“A false action just before the good weather, as if by chance”

A jacuzzi at -41%, what a bargain. Hugo* thought he'd made a nice saving by buying the item on Galaxus for 648 francs when it was previously at 1099 francs. Except that the site, it must be said, is very transparent about the price changes of what it sells. And then, shock. Hugo realized that the item had already been sold at a price around 600 francs, then had been marked as unavailable for several months at a much higher price... before it was back on sale at a price close to the base price, but with the "-41%" note.

"This is a fake promotion just before the warm weather, as if by chance," he fumes. The discounts displayed are strictly regulated by law (see box). In this case, it must be said that everything is within the rules. To be able to display a reduced price, the item must have actually been sold at the higher price for a certain period of time. Which was the case here... even if it was marked as unavailable.

Galaxus claims, first and foremost, that it was a technical bug. "The price history was not correctly displayed in our tool. The product was actually available and could be purchased at the higher reference price. The discount therefore refers to an actual, previously valid selling price, and not to an artificially inflated or unavailable price," explains its press office.

Second, Galaxus points out that the company not only sells its own products, but is also a platform where third parties make their sales. This was the case here. It is a reseller "who sets its own prices." Galaxus manages millions of references whose prices are openly dynamic and sometimes change daily. In theory, a large price variation raises alarm bells. Clearly, this was not the case this time.