit. 
• Informing consumers more clearly about Vinted’s review policy, including how average user ratings are calculated, the difference between automated reviews and user-generated reviews, as well as how users can report suspicious reviews. 

However, Vinted did not agree with the CPC Network’s request on how to inform consumers about the fact that the displayed prices do not include delivery fees, or, where available, to inform consumers about the minimum delivery fees that will be applied, at the beginning of the purchase procedure. The CPC Network urged Vinted to address this issue and may resort to enforcement actions as necessary. 

Following a dialogue with the European Commission and national consumer authorities, viagogo, an online secondary marketplace for tickets to live events, has committed to better inform consumers on the conditions under which tickets are resold and to ensure that consumers are not pressured with excessive countdown messages. The Commission and national consumer authorities had received multiple complaints concerning viagogo’s website, such as the lack of clear information on taxes and fees that must be paid by consumers, which viagogo has committed to address.    

The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network, coordinated by the Commission, started a dialogue with viagogo in April 2021. After multiple exchanges, viagogo has agreed to implement a series of changes to the versions of its website that are directed to EU/EEA consumers by the end of August 2024, including:

• Further clarifying how viagogo ranks tickets in search results.  
• Substantially reducing the number of countdown messages that appear on its website. 
• Informing consumers, already on the ticket selection page, whether the seller of the ticket is a trader or another consumer. This information is crucial as consumers cannot invoke EU consumer protection rules vis-à-vis sellers that are not traders.   
• Where this information is provided by the seller, making the exact seat number available to consumers rather than only allowing consumers to select in which section of the venue they want to sit. 
• Including the delivery fees in the displayed prices where there is only one delivery option available for a ticket. Where there are multiple delivery options available for a ticket, viagogo will inform consumers more clearly that delivery fees are not included in the displayed prices.

Moreover, viagogo has agreed to implement a number of changes and clarifications to several clauses in its terms & conditions, which will ensure that, among others:

• consumers can bring legal actions against viagogo in their own Member State of residence and that they will enjoy the protection of their national consumer law.  
• consumers have more time to apply for a refund under the viagogo ‘guarantee’ scheme in case they experience problems with their tickets.  
• viagogo cannot unilaterally change its terms & conditions without informing consumers in advance and giving them a reasonable notice to cancel their account free of charge.  
• when consumers are offered a substituted seat location under the viagogo ‘guarantee’ scheme, the new seat location will be in the same or a better approximate location as the one in the substituted ticket.

However, viagogo did not to commit to the following changes the CPC Network had requested:

• Informing consumers about the amount of possible delivery fees at the beginning of the purchase procedure where there are multiple delivery options available for a ticket.  
• Making clearer to consumers that, besides the remedies offered by viagogo as an intermediary, they may have (additional) rights vis-à-vis the actual ticket seller and/or the event organizer when their event is cancelled or postponed.

The CPC Network urged viagogo to address these issues as well.

The CPC Network will now actively monitor how viagogo implements its commitments. If viagogo does not implement the commitments properly within the agreed timeframe or if it fails to address the remaining concerns raised by the CPC Network, national consumer authorities may decide to take measures to enforce compliance, including sanctions.

Following a dialogue with the European Commission and national consumer authorities, Tinder has committed to informing consumers how discounts they propose to encourage consumers to pay for premium services are personalised using automated means.  

The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC), coordinated by the European Commission and led by the Swedish Consumer Agency and the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets started the dialogue with Tinder in July 2022. The CPC Network found it problematic that Tinder applied prices which were personalised and did not inform consumers about it. The issue was revealed in a study by Swedish Consumers demonstrating that Tinder used to charge very different prices from one person to the other but  that no clear pattern emerged as to which variables determined the price.  

Until April 2022, Tinder used to offer lower prices for their premium services based on age without users being made aware, this explained part of the price differences experienced by users. The main differences however concern how Tinder offers discounts for its premium services (the basic option being free of charge). Based on the behaviour of consumers, using automated means, Tinder identifies users who were not or only mildly interested by their services at a standard price, in order to offer them personalised discounts.    

