ThredUp was reported to the Deceptive Design Tip Line over a countdown clock used during a sale. According to the report, during a “super weekend sale” any items added to the shopping cart were only held on reserve for one hour. The report describes several tactics it says were at play: spending more time on the platform searching for deals, rushing to add items before the timer expired, receiving notifications that the cart was about to expire and having to re-add items if it did, and eventually being prompted towards purchasing items one at a time. The report adds that the option to “bundle” purchases for free shipping over $79 encouraged the reporter to look for still more items to buy.
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ThredUp: Created urgency with a countdown clock
“The company runs promotions often, and one I encountered recently was particularly frustrating: there was a super weekend sale, but any items you added to your shopping cart would only be on reserve for 1 hour. Several manipulative tactics were at play here: you end up spending more time on the platform searching for more great deals; you rush to add more items to your shopping cart before they get snatched up; you get notifications that your shopping cart is about to expire and if it does, you have to go back and re-add your item(s); eventually, you will probably just go ahead and purchase one item at a time – after all, you have the option to ‘bundle’ your purchases and get free shipping if you spend over $79; if you do get suckered to making piecemeal purchases, the enticing free shipping that’s just a couple items away makes you look for even more items to purchase; did I mention the 1-hour timer that gives you that black-friday-rush-into-the-store-to-score-that-one-tv-on-super-sale feeling? Awful.”