Consumer Law & Fair Trading
Unfair trading and customer journey readiness
A customer-journey review for choice architecture, friction, pressure, subscriptions, disclosure and post-sale treatment before the 1 July 2027 reforms.
Australia's unfair trading prohibition starts on 1 July 2027.
The 2026 Act introduces a broad prohibition on unfair trading practices. In summary, the regime targets conduct in trade or commerce that unreasonably manipulates or subverts, or is likely to unreasonably manipulate or subvert, a person's decision or choice and causes, or is likely to cause, material detriment.
Review the whole journey, including what the design does.
- Choice architecture: defaults, rankings, visual emphasis and preselected options.
- Information: important qualifications revealed late, separated from the claim or difficult to understand.
- Pressure: countdowns, scarcity, repeated prompts or consequences that are not genuine.
- Friction: easy sign-up but difficult cancellation, refusal or complaint pathways.
- Vulnerability: practices that take advantage of a customer's circumstances, lack of knowledge or dependence.
- Post-sale conduct: obstacles to refunds, remedies, cancellation or the exercise of contractual rights.
Test the ordinary experience, not the intended policy.
Walk through each channel as a customer using real devices and realistic scenarios. Compare the public journey with terms, system behaviour, contact-centre scripts and complaint outcomes. Record who approved high-impact design choices and what customer evidence informed the decision.
Prioritise journeys with the greatest potential detriment.
- Subscriptions, free trials and automatic renewals.
- Drip pricing and unavoidable transaction charges.
- Urgency, scarcity and savings claims.
- Cancellation, returns, refunds and warranty pathways.
- Consent, personalisation and vulnerable-customer interactions.
Questions to ask
Focus on the decision and the evidence.
- 01
Where are customers most likely to misunderstand or lose meaningful choice?
- 02
Do defaults, urgency, friction or presentation change the overall impression?
- 03
Can the business explain and evidence why the journey is fair?
Primary sources
Check the controlling material.
Recommended training
Watchdog PRO Certificate: Ecommerce Professional
Learn how to test customer journeys, choice architecture and checkout controls against unfair-practice risks.
- Map and test an ecommerce customer journey
- Review product pages, total price and delivery claims
- Control subscriptions, checkout design and online terms
Practical support
Apply the guidance to your facts.
Identify the exact product, claim, customer journey, supplier, legal entity or process involved. Preserve the information that supports the current position, record unresolved facts, assign an owner and confirm the point at which specialist review is required.
Tell us how this issue affects your organisation and receive a tailored recommendation for the most useful next step.
Important information
Check the current position.
This resource is general information, not legal advice. Laws, official guidance and proposals can change. Do not rely on a title or summary alone to decide whether a requirement applies to a particular entity, product or activity.