• What are the conditions of cooperation between Allegro and its users?
• President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny has instigated an investigation procedure concerning the practices of Allegro to check whether there might have been any violations of anti-trust provisions.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has been receiving complaints related to the conditions of cooperation between Allegro and sellers. In reply to such signals, the President of UOKiK has instigated an investigation procedure related to Allegro.

– The e-commerce industry is developing dynamically – such an acceleration has also been stimulated by the situation related to COVID-19 epidemic, which forced consumers to choose this sales channel. Due to the intensive development of on-line trade, we are looking into the practices used on this market. As part of the explanatory proceedings, we strive to determine whether Allegro is gaining unreasonable benefits at the cost of professional and incidental sellers. For this purpose, we will particularly look into the conditions of charging and returning fees as well as the conditions of determining amounts thereof. We are also verifying the regulations from the consumer side – we wish to determine whether any prohibited clauses are used, says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

Competition protection

As part of the explanatory proceedings, the President of UOKiK will i.a. look into changes in Allegro regulations concerning charging commissions on sales. According to new regulations, the commission covers the entire transaction: the price and the costs of delivery paid by a purchasing party. Such changes have led to an increase in commissions charged by Allegro, they have been negatively received by sellers and resulted in numerous complaints addressed to the Authority.

– We are receiving numerous complaints from entrepreneurs related to the new mechanism of fees charged by Allegro. There have even been suggestions that the mechanism may be used to increase the quotation of the company before it goes public. We will verify whether the mechanism of fees used by Allegro, which is the largest entrepreneur in the e-commerce segment in Poland, does not violate the competition law, adds Tomasz Chróstny.

The Authority will also look into the terms and conditions of refunding the commissions charged (so-called transactional rebates) in a situation when a purchasing party withdraws from the agreement concluded by means of an on-line platform. The Authority will also analyse the principles governing the functioning of the Allegro Smart service.

Explanatory proceedings are instigated when the President of UOKiK suspects that competition principles might have been violated in a given case. They are conducted in the case, not against specific entities. This means that at this stage of operations, no allegations against entrepreneurs or managers are formed. They may result in instigating anti-trust proceedings concerning competition-restricting practices.

Consumer protection

When assessing the regulations of Allegro in terms of prohibited clauses, the President of UOKIK is concerned about the provision regulating how changes are introduced into the regulations governing the provision of services, i.a. “acceptance” of changes in the regulations without activity of the portal user (e.g. by refreshing an offer automatically on the website). The Authority will analyse whether the above-mentioned clauses may be prohibited.

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