Consumers should be especially careful during this year's traditional January discount campaigns due to the special rules introduced in connection with the adoption of the euro, warned the media the founder of the online platform “We, the Consumers” Gabriela Rumenova.
She said that there are unscrupulous merchants who, during discounts, indicate the price in euros from which the discount is calculated. “This is unlawful, since the Consumer Protection Act clearly states that the “previous price” is the lowest price of the good or service that the merchant offered during a period not shorter than 30 days before the date of the price reduction. And during the 30 days in question, given that the euro has been the official currency in our country for only 9 days, this price was valid for payment only in levs, respectively – consumers followed it during possible monitoring in order to make more profitable transactions for them in the next period. That is why, placing the old price converted into euros can mislead the consumer when tracking the dynamics of the prices of the goods and services that interest them”, explained Rumenova. And she emphasized that the correct indication of prices during discounts in January of this year is for the old price to be indicated in levs, the new one – in both currencies, regardless of the sequence of their listing.
According to her, with discount campaigns, which do not actually exist, the practices of more and more e-shops since the beginning of this year to put the price in euros first may be confused. “This is not a violation, but if a consumer has been monitoring how much a specific item costs at a given retailer in the last days of last year and now the price is first in euros, he may be mistaken that it is halved. If it has been doubled and the number has remained the same, but now in euros, as there are signals, he may not even realize about the change. And this is already a prerequisite for inspection by the control authorities for a possible economically unjustified increase in prices”, Rumenova gave examples.
In order to be clear and to avoid confusion, the expert recalled that during discount campaigns during the entire period of double price indication (until August 8 this year) three values must be displayed. One is the old price, and the other two are the reduced price in both currencies - leva and euro. It is unacceptable to have only two values, whatever they may be. Therefore, one must carefully look at which price is in which currency.