PUBLISHED ONDecember 08, 2025 5:25 AMUPDATEDDecember 08, 2025 11:36 AMBYSean LerThe Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) has taken Courts and Prism+ to task over unfair practices.
In a media release on Monday (Dec 8), the consumer watchdog said that the two retailers of consumer electronics and home appliances have used website design features that mislead consumers.
"Courts automatically added unsolicited items into consumers' shopping carts, while Prism+ used fake countdown timers and misleading stock indicators to pressure consumers into purchases," CCS added.
The agency said both retailers have since given an undertaking to CCS not to engage in unfair trade practices.
Courts was found to have charged consumers for products they never selected.
In one complaint raised by a consumer who selected an Apple iPad for purchase, an Acer vacuum cleaner was added to the consumer's checkout cart.
This practice puts consumers at risk of unknowingly paying for the unsolicited items if they fail to notice and remove such items before checkout.
According to CCS, Courts has received similar complaints since 2024 but took no action until it intervened in June 2025.
"Courts has given an undertaking to CCS to cease this practice immediately. In addition to making changes to its website, Courts also agreed to refund customers affected by this unfair trade practice," the agency added.
Separately, homegrown electronics retailer Prism+ was found to have included features into its website that have the effect of creating false urgency to pressure consumers into hasty purchases.
According to CCS, Prism+ included "problematic features" such as a fake countdown timer, misleading stock indicators, unsubstantiated shortage and inflated discounts claims.
Based on CCS' investigations, the countdown timers served no technical function and were not linked to any of Prism+'s inventory systems.
The agency also found that the "In stock: running low" display was displayed despite monthly sales figure of a product representing only 7 per cent of Prism+'s total available stock.
Prism+ explained that the indicator is used for any product with inventory levels "above 100 units". This threshold was not disclosed to consumers.
When asked by CCS to explain its claims that "supply chain disruption" had affected other brands, Prism+ could not substantiate the claims and said that the statements were made in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, CCS said their investigations showed that the discounts claims of "up to 67 per cent off" could not be achieved for ten of the products.
In its explanation, Prism+ said that this was due to "technical errors".
The consumer watchdog said that Prism+ has since rectified the said issues and provided an undertaking not to engage in unfair trade practices.
In a subsequent statement to AsiaOne on Dec 8, Prism+ acknowledged the findings made by CCS, saying the marketing practices were a "small number", including "genuine unintentional errors in our internal stock metafields, legacy Covid-period shortage messaging that was not updated, and website-level discount claims that were not always aligned with specific product offers".
"Upon receiving the outreach from CCS, we cooperated fully to respond, review, and amend our website in line with their guidance," said a spokesperson.
All required corrections were made "within days" and safeguards have been implemented since May 2025, he added.
Expressing regret at what happened, Prism+ said they take the responsibility of providing their customers with "absolute clarity" seriously.
CCS has advised consumers to review their shopping car for unexpected items and verify that payment amounts match their intended purchases.
Consumers are also advised to question the authenticity of urgency claims before making impulse purchases.
The commission has also warned businesses that it is an unfair trade practice for businesses to charge for the supply of unsolicited products, or to make false or misleading claims to pressure consumers into making purchases.
It added that businesses should ensure that consumers agree to the purchase of any product and provide clear disclosure of the price and nature of any add-on before checkout, adding that any statements made about products should be truthful and factually accurate.
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