Black Friday 2025, the period when many Romanians hunt for discounts, can give a lot of headaches to both buyers and retailers, the latter risking serious fines and even sanctions if they do not comply with the legislation in force.
Some retailers have announced when Black Friday starts. Archive photo
The National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) made a number of recommendations, specifically asking buyers to carefully check prices by consulting websites that display comparative prices for the same product.
According to ANPC, shopping during Black Friday can be done in complete safety if:
- Make a list of the products you want to buy and their current prices.
- Check existing stock.
- Check the displayed price and whether it is complete (including VAT or not).
- Check if the price includes the delivery cost.
If you are ordering online, please check before submitting your order that the price of each product in your shopping cart is the same as the discounted price shown when you selected the product.
What are the shop's obligations
The trader is obliged to inform consumers correctly and completely, providing, among others, the following information:
- Identification data (name, postal and electronic address, telephone number, registration number in the register of commercial companies and that of fiscal registration, etc.);
- The essential characteristics of the product;
- Price with all taxes included;
- Delivery charges, if applicable;
- Payment and delivery methods;
- Validity period of the offer or price;
- The minimum duration of the contract, in the case of contracts that provide for the current or periodic supply of a product;
- Functionality, compatibility and interoperability of goods with digital elements, digital content and digital services;
- The existence and manner of exercising the right to unilaterally terminate the contract.
How to display the price in the case of promotions
Regardless of whether it is an online store or a classic one, the price must always be displayed clearly, legibly, in lei and with all taxes included (VAT and other additional taxes, if applicable):
- The reduced price must be lower than the reference price / previous price.
- The reference price / previous price represents the lowest price practiced in the same sales area during the last 30 days, before the date of application of the reduced price.
In the case of products liable to damage or perish quickly, the previous price represents the lowest price applied by the seller in the same sales area during the last 10 days before the date of application of the price reduction.
In the case of products available for sale in a period of less than 30 days, the previous price represents the lowest price charged by the seller in this period before the date of application of the price reduction.
Discounts and promotional mechanisms
Promotional campaigns can be carried out at any time, but only within the limits of the legal framework, warn the lawyers from Filip and Company, stating that a successful offer begins with the observance of some basic principles, which ANPC constantly checks:
- discounts must be applied without selling at a loss;
- the campaign must target products that are actually available or that can be replenished, or services that are currently offered;
- the trader who promotes a product category in a certain period has the obligation to either renew its stocks to cover the demand for the entire announced period of the campaign, or to clearly inform consumers that the offer is only valid “within the limit of available stock”. In practice, this mention is useful when availability varies, but does not relieve the merchant of the obligation to plan stocks reasonably, according to the estimated impact of the campaign.
Phrases such as “up to X% discount” can quickly attract the attention of consumers, but also that of the authorities. They must correspond to the reality of the offer: there must be products that actually reach the maximum percentage, and the rules of application – by categories, time intervals or specific conditions – must be clearly explained, in the proximity of the main message. The lack of this clarity is frequently sanctioned as a deceptive commercial practice.
Also, phrases like “the last bits” or “X people are viewing now” can create artificial pressure on the consumer and are only allowed if they are based on real and verifiable data. ANPC strictly treats such formulations, considering them aggressive commercial practices when they induce undue urgency in the purchase process.
Practices frequently sanctioned by ANPC
From the practice of recent years, ANPC sanctions have focused around the same patterns:
- incorrect reference prices,
- lack or insufficiency of stocks without clear warning,
- discrepancies between the displayed price and the final price in the cart,
- the continuation of the communication of some expired campaigns,
- the use of artificial messages of urgency or scarcity of products in stock.
All these situations can be avoided through a clear operational discipline, say the lawyers, listing: checking the prices of the last 30 days, validating the discount calculation logic, implementing explanatory banners in the proximity of discount messages, technical testing of price flows between product and checkout pages.