Overview of commitments  

As a result of the dialogue with the CPC Network, Tinder committed to:  

• not applying personalised pricing based on age without informing consumers clearly and upfront about it, should they decide to restart this past practice; 
• informing consumers clearly that discounts on prices for premium services are personalised using automated means; 
• informing consumers what criteria are used to offer them personalised discounts, such as their limited or no interest in premium services at a standard rate.    

Tinder will implement these commitments by mid-April 2024 at the latest.  

The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC) will actively monitor how Tinder implements the commitments on the app, and where necessary, enforce compliance. 

Following a dialogue with the Network of Consumer Authorities, led by the German authority Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency) and coordinated by the European Commission, PayPal has committed to modifying its terms and conditions to make them more transparent and easier to understand for consumers. The commitments made by PayPal will bring the company's practices in line with the requirements of EU consumer law.

PayPal is a world-renowned online payment system based in San Jose, California. The European subsidiary, PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie S.C.A., is based in Luxembourg. In the European Union, PayPal is used by a large number of consumers both as a payment method in online retail and for sending electronic money amongst consumers.

Overview of commitments

PayPal has agreed to implement a number of changes and clarifications to several clauses of its User Agreement for consumers, in particular: 

• clarify which clauses apply to consumers and which apply to businesses only; 
• remove the provisions which require consumers to check the compliance with the law (for example, wording such as ‘to the extent permitted by law’);
• make it clear that consumers are not liable for damage not caused by their fault or that could have been foreseen;
• remove the provisions which impose on consumers the obligation to verify the information themselves (such as stating that PayPal cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information);
• ensure that consumers understand that they can benefit from the law of their country of residence in case of a dispute;
• remove terms which cannot be understood by consumers without further explanations or without verification by consumers, such as ‘merchantability’ or ‘non-infringement’.

The changes will be notified to users via a Policy Update on 21 February 2024 and will formally take effect on 28 May 2024. The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC) will actively monitor how PayPal implements the commitments in its terms and conditions.

Following a dialogue with the Network of Consumer Authorities, under the lead of Belgium’s Directorate General for Economic Inspection and the coordination of the Commission, Shopify agreed to create a fast and effective notice and action procedure to be used by Consumer Authorities  and to change its templates in order to push traders into being more transparent towards consumers, a innovative approach to consumer  protection otherwise referred to as ‘compliance by design’.
 
Shopify, headquartered in Canada, is one of the leading companies enabling traders to create their own web stores on its platform, offering them also webhosting, drop-shipping and other services. Consumer Authorities received numerous complaints through the European Consumer Centres about web stores hosted by Shopify that engaged in illegal practices such as fake offers, fake scarcity claims, counterfeit goods, no or late delivery or no provision of contact details. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic there was a spike of complaints as consumers and legitimate traders moved online quickly and scammers quickly took advantage of the situation. Many of the web stores using Shopify also conduct business through the so-called drop-shipping business model without duly informing consumers about expected delivery times or additional customs charges. 
 
Overview of Shopify’s main commitments:  

• Fast and effective notice and action procedures dedicated to CPC authorities , against traders that engage in unfair commercial practices through web stores hosted by Shopify. 
• More clear and detailed legal guidance on EU consumer law, addressed to traders when setting up their web stores through Shopify
• Fields have been added for company information and contact details in Shopify’s templates to create web stores and in the Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy, and Refund Policy Generators.
• Provision of company details for EU/EEA traders when requested by CPC Authorities.

Moreover, national consumer authorities have also agreed to reinforce their cooperation with the Canadian Competition Bureau against Shopify traders that are not based in the EU/EEA.

