Dutch regulator fined Leen Bakker €130k and JYSK €112.5k over fake was-price discounts

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) fined Dutch retailer Leen Bakker €130,000 and Danish retailer JYSK €112,500 for misleading discount pricing in their online stores. Both had offered products at an apparently discounted price next to a higher strikethrough 'was' price; in reality, the ACM said, the discount was lower or there was none at all, so consumers were shown fake bargains.

Since 1 January 2023 the ACM enforces tightened rules on 'was/now' prices: a discount can only be given on the lowest price at which a product was offered in the 30 days before the discount. Over the preceding months the regulator checked online sellers in clothing, consumer electronics and bedding-store sectors, and fined the companies with the most violations.

The two retailers reacted differently: JYSK acknowledged the violations and 'promised to mend their ways', while Leen Bakker did not acknowledge them. ACM board member Cateautje Hijmans van den Bergh said the fines were an important signal that fake discounts have to stop, and that honest pricing is also a matter of fair competition against companies with unclear prices.

€242,500 in combined ACM fines — €130,000 for Leen Bakker and €112,500 for JYSK, the two worst offenders in its sweep.

The stores displayed strikethrough 'was' prices the products had not actually been offered or sold at, manufacturing a discount that never existed.

The practice broke the tightened was/now rule in force since January 2023, which caps reference prices at the lowest price of the prior 30 days.

Both retailers racked up the most violations the ACM found in its sweep of online sellers, making them the ones fined rather than merely warned.

Leen Bakker did not even acknowledge the violations, while JYSK admitted them and committed to change.

A strikethrough price is a factual claim, not decoration: under the tightened was/now rules an invented 'was' price draws fines, not a slap on the wrist.

The ACM said it would hold warning conversations with all investigated companies that had not complied with the was/now rules, and that it would keep investigating clear prices and fair discounts. It flagged no further penalties against the two furniture retailers in this release.