Korean antitrust watchdog warns Balaan for deceptive upselling practice

Fair Trade Commission [Photo by MK DB]

Balaan, a high-end shopping platform in South Korea, has been warned by the country’s antitrust watchdog for deceiving consumers with manipulated product details.

According to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday, Balaan was issued a warning for informing false or overstated facts to draw consumers, which violates the country’s electronic commercial law.

The FTC has found that the platform misled consumers in an advertisement for a pair of shoes priced at 300,000 won ($225.70). The price was only for the one size in the U.S. chart and the one charged for the other sizes of the same item in the Korean chart was between 700,000 and 800,000 won, more than double the advertised price.

Also, the U.S.-size options with discounts were out of stock and only the Korean-sized options of the same item were available.

For instance, a consumer wasn’t able to buy the pair in U.S. size 6 as it was out of stock but was able to buy the same item in 240 mm Korean size but at double the price.

The FTC issued only a warning considering that Balaan voluntarily corrected the misleading details and stopped the practice, which is referred to as a deceptive design pattern that tricks consumers into hidden prices upon purchases.

The FTC, in the meantime, is also investigating whether major high-end fashion platforms limited consumer rights to cancel subscriptions or imposed excessive cancellation fees.