Government brings forward ending fake discounts and subscription traps

Along with a deluge of announcements from the new Prime Minister, covering everything from VAT on electric bills to rates for pub landloads plus summer holiday VAT on attractions and freebie bus rides for kids, is one that impact ecommerce – subscriptions and pricing.

The release states that pretend prices and deceptive deals will be a thing of the past under the Prime Minister’s plans to ban retailers from making misleading claims to customers about discounts.

Shoppers have increasingly complained about outlets artificially inflating prices to give a false sense of value, such as increasing them only to then immediately advertise ‘discounts’ to make savings look larger than they really are.

Discounted prices that are the same as they were before the discount will be banned, and this means that deals will have to be real deals and compared to the normal selling price rather than an inflated price.

A consultation will launch this autumn to assess whether tactics such as fake “was” prices, invented discounts and misleading recommended retail prices (RRPs) should be added to the list of practices banned under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA). Under current laws, it can be difficult for enforcers to take on these cases.

Adding these tactics to this list would mean they will automatically be considered unfair, making it easier to crack down while making rules simpler for businesses to follow. I know people are sick and tired of rip-off discounts and subscription traps. Westminster has got used to telling people that everyday hassles like this are just part of life.

I don’t think that’s right, especially when the cost of living continues to weigh heavily on so many people’s lives. I’m determined to pull every single lever we can to provide people with some room to breathe on the cost of living. We’re putting an end to phoney bargains. If something is advertised as half price, it should actually be half price.

– Prime Minister Andy Burnham At the same time, the Prime Minister wants to end subscription traps, with new “easy to exit” rules brought forward to help consumers cancel easily and prevent them losing more money. New rules will now come into force in January 2027, in time for when customers often start new subscriptions for the year ahead.

Businesses will need to provide clearer up-front information, regular reminders and a much easier exit to contracts. A new 14-day cooling-off period will also let consumers cancel after a trial or long-term contract renews. The government reckon that there are around 155 million active subscriptions in the UK, with consumers spending an estimated £1.

6 billion a year on ones they don’t actually want, a direct hit to family budgets. For the many businesses who already give customers plenty of notice before subscriptions renew and make contacts easy to leave, very little is changing.

They will benefit from clearer rules and a more level playing field, without being undercut by competitors who have more complicated processes that rip off consumers.

Interestingly, it’s fine for cultural and heritage organisations to snag subs for you, even if you’ve forgotten you subscribed… they will be excluded from the new subscription rules “given the unique role they have in preserving and opening up access to the nation’s history, landscapes, and cultural collections”.

We’re also making it as easy to leave a subscription as it is to join. – Prime Minister Andy Burnham