Following a dialogue with the European Commission and national consumer protection authorities, Amazon committed to bringing its cancellation practices in line with EU consumer rules. The platform will enable consumers from the EU and EEA to unsubscribe from Amazon Prime with just two clicks, using a prominent and clear “cancel button”. This action was launched by the Commission in cooperation with national consumer authorities following a complaint by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), the Norwegian Consumer Council and the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue.

As a first measure resulting from this dialogue, Amazon implemented the first changes to its Prime web interface in 2021, labelling the cancel button more clearly and shortening the explanatory text. From now, this text will now be further reduced so that consumers do not get distracted by warnings and deterred from cancelling, and consumers will be able to unsubscribe in two simple steps.

Amazon has committed to implementing these changes on all its EU websites and for all devices (desktop, mobile and tablet) as of 1 July 2022. 

The closure of this EU/EEA-wide action does not prevent national authorities to take further action.

Following a dialogue with the CPC authorities, coordinated by the Belgian DG for Economic Inspection, the dating website Parship has improved the information displayed on its website regarding the exercise of the right of withdrawal and the automatic renewal of the contract. With the changes, consumers will be better informed what they have to pay if they subscribe to Parship services.

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), working closely with the Commission and the CPC Network, has obtained EU-wide commitments from international marketplaces AliExpress and Wish to ensure that their practices as well as those of its traders respect EU consumer law:

• Right of withdrawal – Under EU law, consumers have the right to cancel a distance sales contract within 14 days after having received the good and without providing a reason;
• Legal guarantee – In the EU, sellers are liable to consumers for any lack of conformity of a good with the contract that becomes apparent during a period of 2 years from delivery;
• Extra costs – Under EU law, prices must include all fees payable by consumers, including VAT; where extra costs may arise, for example customs duties or other fees at the border, and they cannot be estimated precisely in advance, their existence must be prominently indicated;
• Seller’s identity - Sellers must provide information on their identity and geographical address;
• Ranking – Where sellers pay to the online platform to appear higher in the search results, this must be prominently communicated to consumers;

In 2021, AliExpress committed to better inform consumers that they can take legal action or complain against a trader (i.e. in their country of habitual residence and not before a court or dispute resolution body in Hong Kong, for example) and clarified this also in their terms of service. 

Following continued exchanges with ACM and the Commission in 2022, AliExpress further clarified its general terms and conditions for European consumers and improved their accessibility. In addition, AliExpress committed to improve the prominence and transparency of information on additional fees linked to the import of goods. 

Wish also committed to increase price transparency in 2022, in particular by implementing a new interface to prevent unauthentic and misleading discounts advertised by their business partners on the Wish marketplace. In addition, Wish stopped personalised pricing techniques in the EU, as of 1 June 2022, as it was not clear for consumers how they function and how they determine the price based on consumers’ personal data.

The Commission and CPC authorities will now assess the correct and full implementation of these commitments and continue to monitor, whether prices, including discounts and time-limited offers, are authentic and presented to consumers in a transparent manner.

Further information on customs duties and VAT can be found here: Buying goods online coming from a non-European Union country

The CPC Network asked the Internet platform providers Apple and Google as well as the association of online game developers, ISFE, to propose to clearly identify in-app purchases in online games and address issues relating to misleading advertising of games as "free"; direct exhortation to children to purchase when this is banned; how parents can better control unintended purchases made in-games.

Loot boxes

In response to the rapid growth in the use of loot boxes in online games, the European Commission sent a letter in September 2022 to the two main online games umbrella organisations for developers and editors, namely the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and the European Games Developer Federation (EGDF).

Through this letter, the Commission asked them to remind their members of the applicable consumer protection laws and principles in the area of loot boxes or other forms of paid random contents which are offered for a price as in-app purchases.
 
Therefore, the sale of loot boxes in games must comply with all of the information obligations under the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) concerning the price and main characteristics of the product. In addition, providers should not promote games as “free” unless they are free in their entirety. Finally, games must not include direct exhortations to children to buy the paid add-ons such as loot boxes.