Good Lifestyle

We all moved away from our shopping list at one time or another - whether it is more than you wantTarget shelves, or adding additional items to your Amazon trolley. But don't blame yourself for being attracted to additional products. After all, the main objective of a store is to increase its profits, so they remove all stops to try to bring buyers to spend more. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), some of these retailers are not necessary. Read the rest to discover what the agency reprimands now.

Read this then:These are the products you "need to stop buying" at Dollar Tree, says shopper.

If you have found yourself spending more than you want these days, you are not alone. Slickdeals, a company dedicated to helping buyers save, published new discoveries in May 2022 detailsHow impulsive expenses is up in the United States, according to the survey of 2,000 American buyers, 64% of adults said their impulsive spending had increased this year. The company said the average person had spent $ 314 per month for pulse purchases in 2022, an increase of 14% compared to $ 276 in 2021 and $ 183 in 2020.

"Although inflation certainly has an impact on budgets in many categories of essential stores, it is interesting to note that we also see consumers report an increase in the frequency of their impulse expenses"Louie Patterson, said the personal finance content manager for Slickdeals, in a statement.

This increase in impulsive expenses may not only be for you. On September 15, the FTCpublished a new report indicating that there has been an increase in the dark models used by retailers to deceive buyers. According to the organization, Dark Patterns is a terminvented by a user design specialistHarry Brignull In 2010, describe the “sophisticated design practices” that companies use to manipulate consumers in more ways than one. As a result, they end up making choices that they would not have made otherwise and that could harm, "said the FTC.AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"Our report shows how more and more companies use dark digital models to encourage people to buy products and give their personal information", "Samuel LevineSaid the director of the FTC consumer protection office in a statement.

The agency added: "As more trade has moved online, dark models have increased in scale and sophistication, allowing companies to develop complex analytical techniques, collect more personal data and experiment with Dark models to exploit the most effective. "

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According to the FTC, several types of dark models are used by various companies. "For years, unscrupulous retailers of direct mantle and brick and mortar have used design tips and psychological tactics such as pre-truth boxes, difficult to find disclosure and the confusion of cancellation policies , to abandon consumers to abandon their money or their data, "said the organization.

But the new FTC report, "Matt the dark models", has focused on four dark patterns tactics that are commonly used by businesses today: "deceptive consumers and disguise advertisements; which makes it difficult to cancel subscriptions or charges; bury key terms and unwanted costs; and encourage consumers to share data. "

Examples of these tactics include announcements designed as independent editorial content, false caregivers, recurring payments for unintentional products or services, advertising only of part of the total price of a product in advance and from consumer management to confidentiality parameters that give the most personal information.

Fortunately, the Riposte FTC. "As the main consumer protection agency in the country, the FTC mission is to stop deceptive or unfair commercial practices on the market, including those that take the form of a dark model," said the agency in its report. In fact, the FTC has already worked to combat this issue thanks to a recent declaration of the policy of applying companies warning companies to deploy illegal practices to deceive or trap consumers and a number of legal cases.

According to its report, the agency has initiated prosecution against several companies to use dark models, notably ABCMOUSE, LENDINGCLUB and VIZIO. Some of his cases have covered tips such as "obliging users to navigate a labyrinth of screens in order to cancel the recurring subscriptions, using non -descriptic drop -down arrows or small icons to hide the full cost and others Products' clean rent conditions, and even the madness of unwanted products in the online purchase baskets of consumers without their knowledge, "said the FTC.

"This report - and our cases - envisage a clear message that these traps will not be tolerated," said Levine.