Some online retailers of Apple products in Ukraine violate Black Friday rules – study

A number of online electronics retailers in Ukraine, particularly those selling Apple products, conducted their Black Friday sales in violation of rules, misleading customers about the prices of goods, according to a monitoring report by the NGO Consumer Confidence and the TEST Expertise Centre.

"We conducted the research just before Black Friday, so we saw the prices in the stores before the promotions started. Each store set its own discount sizes and the periods during which they applied. Unfortunately, we found that five stores had quite an interesting situation with, frankly, misleading information about prices," said Valentyn Bezruky, Vice President of both organizations, during a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

The monitoring was based on mystery shopping of AirPods headphones from 10 physical stores (Jabko, Yabluka, Technoizhak, iPeople) and 10 online stores (Jabko, Yabluka, MyCloudStore, Skay.ua, Touch, iStore, Appleroom.ua, Grokholsky, myApple, eStore.ua).

As a result of the monitoring, violations were found in five out of the 20 stores during their Black Friday sales.

In the Jabko online store, the price of the product during Black Friday matched the price at which it was sold before the sale, even though the store claimed on its website that the price had been reduced, thereby intentionally deceiving the customer, Bezrukyi reported. A similar situation was observed in the store iStore.ua.

In the online store Appleroom.ua, the sale was tied to the exchange rate of the dollar. Furthermore, the actual discount on the product was significantly lower than what was advertised on the website. The same issue was identified in the online stores Touch.com.ua and Skay.ua.

The monitoring also revealed that the purchased products in all the stores lacked the legally required labeling in the state language, conformity marks for technical regulations, and information about the importer or the entity responsible for warranty obligations.

Additionally, eight out of the 10 physical stores lacked price tags on the products. Three stores did not issue the mandatory fiscal receipt, while three others failed to indicate the seller (business entity).

Eight online retailers did not issue fiscal receipts, and seven of them did not identify the seller. Furthermore, two online stores refused to return prepaid amounts (UAH 300 and UAH 500), citing "logistics costs," which violates the law, Bezruky said.

The online stores Grokholsky and MyCloudStore also offered different payment methods, which affected the final price of the product (an additional 1-3% surcharge for payments by credit card). However, when a product is returned, the surcharge is not refunded. Additionally, in the store myApple, the purchasing and return procedures are split between different individual entrepreneurs, making consumer rights protection more complicated, the expert explained.

"Compared to the summer monitoring, there has been some progress, as last time only one store issued a fiscal receipt. But the trend remains the same: online shopping carries more risks for consumers, such as non-refund of prepaid amounts or commissions for credit card payments. But both types of stores share characteristics of selling illegal goods – all 20 stores sold goods lacking information in Ukrainian about the importer and compliance with technical regulations," Bezruky said.