Courts and Prism+ taken to task over unfair trade practices

Retailers rectify issues after being found to have used misleading website design features

- Wong Man Shun

Singapore's consumer watchdog has taken action against consumer electronics and home appliance retailers Courts and Prism+ for using website design features that mislead consumers.

Courts was found to have automatically added unsolicited items into consumers’ shopping carts, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) said in a statement on Dec 8.

Prism+ used fake countdown timers and misleading stock indicators to pressure consumers into purchases.

CCS said that following a consumer complaint, it found that Courts had engaged in an unfair trade practice by charging consumers for products they had never selected.

During certain promotional periods, Courts’ website would automatically add items to consumers’ carts without their consent.

For example, an Acer vacuum cleaner was added to a consumer's cart after the buyer selected an Apple iPad for purchase.

The consumer watchdog said this practice could cause consumers to unknowingly pay for unsolicited items if they do not notice or remove such items before checking out.

It added that Courts did not make any changes until CCS intervened in June 2025, despite receiving customer complaints about this practice in 2024.

Courts, which has given an undertaking to CCS to stop this practice immediately, has since agreed to change its website and refund affected customers.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, a Courts spokesperson said: “The issue resulted from legacy marketing practices, which are aligned with Courts’ promotions in its physical stores, where consumers were offered the option to purchase an additional item at a discounted rate after their purchase of an item.”