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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland’s consumer protection authority, UOKiK, has fined fashion retailer Zalando and shopping platform Temu a combined total of almost 37 million zloty (€8.8 million) for giving misleading information on discounts.
It found that the two online giants had failed to comply with consumer protection rules in the European Union that have, since 2023, required businesses advertising promotions to disclose the lowest price charged for the same product over the last 30 days and calculate any discount based on that price.
According to UOKiK, Zalando manipulated this 30-day reference price to make promotions appear more attractive, while the information was not always available on Temu.
Zalando was fined nearly 31 million zloty, while Temu received a fine of close to 6 million zloty. Both companies can appeal the decisions, and Zalando has said that it intends to do so.
Przedstawianie podwyżek jako okazji?! 👀
Wybiórcze, manipulacyjne podawanie cen?! 👀❗️ Kupujący na Zalando i Temu nie byli prawidłowo informowani o promocjach, w tym o najniższej cenie z 30 dni przed obniżką.
Prezes #UOKiK nakłada łącznie blisko 37 mln zł
Sprawdź 👉… pic.twitter.com/hsHVuOW8YN— UOKiK (@UOKiKgovPL) January 12, 2026
“Businesses are responsible for correctly informing consumers about discounts and promotions. Presenting price increases as bargains and the selective, manipulative display of discounted prices must end,” UOKiK’s president, Tomasz Chróstny, said in a statement.
According to UOKiK, Zalando calculated discounts against “initial” or “regular” prices rather than the lowest price in the previous 30 days, exaggerating the scale of promotions.
“Irregularities on the Zalando website included failure to disclose the lowest price from the 30 days before the discount and incorrectly stating the discount amount in various places on the website,” found UOKiK.
“Despite being repeatedly brought to its attention, the company did not change the actions in question during the proceedings,” it added.
The watchdog also cited consumer complaints alleging that Zalando marked unchanged prices as promotions and inflated reference prices, making discounts appear larger than they were.
“Today I discovered that the shoes I bought yesterday at Zalando for 130 zloty instead of 259 zloty are now 255 zloty, and are theoretically 20% off, because according to the store, the lowest price in the last 30 days is 319 zloty, which is a blatant lie,” read one complaint.
UOKiK is also pursuing separate proceedings against Zalando for allegedly failing to provide information requested during the investigation, which could result in a fine of up to 3% of turnover.
The Berlin-based Zalando Group, which operates in multiple markets, reported revenue of €10.6 billion in 2024 but did not disclose how much came from its Polish business.
Zalando rejected UOKiK’s assessment, saying it had answered all of the regulator’s questions and had “immediately implemented all requirements presented to us by the UOKiK, in accordance with the authority’s guidelines, based on the regulations in force in Poland”.
“We are currently analysing the decision of UOKiK’s president and intend to defend our position by appealing against the decision in court,” said the firm, quoted by Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Biedronka – the Portuguese-owned supermarket chain that is Poland’s largest – has been fined over 500m zloty (€116m) for exploiting its market position to force suppliers to provide discounts on their products after delivery https://t.co/P5fwAAJtu4
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 18, 2024
UOKiK said, meanwhile, that Ireland-based Whaleco Technology Limited, which operates Temu’s interface, failed to consistently display the lowest price from the previous 30 days, leaving customers unable to assess the true size of discounts.
The watchdog also cited misleading reference prices, inconsistent labelling across product variants and repeated changes to the 30-day reference price during promotions.
In a statement cited by Business Insider Polska, Temu said it had “cooperated fully with the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, took the comments into account and made the necessary changes”.
That cooperation was confirmed by the office itself, which said Temu has since discontinued the contested practices and now presents consistent information about promotions on its website.
UOKiK also revealed that it is investigating six other firms over their compliance discounting rules: electronics chain MediaMarkt, cosmetics firm Sephora, delivery app Glovo, petrol supplier Shell Polska, fashion marketplace AzaGroup, and Jeronimo Martins Polska, owner of Poland’s biggest supermarket chain, Biedronka.
InPost, DHL, DPD and Allegro have been charged with greenwashing by Polish consumer authority UOKiK.
If substantiated, each allegation could result in a fine of up to 10% of the company’s annual turnover.https://t.co/V1ZQkV70F4
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 29, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: appshunter.io/Unsplash
Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.
